If you have spent any time researching the Civil War, you have no doubt come across and made use of the 128-volume Official Records of the War of the Rebellion of the Union and Confederate Armies, commonly referred to as the OR.
Few people, however, have questioned how this massive collection of primary sources came to be. What motivated the federal government to create an archive devoted to the Civil War? Who were the individuals responsible for its creation and how did they go about selecting the documents included?
Few people have asked these and other questions about its creation and yet few archival collections have had more of an influence on how we research the Civil War and, more importantly, shaping what we think we know about it.
Today I am joined by historian Yael Sternhell, who teaches history at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Her book, War on Record: The Archive and the Afterlife of the Civil War is a must read for anyone interested in how the federal government set about preserving the Civil War’s vast record, the eventual creation of the OR, its continued influence on Civil War history as well as larger questions about how we think about and utilize the archive.
I hope you enjoy our conversation.
A Conversation With Historian Yael Sternhell