The Daniel Burke Library is pleased to announce the availability of its digital resources website. The resources currently available are Civil War materials, largely related to the 117th N.Y.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was one of four infantries from Oneida County.
The contents include:
- 925 enlistment papers from 1862, covering about half of the members of the 117th N.Y.S. regiment.
- A collection of 57 letters written by George W. Pearl from 1862 to 1865. Pearl was a private in the 117th N.Y.S. Infantry Regiment, Company F. His parents lived in Clinton, New York.
- The journal of private John Humphrey, of Utica, New York, written from 1863 to 1865 while he served in the 117th, Company B.
- Thirteen reunion invitations issued by the 117th Regiment N.Y.S.V. Association to attend annual reunions of the 117th between 1899 and 1918. The invitations typically include a message from a member of the reunion committee, a list of association officers, order of program, a mortuary report, and directions to the venue.
- A collection of 23 colorful silk ribbons issued at annual reunions of the 117th. The ribbons usually show the regiment name, town and date of the reunion.
- A collection of 67 letters written from 1862-1865 by Henry Welch of North Hebron, Washington Co., N.Y., a corporal in the 123rd New York Infantry Regiment. The letters are written to his father and mother, his brother and sisters and an uncle and aunt.
- An additional 240 letters will be added by Fall 2004.
The enlistment forms are searchable by name, town, state, country of birth, occupation, place of enlistment, consentor and company.
The letters have been both digitized and transcribed. They can be browsed chronologically and are keyword searchable on the full text.
The journal has also been digitized and transcribed. It can be browsed page by page. We anticipate making it keyword searchable in the future.
It is our hope that anyone interested in the Civil War will find these resources useful. We see potential applications not only for researchers, but also for high school students, genealogists, local history enthusiasts and those with a curiosity about the Civil War, especially as depicted by local soldiers.
This work has been funded in part by grants from the Central New York Library Resources Council (CLRC) through the Regional Bibliographic Data Bases and Interlibrary Resources Sharing Program of the State of New York.
Hamilton College Library owes a special note of thanks to the children of Edward M. and Doris Alberding Turley of Clayville, N.Y., who donated the 117th enlistment forms to the Library in 2001.
