Civil War Resources
at the New York State Library

1864 Currier and Ives lithograph of a young soldier in a blue Union Army uniform posing with his rifle and bayonet in front of a cannon.
The Soldier Boy,
"On Duty."
(Currier & Ives, 1864)

The New York State Library holds an extensive collection of material on the American Civil War in print, microform, and online formats. Civil War materials available at the State Library include: regimental and military histories, personal narratives, military records, general references, bibliographies, annual reports of the New York State Adjutant-General (which include registers of New York regiments), rosters of Confederate and Union soldiers, the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, documents and reports of federal agencies, lists of pensioners and numerous primary documents, such as letters, diaries, citations, personal and family papers, broadsides, prints, music, maps and atlases.

Bibliography of Selected Print Resources

Manuscripts and Special Collections (MSC)

Microform Collections

  • CIS U.S. Serial Set
  • Civil War Letters, 1861-1865, copied from the Fredonia Censor
  • Civil War Unit Histories: Regimental Histories and Personal Narratives
  • Collected Correspondence of Lydia Maria Childs, 1817-1880
  • Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of New York
  • Newspapers
  • Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census, 1890, Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War
  • Travels in Confederate States
  • U.S. executive branch documents, 1789-1909

NYSL Digital Collections 

Online Databases Available at the NYS Library

  • African American Experience
  • African American Newspapers
  • America History and Life
  • Ancestry (Library Edition)
  • Army Official Records (CD)
  • Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective 
  • New York Times – Historical
Last Updated: September 14, 2012 /cj