Penn State University has many libraries including some with online resources. Penn State University Libraries Digital Collections include valuable resources for genealogy and family history. Below is a list resources from ULS Digital Collections and links to each Penn State library under the Libraries heading.

Birth, Marriage, & Death Records

Cemeteries

• Philadelphia – Guide to Philadelphia: its public buildings, places of amusement, churches, hotels, &c. : including the many cemeteries in the vicinity

Obituaries

• Centre Daily Times Index and Obituaries, 1898- Obituary Index for the Centre Daily Times from 1898 onward. Also contains a selective index of the news articles from 1981-2002.

Residence Records

Census

Directories

• Pennsylvania – 1946 – Directory of personnel in Pennsylvania libraries, 1946
• Berks County – 1914 – Farm and business directory of Berks County, Pennsylvania : with a complete road map of the county
• Columbia County – 1901 – Directory of Columbia and Montour Counties Pa. with map : 1901
• Erie County – 1918 – American agriculturalist farm directory and reference book of Erie County Pennsylvania : 1918
• Indiana County – Wiggins & McKillop’s general directory of the towns of Indiana, Blairsville, Saltsburg, with the villages in Indiana County
• Montgomery County – 1860 – 1861 – Directory of the boroughs of Norristown and Bridgeport, Montgomery County, Pa. for the years 1860-61 containing a concise history of the
• Montour County – 1901 – Directory of Columbia and Montour Counties Pa. with map : 1901
• Tioga County – 1899 – Directory of Tioga County, Pa. with map, 1899
• Wyoming County – 1900 – Directory of Wyoming County, Pa. with map, 1900
• ltoona – 1878 – Renner’s Altoona and PRR Directory
• Altoona – 1893 – Clark’s Altoona directory
• Altoona – 1895 – Illustrated Altoona a complete pen-picture of the City of Altoona, Pennsylvania at the close of the year 1895 : historical, descriptive,
• Altoona – 1912-1913 – R.L. Polk & Co.’s Altoona and Hollidaysburg directory
• Bellefonte – 1901 – Directory of Bellefonte, Pa. 1901-’02
• Johnstown – 1889 – C.B. Clark’s Johnstown directory and citizens’ register
• Meadville – 1912 – Historical and industrial review of Meadville, Pa. portrayal of leading industries, educational, financial and commercial interests : with
• Philadelphia – 1876 – Illustrated Philadelphia : business, city railway, and street directory
• Philipsburg – 1895 – Complete history of Philipsburg Borough
• Pottsville – 1866-1867 – Lant’s Pottsville directory
• Pottsville – 1877-1878 – Boyd’s Pottsville directory
• Reading – 1860 – Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, Pottsville, Allentown, & Lebanon : together with a business directory and a large list of farmers of the counties of Berks, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill, Pa. : also an appendix of much useful information
• Reading – 1938 – Boyd’s Reading (Berks County, Pa.) city directory
• State College – The Mullin-Kille and Daily times State College Pennsylvania consurvey city directory
• State College & more – 1911-1912 – Anderson’s directory and reference guide of Bellefonte, State College, Howard and Milesburg, Penna. : including rural delivery routes : 1911-12
• State College – 1951 – Alumni directory, the Department of Forestry and the Mont Alto State Forest School, the Pennsylvania State College, 1906-1950.
• State College – 1952 – Supplement to alumni directory, the Department of Forestry and the Mont Alro State Forest School, The Pennsylvania State College.
• Towanda – 1872-1873 – Historical sketch of Towanda, and a business review for 1872-1873 with descriptive sketches of its railroads, coal and other interests : historical,
• Tyrone & more – 1886 – Eleventh census of the population of the United States published by boroughs and townships, in connection with a business directory of the same Tyrone, Osceola, Houtzdale, Philipsburg, Clearfield, Curwensville
• Williamsport – 1870-1871 – Plotts’ Williamsport city directory, 1870-71 together with a business directory of Beech Creek, Beechwood, Bellefonte … and Wilcox : to which is prefixed an introductory of useful information, including the rates for postage and internal revenue

Land and Property

• The W. & M. Herkness Real Estate Records, 1854-1941 – Wayne Herkness (1882-1957) entered the real estate business within a few years of his father’s untimely death in 1899.  The family lived at Cloverly Farm, a country estate on the north side of Vinegar Hill (Susquehanna Road).  In 1904 the property was divided for sub-division and the first homes on present day Sewell Lane were built. In 1905, Herkness joined with G. Henry Stetson, second son of John B. Stetson of hat fame, to form the firm of Herkness, Stetson & Company. A little later another gentleman by the last name of Cochran came into the firm, then known as Herkness, Stetson & Cochran. In the spring of 1909, Cochran left and the business was renamed Herkness & Stetson. By 1910, Wayne’s brother, J. Smylie, had left the family auction business run by their uncle, and joined the real estate concern. Around 1920, another brother Malcolm joined the business. The firm was located in the Land Title Building in Philadelphia.

Maps

• 1861 Centre County Tilden Map – The earliest known map of Centre County, created by Henry Francis Walling and published by Samuel D. Tilden in 1861. The topographical map has been segmented by city/town and inset diagram.
• Digital Map Drawer – The Maps Library also houses 4,000 atlases, reference books, and gazetteers, and 15 globes globes. Along with a selection of current general atlases is a nice collection of thematic atlases, foreign atlases, cartography texts, journals, and cartobibliographies. All books and atlases are listed in the Libraries’ online catalog. The library holds aerial photograph collections of Pennsylvania (1963-1970), Centre County, 1980-1987, 1987-1991, and 1992-1996.

Daily Life Records

Biography

• Alma Mahler
• Eiche and Thor
• Pennsylvania’s Past History Collection
• The Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography

Books

• Moveable Books – Digitized moveable books from the Special Collections Library and Penn State University Libraries. Used as part of the Learning as Play project.
• English Emblem Books – The English emblem books scanned for this project are cultural artifacts frequently used in the analysis of reading practices, printing history, Elizabethan popular culture, the use of allegory, and the relationship of word to image.
• Penn State Press Metalmark Books – Metalmark Books is a joint imprint of The Pennsylvania State University Press and the Office of Digital Scholarly Publishing at Penn State University Libraries. The facsimile editions published under this imprint are reproductions of out-of-print, public domain works that hold a significant place in Pennsylvania’s rich literary and cultural past. Open Access edition of each book from The Pennsylvania State University Libraries is available through PSU Press Unlocked.

• Guide to Philadelphia : its public buildings, places of amusement, churches, hotels, &c. : including the many cemeteries in the vicinity

Business, Commerce, Employment, Occupations

• Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers of North America Records – The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers of North America (AA) formed in 1876 to support industrial workers working in the United States. The AA lost membership during a series of key strikes in the early to mid-1880s, but regained strength after joining the newly formed American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1887. In 1935, Phillip Murray and the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) largely subsumed the AA’s efforts to unionize the steel workers. At that time, the AA joined the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and ceased to exist as an independent entity. These records document the organizing efforts of the AA from 1892 through the period following its consolidation as part of the CIO in 1935. The materials here include minute books and ledgers for the Fulton Lodge No. 46, McKee Lodge No. 161, and the Tri-boro Lodge No. 186 as well as ritual books which document the initiation process for new members of the AA. 
• Bituminous Coal Mine Maps of Pennsylvania – The Bituminous coal mine maps of Pennsylvania were created by the Works Progress Administration from 1934-1938. Workers transcribed information about the extent of underground bituminous coal mines on to these maps, as well as locations of oil and gas wells.
• A.E. Bye Drawings – This collection of the papers of Arthur Edwin Bye, Jr. includes architectural drawings, articles, correspondence, plans, prints, brochures, invoices, contracts, reports, and photographs.
• Horowitz Transaction Publishers Archives – In August 2006 the Historical Collections and Labor Archives (HCLA) division of the Special Collections Library of the Pennsylvania State University acquired the corporate archives of Transaction Publishers, a gift of Dr. Irving Louis Horowitz, chairman of the board of Transaction Publishers and the Hannah Arendt Distinguished University Professor (Emeritus), Department of Sociology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
• Central Pennsylvania Architecture and Landscape Architecture Collection – A growing collection containing over 1,000 images focusing on the buildings and landscape of central Pennsylvania. These pictures have been selected and photographed by experts in the unique architecture and landscapes of our region.
• Philip Murray Papers – The Philip Murray papers document the organizing career of Philip Murray, including his work as the International Vice-President to the United Mine Workers of America (1920-1942), the Chairman of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (1936-1942), the International President of the United Steelworkers of America (1942-1952) and the President of the Committee for Industrial Organization (1942-1952). These materials contain scrapbooks, correspondence, clippings, records, photographs, and artifacts relating to both Murray’s career and personal life with the bulk of materials covering the years between 1936 and 1952.
• George Medrick Papers – The George Medrick papers include diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, legal documents, and organizing records from across his involvement with the United Mineworkers of American and the United Steelworkers of America from roughly 1922 to 1964. The materials in this collection document Medrick’s role in various striking efforts include the Bituminous Coal Strick of 1927 and the Steel Strike of 1959, as well as Medrick’s as an organizer in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.  
• Harold Rasmussen scrapbooks, badges, and buttons collection – This collection contains scrapbooks collected by union organizer Harold Rasmussen. The scrapbooks document the strikes and labor disputes, as well as various conventions, of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of North America, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.), and the United Steelworkers of America from approximately 1933 to 1970.
• John Chorey Papers – The John Chorey papers consist of scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, booklets and newsletters pertaining to the career of Pennsylvania organizer John Chorey. Chorey served as the first president of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Tim Workers, Tri-Boro Lodge 186 in Braddock, Pennsylvania in 1933 and worked as an organizer in both the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and the United Steel Workers of America. The collection covers information about topics as wide ranging as steel industry strikes and lockouts, unfair labor practices, and collective bargaining elections between the period of 1942 to 1965.
• John Covode Papers – The collection includes correspondence and printed material documenting John Covode’s career in the U.S. House of Representatives and his coal and railroad concerns in Pennsylvania (Westmoreland Coal Company which he cofounded with William Larimer, and influential stockholder in the Pennsylvania Railroad and close relationship with its founders J. Edgar Thompson and Herman Haupt). Correspondence includes patronage requests, discussions of the Civil War, and contemporary politics. Includes letters from his son Colonel George Covode during the latter’s service during the Civil War concerning promotions, staff changes, and personal information rather than his battlefield experiences.
• The W. & M. Herkness Real Estate Records, 1854-1941 – Wayne Herkness (1882-1957) entered the real estate business within a few years of his father’s untimely death in 1899.  The family lived at Cloverly Farm, a country estate on the north side of Vinegar Hill (Susquehanna Road).  In 1904 the property was divided for sub-division and the first homes on present day Sewell Lane were built. In 1905, Herkness joined with G. Henry Stetson, second son of John B. Stetson of hat fame, to form the firm of Herkness, Stetson & Company. A little later another gentleman by the last name of Cochran came into the firm, then known as Herkness, Stetson & Cochran. In the spring of 1909, Cochran left and the business was renamed Herkness & Stetson. By 1910, Wayne’s brother, J. Smylie, had left the family auction business run by their uncle, and joined the real estate concern. Around 1920, another brother Malcolm joined the business. The firm was located in the Land Title Building in Philadelphia.
• George Hoenshel Fleming Sr. Family Papers – These digital surrogates consist of a commemorative scrapbook Fleming created to document an event honoring Pressed Steel Car Company’s production in service of World War II. The scrapbook documents a company event honoring the efforts of workers who awarded the Army-Navy “E” Production Award on March 23, 1943. During World War II, the Pressed Steel Car Company successfully mobilized and converted from peace time production to produce tanks and bomb shell casings for the war effort. The documentation includes: photographs, an event program, two promotional broadsides, event ribbons, and letters of invitation to corporate dignitaries and legislators. 
• T.R. Johns Collection – The Thomas Richards (T.R.) Johns Papers digital project offers a unique historical resource to examine life, work, and community within the central Pennsylvania bituminuous coal mining region.
• Penn State Behrend Campus Collections – Located in the John M. Lilley Library, the Penn State Behrend Archives consists of three distinct collections. The Hammermill Paper Company Collection is comprised of a variety of documents, photographs, and other materials reflecting the history of the company from its origins in 1898. The Behrend Family Collection reveals the history of Ernst Behrend, founder of Hammermill Paper Company, and his wife, Mary Brownell Behrend, who donated the Glenhill Farm estate to Penn State in 1948 to honor her late husband by providing a home for a new college. The Penn State Behrend Collection reveals college history through photographs, college publications, clipping files and scrapbooks.
• United Steelworkers of America, District 33 Records – These records consist of materials from United Steelworkers of America District 33, which coordinated local unions in the iron region of Minnesota and upper Michigan from 1942 to 1955. This collection includes local union contracts and correspondence as well as conference records, administrative files, scrapbooks, minute books, and photographs from approximately 1937 to 1985. 
• United Mine Workers of America, President’s Office Correspondence with Districts – The United Mine Workers of America, President’s Office Correspondence with Districts consists of correspondence between districts and the president of the United Mine Workers of America from approximately 1894 to 1983.
• United Mine Workers of America Photographic, Graphic, and Artifacts Collection – The United Mine Workers of America photographic, graphic, and artifacts collection consists of photographic surveys of American miners’ homes, panoramic photographs of UMWA conventions and conferences, oversize posters and cartoons, and reproduced images of original documentation exhibited by the UMWA, as well as several union related artifacts from 1891-1997.
• Howard Truman Curtiss Papers – The Howard Truman Curtiss papers document the personal and professional activities of Howard Truman Curtiss, a clergyman, organizer, and labor consultant involved in the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and later the United Steelworkers of America. Curtiss served as a staff representative and organizer for the Steel Worker Organizing Committee and eventually became the District Director for the United Steelworkers of America. The materials in Curtiss’s papers include correspondence, ledgers, and financial records from 1888-1947.
• Three Mile Island 2 Recovery and Decontamination Collection – The Pennsylvania State University Libraries acquired several thousand videotapes, reports, and photographs that were generated during the successful cleanup and recovery of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear reactor.

Church Records & Church History

• Samuel W. Davis Papers – Samuel W. Davis was a Methodist Episcopal Minister who was active as a missionary and temperance reformer in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. Davis was assigned to Methodist Episcopal Church congregations across the region and also worked with the Coke Mission, set up to preach to the Hungarian and Slovak coal and coke workers in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The Davis Papers consist of several journals that span from 1868 to 1907, a volume of Davis’ sermons from 1864 to 1890, a collection of family correspondence from 1861 to 1901, and a collection of papers from Davis’ student days at Allegheny College. The journals record his activities as a traveling preacher in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, including Davis’ posting at a church in Dale City, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
• Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, Presbyterian church records, 1787-1937 including records of Presbyterian churches of Huntingdon, Little Aughwick (Shade Gap), Orbisonia, Hatslog [i.e., Hartslog] and Shaver’s Creek, Williamsburg [and] German Reformed Church, Water Street
• Guide to Philadelphia : its public buildings, places of amusement, churches, hotels, &c. : including the many cemeteries in the vicinity

Diaries/Journals

• A.J. Thompson Civil War diary – Alonzo. J. Thompson, a native of Newport, Herkimer County, New York, was a soldier in the American Civil War and served as a part of Battery H, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Army of the Potomac. The diary is an account of a soldier’s daily life from 1861 to 1863, and includes a list of generals under which Thompson’s unit served; hand-drawn sketches of rivers, construction supports, surveys, and artillery trajectory, with corresponding calculations; and daily notations concerning weather, activities, and personal health.
• John H. Morrison Civil War Diary – John H. Morrison served as a musician in the 49th Pennsylvania Volunteers Regimental Band in 1862. This diary describes band activities, military actions, and daily weather during his service in the Civil War from January to August 1862.
• Sarah Chamberlin Eccleston Diary and Journal, 1864-1916 – The collection contains two volumes, a diary and a journal. Chamberlin was a native of Union County, Pennsylvana. In her 1864 diary she records her leaving Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, and her experience as a nurse at Hospital No. 8 during the American Civil War. She kept a journal sporadically from 1 January 1865 until 7 February 1875. Following the war she established kindergartens in Pennsylvania and Minnesota at a time when such early childhood education was rare in the United States. She later traveled to Argentina to train kindergarten teachers.
• William H.H. Fisher Civil War Diary – William H.H. Fisher was born in Rutland, Vermont, on 31 January 1841. During the American Civil War Fisher served in the Vermont Infantry, 7th Regiment, Company D, and was promoted to corporal on 4 March 1865. This diary details Fisher’s time stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas and includes writings on camp activities, trips into New Orleans, writing letters to and receiving letters from his family, attending non-commissioned officers’ school, the siege of Spanish Fort and occupation of Mobile, and monthly account pages that record his purchases and expenditures.
• Daniel Elias Frantz Diary – Daniel Frantz was a Luzerne County, Pennsylvania resident who worked as a farmer and salesman among other jobs. The Frantz diary is from 1865 and contains the then eighteen-year-old’s writings on the weather, his daily activities, and business activities, which included several sales trips. The diary also details a pleasure trip to New York City and Coney Island, New York; and Paterson, New Jersey, to see the Great Falls on the Passaic River. Finally, there are notes for Frantz’s expenses and profits for his book selling trips.
• Morris W. Hackman Civil War Diary – Morris W. Hackman, a native of Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania, enlisted in Company G of the 29th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Hackman was born on 10 November 1844 and was only sixteen years old when he enlisted in Hesterville in the spring of 1861. The diary details his experiences as an infantryman, including seeing combat at New Market and Front Royal. Hackman records his capture by Confederate forces on 23 May 1862, during the Battle of Front Royal, and his subsequent imprisonment in various field hospitals. Confederate officials ultimately sent him to the notorious Belle Isle military prison in Richmond where he arrived August 9. Hackman remained at Belle Isle until September 13 when he was paroled. Courtesy of Penn State Libraries Special Collections.
• Elisha J. Bracken Civil War Diary – Pennsylvanian Elisha Bracken mustered August 31, 1861, into Company C of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 100th Regiment. He was promoted to sergeant and placed in charge of the remnants of Company C on November 13, 1862. He died in battle in Spotsylvania, Virginia, on May 12, 1864. The diary provides a day-to-day account of service life, with mention of their travels, the weather, and regimental activities from July through October, 1862.
• Walter R. Collins Civil War Diaries and Photograph – Walter R. Collins (born 20 October 1838), of Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, served as a sergeant in Company M, 100th Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1864, during the American Civil War. Collins recorded his activities during the Civil War in three diaries, including fighting at Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. The diary ends 20 May 1863 in Middleburg, Kentucky.

Ethnic

• Kirschner Family Papers – The Kirschner Family papers document the resettlement of members of the Kirschner family during their immigration from Eastern Europe to Philadelphia in the late 1930s. The papers contain Michael S. Kirschner’s personal correspondence, which details his immigration from the occupied town of Bialystok in present-day Poland to the United States on the eve of World War II (1939-1945). A significant portion of the materials consist of personal correspondence from Jewish refugees requesting resettlement to the United States and immigration affidavits of support from eligible sponsors. These letters were written to Isadore L. Kirschner from various Jewish organizations throughout Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists – The Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists is a compact but highly complex, multi-layered compilation of documents, sound recordings, and visual images. Some of its components, including copies of records of the Montgomery Improvements Association (MIA) and many hours of oral history of the renowned cival liberties lawyer Clifford Durr, complement major holdings in other American archives.  
• Pennsylvania German Broadsides and Fraktur – This collection includes over 250 images from the holdings of Rare Books and Manuscripts in the Special Collections Library. The term “Fraktur” (the word is both singular and plural) originally described a type of German printing similar to old English Gothic. The term today refers to drawings on paper made with pen, ink, and watercolor, using fancy penmanship and illustrations such as birds, hearts, flowers, and angels. They were commonly used in the 18th and 19th centuries to document births and baptisms, marriages, and house blessings, among other occasions. The collection also includes broadsides (sheets of paper printed on one side only, such as commentaries on religious texts and political events) and German-language newspapers. These documents provide us with insight into the everyday life of German immigrants and show the process of acculturation of German settlers to their new environment.
• Palmer Museum of Art Collection – The permanent collection of the Palmer Museum of Art includes American and European paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, and sculpture; contemporary European, American, and Japanese studio ceramics; Asian ceramics, jades, paintings, and prints; and objects from ancient European, African, Near Eastern, and American cultures. This database contains descriptions of more than 7,000 works as well as images for many of them. Please contact the museum for additional collection information.
• Holocaust and Genocide Collection

Family Papers

• A.E. Bye Drawings – This collection of the papers of Arthur Edwin Bye, Jr. includes architectural drawings, articles, correspondence, plans, prints, brochures, invoices, contracts, reports, and photographs.
• John Chorey Papers – The John Chorey papers consist of scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, booklets and newsletters pertaining to the career of Pennsylvania organizer John Chorey. Chorey served as the first president of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Tim Workers, Tri-Boro Lodge 186 in Braddock, Pennsylvania in 1933 and worked as an organizer in both the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and the United Steel Workers of America. The collection covers information about topics as wide ranging as steel industry strikes and lockouts, unfair labor practices, and collective bargaining elections between the period of 1942 to 1965.
• John Covode Papers – The collection includes correspondence and printed material documenting John Covode’s career in the U.S. House of Representatives and his coal and railroad concerns in Pennsylvania (Westmoreland Coal Company which he cofounded with William Larimer, and influential stockholder in the Pennsylvania Railroad and close relationship with its founders J. Edgar Thompson and Herman Haupt). Correspondence includes patronage requests, discussions of the Civil War, and contemporary politics. Includes letters from his son Colonel George Covode during the latter’s service during the Civil War concerning promotions, staff changes, and personal information rather than his battlefield experiences.
• Samuel W. Davis Papers – Samuel W. Davis was a Methodist Episcopal Minister who was active as a missionary and temperance reformer in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. Davis was assigned to Methodist Episcopal Church congregations across the region and also worked with the Coke Mission, set up to preach to the Hungarian and Slovak coal and coke workers in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The Davis Papers consist of several journals that span from 1868 to 1907, a volume of Davis’ sermons from 1864 to 1890, a collection of family correspondence from 1861 to 1901, and a collection of papers from Davis’ student days at Allegheny College. The journals record his activities as a traveling preacher in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, including Davis’ posting at a church in Dale City, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
• George Hoenshel Fleming Sr. Family Papers – These digital surrogates consist of a commemorative scrapbook Fleming created to document an event honoring Pressed Steel Car Company’s production in service of World War II. The scrapbook documents a company event honoring the efforts of workers who awarded the Army-Navy “E” Production Award on March 23, 1943. During World War II, the Pressed Steel Car Company successfully mobilized and converted from peace time production to produce tanks and bomb shell casings for the war effort. The documentation includes: photographs, an event program, two promotional broadsides, event ribbons, and letters of invitation to corporate dignitaries and legislators. 
• Kirschner Family Papers – The Kirschner Family papers document the resettlement of members of the Kirschner family during their immigration from Eastern Europe to Philadelphia in the late 1930s. The papers contain Michael S. Kirschner’s personal correspondence, which details his immigration from the occupied town of Bialystok in present-day Poland to the United States on the eve of World War II (1939-1945). A significant portion of the materials consist of personal correspondence from Jewish refugees requesting resettlement to the United States and immigration affidavits of support from eligible sponsors. These letters were written to Isadore L. Kirschner from various Jewish organizations throughout Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Jerry Doyle Papers – Jerry Aloysius Doyle collection consists of original pen and ink editorial cartoons drawn by artist Jerry Aloysius Doyle. The collection also includes: correspondence to Doyle from various entrepreneurs and politicians requesting copy of the original editorial cartoons in which they were featured; black and white family photographs, staged photographs of Doyle drawing, and documentary photographs; news clippings, scrapbooks and books; mail art, Christmas cards and souvenirs spanning his professional career. Doyle’s book, According to Doyle – A Cartoon History of World War II (1943) is included with the papers, as well John Chase’s anthology, Today’s Cartoons (1962), which features a section on Doyle, among other of the leading editorial cartoonists of the day.
• Philip Murray Papers – The Philip Murray papers document the organizing career of Philip Murray, including his work as the International Vice-President to the United Mine Workers of America (1920-1942), the Chairman of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (1936-1942), the International President of the United Steelworkers of America (1942-1952) and the President of the Committee for Industrial Organization (1942-1952). These materials contain scrapbooks, correspondence, clippings, records, photographs, and artifacts relating to both Murray’s career and personal life with the bulk of materials covering the years between 1936 and 1952.
• Howard Truman Curtiss Papers – The Howard Truman Curtiss papers document the personal and professional activities of Howard Truman Curtiss, a clergyman, organizer, and labor consultant involved in the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and later the United Steelworkers of America. Curtiss served as a staff representative and organizer for the Steel Worker Organizing Committee and eventually became the District Director for the United Steelworkers of America. The materials in Curtiss’s papers include correspondence, ledgers, and financial records from 1888-1947.
• James T. Stuart Family Papers – The Stuart Family Papers document multiple generations of a Pennsylvania family based in Boalsburg and Pittsburgh. The strengths of the collection are the military and personal Civil War-era materials associated with James T. Stuart (1837-1902) and his wife Emma Eliza Hunter (1848-1935), along with over a hundred years of family photographs. Most of the military papers are associated with Stuart’s tenure as Captain of Company G, 49th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers (1864-1865). The personal materials include war-time correspondence, official military forms, a civil war diary, photographs, and other materials.
• George Medrick Papers – The George Medrick papers include diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, legal documents, and organizing records from across his involvement with the United Mineworkers of American and the United Steelworkers of America from roughly 1922 to 1964. The materials in this collection document Medrick’s role in various striking efforts include the Bituminous Coal Strick of 1927 and the Steel Strike of 1959, as well as Medrick’s as an organizer in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.  

History

• Pennsylvania County Histories – Digitized early histories of counties in Pennsylvania.
  • 1840-1843 – Pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania : embracing the counties of Tioga, Potter, McKean, Warren, Crawford, Venango, Forest, Clarion, Elk, Jefferson, Cameron, Butler, Lawrence, and Mercer, also a pioneer sketch of the cities of Allegheny, Beaver, Du Bois, and Towanda : my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown
  • 1873 – History of Perry County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest settlement to the present time
  • 1877 – Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855
  • 1877 – History of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories
  • 1879 – History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
  • 1881 – History of Chester county, Pennsylvania : with genealogical and biographical sketches
  • 1883 – History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania
  • 1883 – History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men
  • 1883 – History of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania : civil, political and military from its earliest settlement to the present time, including historical descriptions of each county in the state, their towns, and industrial resources
  • 1886 – History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania : containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc.
  • 1886 – History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys : embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, vol. 1, general history, Mifflin County, Juniata County
  • 1886 – History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys : embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, vol. 2, Perry County, Union County, Snyder County
  • 1886 – Index to History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder … in … Pennsylvania
  • 1887 – History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers
  • 1887 – History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania : containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc.
  • 1888 – History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers
  • 1890 – History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania : with biographical selections, including their early settlement and development, a description of the historic and interesting localities, sketches of their cities, towns and villages, portraits of prominent men, biographies of representative citizens, outline history of Pennsylvania, statistics
  • 1891 – History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
  • 1907 – History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, vol. 1, history
  • 1907 – History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, vol. 2, biography
  • 1907 – History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, vol. 3, genealogy
  • 1913 – Indiana County, Pennsylvania : her people, past and present, embracing a history of the county, vol. 1
  • 1913 – Indiana County, Pennsylvania : her people, past and present, embracing a history of the county, vol. 2
• Holocaust and Genocide Collection
• Thomas W. Benson Political Protest Collection – The Thomas W. Benson Political Protest Digital Collection is a unique educational and scholarly resource documenting and exploring themes associated with the student anti-war movement and campus unrest in America during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
• Pennsylvania History on Microfilm – The Pennsylvania History on Microfilm digital collection was first microfilmed in 2002 as part of a collaborative project with the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (precursor to the Big Ten Academic Alliance), see the library catalog for a complete listing. Select titles were digitized in 2003.
• Pennsylvania’s Past History Collection – Penn State University Libraries collaborated with three other PA institutions – PA State Library in Harrisburg, Free Library in Philadelphia, and the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh – to digitize PA holdings and make them available online. Penn State’s contribution is 641 titles digitized from 35 mm microfilm, which encompasses monographs on PA History. This collection is commonly referred to as PA’s Past.
• Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency Reports on the Scranton PA Riots, 1877 – This collection consists primarily of a special report by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency from its investigation of the Scranton, Pennsylvania general strike of 1877. In response to increasing labor unrest in the post-Civil War period, several corporations in the mining, railroad, and steel industries hired the Pinkerton agency, which Allan Pinkerton had founded in 1850, to surveil, infiltrate, and undermine labor organizations and break strikes. In 1877, in the midst of a crippling national depression that saw significant wage and price deflation, railway workers initiated a nationwide strike. Laborers in several related industries, including mining, also struck in solidarity with the railroad workers, resulting in the first nationwide strike in the country’s history.
• Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers of North America records
• Behrend Family Collection
• Bituminous coal mine maps of Pennsylvania
• Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies Collection
• Central Pennsylvania Architecture and Landscape Architecture
• Cresson Literary Society Records
• Digital Map Drawer
• Digital Newspapers
• Eiche and Thor
• German-Language Broadsides in North America, 1730-1830
• Hajjar Heritage
• Hallock’s (Mostly) Hidden Houses
• Hammermill Paper Company Collection
• Heidrich: The Quiet “H”
• James T. Stuart Family Papers
• Kirschner Family Papers
• Metalmark Books
• Newspaper and News Magazine Collection
• Penn State DuBois Campus Collection
• Penn State Earth and Mineral Sciences Library
• Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus Collection
• Penn State York Campus Collections
• Pennsylvania Bridges Collection, 1884-1915
• Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspaper Collection
• Pennsylvania Geology
• Pennsylvania German Broadsides and Fraktur
• Pennsylvania Mining Resources
• Pennsylvania’s Past History Collection
• Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency reports on the Scranton PA riots, 1877
• Rails to Penn State – the Bellefonte Central Railroad in Historical Perspective
• Soldiers’ Aid Society of Hartsville and Wrightstown Soldiers’ Aid Society
• The Eighth Air Force Archive
• The Emilie Davis Diaries
• The Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography
• The Joseph Priestley Collection
• The Pennsylvania Newspaper Projects, 1983-2016
• The People’s Contest
• The T.R. Johns Collection
• The W. &. M. Herkness Real Estate Records, 1854-1941
• Three Mile Island 2 Recovery and Decontamination
• Times of Sorrow and Hope
• Unearthing the Past: Student Research on Pennsylvania History
• Union League of Philadelphia Archives
• United Mine Workers of America photographic, graphic, and artifacts collection
• United Mine Workers of America, President’s Office Correspondence with Districts, 1894-1983
• Washington Literary Society records, 1859-1895
• William Warren Scranton papers, 1933-2005

Libraries

• German-Language Broadsides in North America, 1730-1830 – This online bibliography, “German-Language Broadsides in North America, 1730-1830,” represents a significant piece of a joint scholarly publishing project between the University Libraries and the Penn State University Press. The other two components of the project are a monograph by Hermann 

University Park Libraries

• Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library
• Arts and Humanities Library
• Business Library
• Earth and Mineral Sciences Library
• Education Library
• Engineering Library
• Global News Center
• Life Sciences Library
• Maps and Geospatial Information
• Microforms and Government Information
• Music and Media Center
• Penn State Law Library, Montague Jr. Law Library
• Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library
• Social Sciences Library
• Special Collections Library

Campus Libraries

• Abington College Library, Penn State Abington
• Altoona, Robert E. Eiche Library, Penn State Altoona
• Beaver Campus Library, Penn State Beaver
• Behrend, John M. Lilley Library, Penn State Behrend
• Berks Thun Library, Penn State Berks
• Brandywine, Vairo Library, Penn State Brandywine
• Dickinson Law Library, Montague Jr. Law Library
• DuBois Campus Library, Penn State Dubois
• Fayette Campus Library, Penn State Fayette
• Great Valley Library, Penn State Great Valley
• Greater Allegheny, J. Clarence Kelly Library, Penn State Greater Allegheny
• Harrisburg, Penn State Harrisburg Library, Penn State Harrisburg
• Hazleton, Mary M. and Bertil E. Lofstrom Library, Penn State Hazleton
• Lehigh Valley Campus Library, Penn State Lehigh Valley
• Mont Alto Campus Library, Penn State Mont Alto
• New Kensington, Elisabeth S. Blissell Library, Penn State New Kensington
• Penn State College of Medicine, Harrell Health Sciences Library
• Schuylkill, Ciletti Memorial Library, Penn State Schuylkill
• Scranton, Penn State Scranton Campus Library, Penn State Scranton
• Shenango, Lartz Memorial Library, Penn State Shenango
• Wilkes-Barre, Nesbitt Library, Penn State Wilkes-Barre
• World Campus and Penn State Online
• York, Lee R. Glatfelter Library, Penn State York

Magazines & Periodicals

• Washington Literary Society Records, 1859-1895 – The Washington Agricultural Literary Society (later, the Washington Literary Society) formed simultaneously with the Cresson Literary Society in March 1859, only a few years after the founding of the Farmer’s High School. The collection features The Photosphere, Literary Magazine, 1874 and The Anonymous – Critical Editorials and Humorous Gossip, 1859.
• Penn State Froth – Penn State Froth was founded and established to replace Penn State University’s first humor magazine, “The Lemon,” which published its final issue on June 10, 1908. Froth became wildly popular among students and it also became influential to the culture of the university. Froth’s mascot, a jester named Frothy who graced the covers of many of the earlier issues, eventually began making personal appearances along with the Nittany Lion at Penn State football games. The initial run of Froth lasted until 1943. It stopped production during World War II due to a lack of staff members. During the 1920’s Froth was sold not only on the Penn State campus and in State College, but also in 17 other Pennsylvania towns and cities, as well as in Washington, D.C.; Providence, Rhode Island; and Syracuse, New York. This popularity led to Froth being named the “Best Managed Humor Magazine” by College Humor Magazine for 1930-31.

Newspapers

• Digital Newspapers – This collection includes The Behrend Beacon, Centre Daily Times Obituaries Index, Penn State Harrisburg’s Online Archive of Student Newspapers. Hazleton Collegian Newspaper, Historical Digital Collegian Newspaper, Lancaster Farming Newspaper, Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspapers, Pennsylvania County Historic Newspapers, and the Pennsylvania Digital Newspaper Project

  • • The Daily Collegian (historical)
    • Behrend Beacon
    • Penn State Harrisburg’s Student Newspapers
    • Hazleton Collegian Newspaper
    • Centre Daily Times Obituary Index
    • Pennsylvania Newspaper Projects, 1983-2016
    • Lancaster Farming
    • Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspaper Collection
• Pennsylvania German Broadsides and Fraktur – This collection includes over 250 images from the holdings of Rare Books and Manuscripts in the Special Collections Library. The term “Fraktur” (the word is both singular and plural) originally described a type of German printing similar to old English Gothic. The term today refers to drawings on paper made with pen, ink, and watercolor, using fancy penmanship and illustrations such as birds, hearts, flowers, and angels. They were commonly used in the 18th and 19th centuries to document births and baptisms, marriages, and house blessings, among other occasions. The collection also includes broadsides (sheets of paper printed on one side only, such as commentaries on religious texts and political events) and German-language newspapers. These documents provide us with insight into the everyday life of German immigrants and show the process of acculturation of German settlers to their new environment.

Newspaper Clippings

• Pennsylvania Center for the Book Newspaper Clippings – The Pennsylvania Center for the Book Newspaper Clippings collection includes topical newspaper clippings about Pennsylvania.

Photos

Science & Nature

• George and Alice Beatty Papers – George H. & Alice F. Beatty were a part of the Penn State University community for the latter half of the 20th century. Dr. Alice F. Beatty was a zoology professor at Penn State DuBois whose research focused on the diversity of the order Odonata, which consists of dragonflies and damselflies. The couple were assistant curators at the Frost Entomological Museum at Penn State from the museum’s early days. From the 1940s-1970s, they traveled throughout the northeastern and southern United States as well as on several trips to Mexico, sampling odonates and recording their field observations in notebooks. These notebooks, spanning decades of research, contain records for the approximately 60,000 odonates that they collected.
• Penn State Earth and Mineral Sciences Library – This collection features selected works from the Earth and Mineral Sciences Library, which collects works related to the physical aspects of the earth at all scales (geology, hydrology, meteorology), geography, mining and materials sciences as well as the social and economic aspects of those subjects. 
• Joseph Priestley Collection – The many sides of the life of Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) and his striking legacy in many fields have fascinated historians and biographers. Priestley’s considerable talents as an experimental chemist led him to make discoveries about the properties of gases that revolutionized the science. He was the first to describe the properties of oxygen and seven other common gases, the first to observe the basic process in photosynthesis, and the first to note differential gaseous diffusion; he was also the inventor of carbonated water. He identified charcoal as an excellent conductor of electricity, and one of his books, History and Present State of Electricity, described his friend Benjamin Franklin’s electrical experiments in detail.
• Pennsylvania Geology – This collection contains materials relating to the geology and water resources of Pennsylvania as published by the PA Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, and others.
• Penn State Hershey Campus Collections – Digital collections from the Harrell Health Sciences Library at the Penn State Hershey Campus.

Schools, Alumni, Yearbooks

• Behrend Beacon
• Berks Campus Collections
• Brent Wilson Papers: 1950-2013
• Cresson Literary Society Records
• Digital Newspapers
• Forestry Education in Pennsylvania
• Hazleton Collegian Newspaper (historic)
• La Vie Online
• Narrative History of Penn State Altoona
• Newspaper and News Magazine Collection
• Ogontz Mosaic
• Penn State Altoona Scrapbooks
• Penn State Behrend Collection
• Penn State DuBois Campus Collection
• Penn State Froth
• Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus Collection
• Penn State Harrisburg Campus Collection
• Penn State Harrisburg’s Student Newspapers
• Penn State History and Traditions
• Penn State Libraries Photo Archive
• Penn State Sports Archive
• Penn State University Park Campus History Collection
• Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus Collections
• Penn State York Campus Collections
• Saylor (Dr. Roger B.) Football Records Collection
• The Daily Collegian (historical)
• The Ogontz School 1850-1950
• The Stones of the Obelisk
• Washington Literary Society records, 1859-1895
• World War Two Letters

Sports

• Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection – The Saylor football statistics database consists of approximately 6,700 files. There are different types of files which include records from all colleges, universities, and junior colleges across the country, conference information, including defunct conferences and alliances.  Also included are high school conferences in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and any other high schools that played smaller colleges.

Societies, Associations

• Washington Literary Society Records, 1859-1895 – The Washington Agricultural Literary Society (later, the Washington Literary Society) formed simultaneously with the Cresson Literary Society in March 1859, only a few years after the founding of the Farmer’s High School. The collection features The Photosphere, Literary Magazine, 1874 and The Anonymous – Critical Editorials and Humorous Gossip, 1859.
• Transactions of the Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society – Complete collection of all the Proceedings, Transactions, and Northeast Wildlife available in one location. The intent of this collaboration between Northeast Transactions of the Wildlife Society and The Pennsylvania State University Libraries is to provide a repository of the proceedings and publications available to the general public to benefit the conservation of fish and wildlife resources.
• Union League of Philadelphia Archives – Publications and meeting minutes (1863-1876) of the Union League of Philadelphia, a patriotic society founded in 1862 to support the Union and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln.
• Cresson Literary Society Records – This collection consists of one issue of The Students’ Miscellany from 1887 and the handwritten script for Miscellany issues from April, May, and October1893.
• 1901 – Year book of the Pennsylvania Society of New York

Women

• A Few Good Women – In 1969, President Richard Nixon created the Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities that marked the beginning of a successful initiative to recruit and train women for upper-level governmental positions.Preserving the memories and reflections of these women on their careers in government service, along with those of the men who were involved in the effort, make a significant contribution to the documentation of the history of women in modern American political life.
• Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection – The Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection (AMC), housed in Penn State Harrisburg Library’s Archives and Special Collections, consists of over 150 advertising trade cards that showcase the 19th- and 20th-century woman as an entrepreneur.
• Comic Valentines from the Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection – This digital collection consists of 164 comic valentine sheets (ca. 1870-1920), 10 sentimental valentines from World War II (ca. 1939-1945), and 7 suffrage valentines (ca. 1915-1920) from the Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection, located in Archives and Special Collections at the Penn State Harrisburg Library. The majority of the collection includes comic valentines, also known as vinegar valentines, which lampoon women and their physical attributes, habits, styles of dress and behaviors.  A smaller portion of the collection consists of romantic or sentimental valentines that feature women in the United States Armed Forces and themes related to American woman suffrage.
• Alma Mahler
• Judy Chicago Art Education Collection, 1970-2014
• The Emilie Davis Diaries
• Sarah Chamberlin Eccleston Diary and Journal, 1864-1916 – The collection contains two volumes, a diary and a journal. Chamberlin was a native of Union County, Pennsylvana. In her 1864 diary she records her leaving Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, and her experience as a nurse at Hospital No. 8 during the American Civil War. She kept a journal sporadically from 1 January 1865 until 7 February 1875. Following the war she established kindergartens in Pennsylvania and Minnesota at a time when such early childhood education was rare in the United States. She later traveled to Argentina to train kindergarten teachers.
• Ogontz Mosaic – The Ogontz Mosaic was the publication of the prominent elite and prestigious school known as The Ogontz School for Young Ladies. Usually published six times per year from 1884-1950, with occasional special issues, the Mosaic included articles about the school, its students, alumnae, and faculty. Issues included articles by the principals, including Abby Sutherland, the principal and owner of the school for many years.

Yearbooks

• La Vie – La Vie, the Penn State University annual student yearbook, has been in production documenting student life continuously since 1890.The Online La Vie project, digitizing yearbooks beginning in 1890 through 2000, is a joint collaboration between the Penn State University Archives and the University Libraries Digitization and Preservation Department.
• La Vie 1990
• Penn State Harrisburg Campus Collections – The Capitolite (later known as The Capitalite), Penn State Harrisburg’s annual student yearbook, serves as a record of students’ academic and social lives on the Middletown campus. This digital collection includes every yearbook that was produced by students from 1968 through 1995, when it ceased publication. Original copies of each yearbook are housed in Archives & Special Collections at the Penn State Harrisburg Library.
• Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus Collections – The Greater Allegheny Campus Collection is comprised of student yearbooks: “The Technician’s Log” (1955) celebrating the first graduates of the campus to receive the Associate in Engineering degree.  “The Centaur” (1956-59) which depicts the initial years at McKeesport campus including a dedication to benefactor William L. Buck who donated the land for the campus, forwards that mention the campus’ history and development, and various snapshots of campus life. “Profile” (1960-63) and “Parvenu” (1971-72) have a variety of images of campus buildings and student life including images of campus construction projects.
• Penn State DuBois Campus Collections – This collection consists of campus yearbooks: “La Vita” (1963-1965) which has several images of the since demolished DuBois Mansion (1978) and the construction and dedication of the Swift Memorial Building. The “Lion’s Paw” (1972-73; 1975-76; 1978-79) offers a detailed photographic narrative of the faculty, staff, and students that comprised DuBois Campus. “Lion’s Paw” yearbooks include details on local patrons that contributed to the campus’s continued development. The 1973 yearbook contains some images of the DuBois Mansion as well as a short history. The digital records provide insight into the campus history and life in the 1960s and 1970s.
• 1929-1960 – Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute, 1927-1958 : book of years : graduates 1929-1960
• 1901 – Year book of the Pennsylvania Society of New York
• 1919 – Year book of the Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies … and acts and proceedings of the … annual meeting

Military Records

Civil War

• A.J. Thompson Civil War diary – Alonzo. J. Thompson, a native of Newport, Herkimer County, New York, was a soldier in the American Civil War and served as a part of Battery H, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Army of the Potomac. The diary is an account of a soldier’s daily life from 1861 to 1863, and includes a list of generals under which Thompson’s unit served; hand-drawn sketches of rivers, construction supports, surveys, and artillery trajectory, with corresponding calculations; and daily notations concerning weather, activities, and personal health.
• James T. Stuart Family Papers – The Stuart Family Papers document multiple generations of a Pennsylvania family based in Boalsburg and Pittsburgh. The strengths of the collection are the military and personal Civil War-era materials associated with James T. Stuart (1837-1902) and his wife Emma Eliza Hunter (1848-1935), along with over a hundred years of family photographs. Most of the military papers are associated with Stuart’s tenure as Captain of Company G, 49th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers (1864-1865). The personal materials include war-time correspondence, official military forms, a civil war diary, photographs, and other materials.
• People’s Contest Digital Collections – A Civil War Era Digital Archive is a collaborative project of the Penn State Libraries and the Richards Civil War Center. Its mission is to promote research into the lived experience of Pennsylvanian’s between 1851 and 1874. The project website features a unique statewide bibliographic database of hidden collections, digitized manuscripts and contextual essays.
• William H.H. Fisher Civil War Diary – William H.H. Fisher was born in Rutland, Vermont, on 31 January 1841. During the American Civil War Fisher served in the Vermont Infantry, 7th Regiment, Company D, and was promoted to corporal on 4 March 1865. This diary details Fisher’s time stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas and includes writings on camp activities, trips into New Orleans, writing letters to and receiving letters from his family, attending non-commissioned officers’ school, the siege of Spanish Fort and occupation of Mobile, and monthly account pages that record his purchases and expenditures.
• Edwin Forbes Civil War Etchings – Edwin Forbes (1839-1895) was an American landscape painter, etcher and staff artist for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper best known for his sketches of military life during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The collection consists of 40 black and white etchings originally published by Forbes in 1876 as Life Studies of the Great Army.
• Morris W. Hackman Civil War Diary – Morris W. Hackman, a native of Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania, enlisted in Company G of the 29th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Hackman was born on 10 November 1844 and was only sixteen years old when he enlisted in Hesterville in the spring of 1861. The diary details his experiences as an infantryman, including seeing combat at New Market and Front Royal. Hackman records his capture by Confederate forces on 23 May 1862, during the Battle of Front Royal, and his subsequent imprisonment in various field hospitals. Confederate officials ultimately sent him to the notorious Belle Isle military prison in Richmond where he arrived August 9. Hackman remained at Belle Isle until September 13 when he was paroled. Courtesy of Penn State Libraries Special Collections.
• Walter R. Collins Civil War Diaries and Photograph – Walter R. Collins (born 20 October 1838), of Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, served as a sergeant in Company M, 100th Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1864, during the American Civil War. Collins recorded his activities during the Civil War in three diaries, including fighting at Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. The diary ends 20 May 1863 in Middleburg, Kentucky.
• Elisha J. Bracken Civil War Diary – Pennsylvanian Elisha Bracken mustered August 31, 1861, into Company C of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 100th Regiment. He was promoted to sergeant and placed in charge of the remnants of Company C on November 13, 1862. He died in battle in Spotsylvania, Virginia, on May 12, 1864. The diary provides a day-to-day account of service life, with mention of their travels, the weather, and regimental activities from July through October, 1862.

World War I

• World War I Glass Plate Stereographs, 1914-1929 – This collection contains 368 stereographs that document trench warfare during World War I. Some of the images contain graphic representations of injuries and death from combat. The majority of the stereoscopic views were photographed in France and Belgium, and there are a smaller number of images documenting Germany, Italy, the Macedonian front and Thessaloniki, Greece.

World War II

• World War Two Letters

Military History

• War Posters – The poster was a major tool for broad dissemination of information during war, as countries on both sides of a conflict distributed them widely to garner support, urge action, spread messages, warn of the evils of an enemy, and boost morale.
• People’s Contest Digital Collections – A Civil War Era Digital Archive is a collaborative project of the Penn State Libraries and the Richards Civil War Center. Its mission is to promote research into the lived experience of Pennsylvanian’s between 1851 and 1874. The project website features a unique statewide bibliographic database of hidden collections, digitized manuscripts and contextual essays.
• Sarah Chamberlin Eccleston Diary and Journal, 1864-1916 – The collection contains two volumes, a diary and a journal. Chamberlin was a native of Union County, Pennsylvana. In her 1864 diary she records her leaving Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, and her experience as a nurse at Hospital No. 8 during the American Civil War. She kept a journal sporadically from 1 January 1865 until 7 February 1875. Following the war she established kindergartens in Pennsylvania and Minnesota at a time when such early childhood education was rare in the United States. She later traveled to Argentina to train kindergarten teachers.