Treasures of the Collection: Official War Records, Part 2

This is Part II of the Treasures of the Collection Feature: Official War Records.   Part 1 is also available to read. 


Photograph of a US Passport from the time period of the Barbary Wars

Official War Records-Part II  (pre-Civil War Navy)
The old saying goes, “history is written by the victors” But sometimes, whether a history is written at all depends upon the branch of service of the person ordering the history to be written.  Hewes library contains three examples of official military histories that were written because of the military service related positions held by presidents of the United States.



Title Page of Book

In the 1934 Congress passed an authorization for the expenditure of $10,000 to begin printing historical and naval documents.  The first set of naval documents printed under this law was a set entitled “Naval documents related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France”.  Consisting of 7 volumes the collection of documents was assembled by Dudley Knox, the officer in charge of the Office of Naval Records and Library in the Department of the Navy.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt who had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 – 1920 wrote the preface to the set, which indicates that his interest in naval matters was responsible for the publication of this work.



Title Page of Book

The Quasi-War with France was one of the first engagements with a foreign power undertaken by the United States after the establishment of the country.  Running from 1798-1800, the war occurred because of the signing of a favorable trade treaty with Britain in 1794.  This angered France which believed that the United States was giving more favorable treatment to the British than to them.  In retaliation, the French began seizing U.S. trading ships bound for Britain. The XYZ affair, in which American diplomats were refused access to the French Prime Minister Talleyrand without payment of a bribe, caused the U.S. to sever relations with France in 1798 and U.S. ships began to seize French ships.  The Quasi-War was ended in September 1800 by the signing of the Treaty of Mortefontaine.



Sample document written by the Commander of the USS Constellation

Publication of early naval documents continued under the Roosevelt administration in 1939 with the publication of the 6 volume set Naval Documents related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers.  The wars with the Barbary Powers referred to were a series of conflicts that took place between North African pirates and the U.S. Navy between 1801 -1805 and 1814-1815.  Shortly after the publication of this set, the U.S. Navy was attacked at Pearl Harbor and World War II began, stopping all publications of an historical nature. 



Title page of Book

Publication of historical naval documents languished until the 1960’s when, apparently not to be outdone by President Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy a former officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II wrote the preface for the 11 volume set “Naval Documents of the American Revolution”.  Now there was no official American navy until after the war was over and United States came into being, but there were engagements between ships of the British navy and the American rebels throughout the revolution.

Both sets contain many documents and illustrations relating to our early navy.  The sets can be found in the Hewes Library government documents collection, the Quasi-war with France at N.16.2:Q2, the Barbary Wars set at N16.2:B23 and the Naval documents of the American Revolution at D 207.12.  These titles cannot be found in the online catalog, but in the card catalog in the government documents section.



Drawing of Naval Cannon and Carriage, plus bar and round shot

The next section of this article will discuss histories of more recent conflicts.  Check back soon!

Program Tonight! Sufi Poetry Reading at the Buchanan Center for the Arts

Tonight at 7:00 pm, there will be a Sufi Poetry Reading at the Buchanan Center for the Arts in downtown Monmouth.  Members of the college and Monmouth community will be invited to read selections from Sufi poetry. The program is coordinated by the Monmouth College Muslim Journeys programming committee.

The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association, the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, Oxford University Press, and Twin Cities Public Television. Support was provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

Database of the Month: Literature Online (LION)

Our database of the Month for April is Literature Online (LION) .

In 1996, the Academy of American Poets declared April as National Poetry Month, a month dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of American poems and poets.  In honor of this month, the database this month is one in which a great many samples of American (and other) poetry are found, Literature Online (LION).

LION is not just about poetry.  It covers all facets of literature and has information on the authors of many countries besides the United States.  But as this is National Poetry Month, we will only talk about finding text, biographies and criticism of American poets and their work. For poets, LION is an especially good way to find the text of their poems online as it contains many works by different poets that can be searched by title, keywords or author.  LION contains poetry from poets that are well known and those not so well known.

In addition to title, keyword and author searches, there are several browse functions that facilitate exploration of the contents of the database.  For poetry click on “browse complete contents” which brings up a listing of all of the full-text materials found in the database.  Each listing is arranged by period and “American Poetry” is the top listing in each time period, beginning with the 1607-1785 Colonial period. In brackets is a list of how many volumes and how many differing authors are represented in the collection.  Clicking on the listing of volumes brings up all full-text poetry found for that time period, arranged by author.

For criticism of an author’s works, click on the “criticism & reference” button and enter the author’s name to find a listing of articles and links which provide critical reviews of the authors works. WHEN SHOULD I USE THIS DATABASE? Use this database for information on any literary topic or to quickly find samples of poetry.

In closing, here are some links to poems to help you celebrate the arrival of Spring (when it finally arrives!) found in the database that were written by American poets.

• Hymn to the Evening by Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), who was the first black poet to be published in America in 1767.
• Spring Joy by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) whose most well-known poem is “The New Colossus” which is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.
• spring \ may by Cummings, E.E. 1894-1962 an experimental poet of the early 20th century.
• Easter Season by Louise Gluck(1943- ) well-known living American poet.

Finally, we will close with the poem most appropriate to April and Illinois, Walt Whitman’s When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloomed, composed for the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination in April 1865. 

Take the time to read at least one American poem this month!

Access to databases is limited to current students, staff, and faculty of Monmouth College.

New ScotsRead Titles

The following titles just arrived and were added to the collection.  Find them on the library's main floor:

• Family Pictures by Jane Green
• Six Years by Harlan Coben
• Pure by Julianna Baggott
• No Way Back by Andrew Gross
• Life after Life: A Novel by Kate Atkinson
• Starting Now by Debbie Macomber

Return to Regular Hours

Today, Hewes Library resumes regular hours. We hope everyone enjoyed their Easter break!

Easter Break Hours

Today, Hewes Library will begin it's Easter Break hours schedule.  Our hours are:

• Thursday, March 28: 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Friday - Sunday, March 29 - 31: Closed
• Monday, April 1: 8:00 a.m. - midnight

Full early morning / regular hours will resume on Tuesday, April 2.

Program Tonight! Movie: Koran by Heart

The previously scheduled presentation of the Islamic Art Spots video with producer Dr. D. Fairchild Ruggles has been postponed to a later date-TBD. 

The Muslim Journeys Grant committee has decided to show Koran by Heart one of the films received in our Bookshelf Grant.  Free admission.  The public is welcome!!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013, 7:00pm
Location: Hewes Library, Barnes Electronic Classroom (HL03), Monmouth College
A charming documentary film that follows a global contest reading of the Quran by young Muslim children that takes place in Cairo, Egypt annually during Ramadan. A coming of age story about Muslim kids in modern times.  Director: Greg Barker.  The program is coordinated by the Monmouth College Muslim Journeys programming committee.

The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association, the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, Oxford University Press, and Twin Cities Public Television. Support was provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

On Display: Muslim Journeys

On display this month in the East Lobby Display Cases is a collection of materials from the Muslim Journeys grant Hewes Library received.  The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association, the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, Oxford University Press, and Twin Cities Public Television. Support was provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

Treasures of the Collection: Official War Records - Part I

Treasures of the Collection: Official War Records- PART I

 In 1864, about a year before the end of the Civil War, the United States government began to collect records with a view to publishing an official record of the war when it was over.  After the war’s conclusion in 1865, the collection of Confederate records began.  Compilation and publication of the records began shortly thereafter.

There were some delays in making the material available to the American people, but in 1877 Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Scott took over the task and developed the basic organizational plan that was eventually used for publishing the 130 volume set which is officially titled The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies but is known to most people researching the Civil War as the Official Records of the Civil War (or OR for short).  The set was published between 1880 and 1901.

It was originally published in 4 series as follows:
Set 1 Military Operations
Set 2 Prisoners
Set 3 Union Authorities
Set 4 Confederate Authorities

This large set is a unique compilation of material and has been consulted by nearly everyone who has written a history of the Civil War.   It can be found at W45.5:10 in the basement government documents section.

After the initial publication, indexes for each volume were added along with an Atlas of maps relating to the war’s battlegrounds.  The Atlases were published between the years 1891-95 and contain drawings of the various battle locations.  These are found at W 45.7 in the oversize are of government documents. 

There is also another set for the navy, the Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. This is found in under the number N16.6 in Hewes government documents section.

Monmouth College became a repository for federal documents in 1860 and thus received each of the volumes contained in our collection shortly after originally published.  The OR can be very hard to use and Hewes reference section contains a guide to using the OR .  However, it can be most easily searched in its electronic version. But there is something unique about being able to look at records that are over 100 years old.  So if you want to look at the documents as originally published go to call number W45.5:10 in the government documents section and take down a volume.  Most of them have been rebound, but the contents are original. 

The Civil War is not the only American conflict that was memorialized after the fact by a set of official government publications. The next article will discuss some of the other official war publications found in Hewes Library.

New ScotsRead Titles

New ScotsRead titles have recently arrived, including:

• The Striker: An Issac Bell Adventure by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott
• The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper
• The Romanov Cross: A Novel by Robert Masello
• The Chance by Karen Kingsbury
• Child of Vengeance by David Kirk
• Breaking Point by C. J. Box