The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the launch of  "Union or
Secession: Virginians Decide,"  an online resource that explores
Virginia's secession crisis as it unfolded between the 1860 presidential
campaign and the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861. "Union or
Secession" may be viewed under the "Online Classroom" section of
Virginia Memory at:
http://www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/union_or_secession/
<http://www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/union_or_secession/> 
 
Drawn primarily from the collections of the Library of Virginia, "Union
or Secession: Virginians Decide"  presents approximately 225 private
letters, newspaper extracts, public debates, and other records that
allow Virginians from the Eastern Shore to the Ohio River who
experienced the crisis to explain their thoughts, fears, and decisions
in their own words. "Union or Secession"  also contains the life stories
of forty Virginians who experienced slavery, the sectional tensions of
the 1850s, the secession crisis, and the split of their state into two.
Follow the story through the narrative of Virginians Decide, or explore
the people and documents in chronological sequence, by geographic
region, or by topic to learn how the crisis affected free and enslaved
residents of Virginia and how they made their decisions and sometimes
changed their minds.

An additional feature is Callie's Mailbag, which includes a selection of
about two dozen letters from the Library of Virginia's collection of
Anthony Family Papers (1785-1952). We present these letters from the
perspective of their recipient, a young woman of Campbell County who in
1860 had recently left school and who was in frequent correspondence
with family and friends, some of them in northern Mississippi . We have
imagined this well-informed young woman commenting on current events and
sharing information through a social-networking site between December
1859 and July 1861.  

This online source complements the Library's exhibitions "Union or
Secession: Virginia's Decide," open 6 December 2010 through 29 October
2011, and "The Struggle to Decide: Virginia's Secession Crisis" at the
Virginia State Capitol from 13 December 2010 through 29 October 2011.

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Sara B. Bearss
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
Senior Editor, Dictionary of Virginia Biography
The Library of Virginia
800 E. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219-8000
 
Friends don't let friends split infinitives.
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