Publishing the War: Different Types of Sources

The Haskell Monroe Collection: Life in the Confederacy consists of many different types of primary sources. Several items are published in magazines and journals, many of which also include scholarly historical context.

While these sources are extraordinary accounts of the Civil War and its aftermath, it is essential to consider these materials as products of their respective publication dates. We encourage readers to note that many sources in the collection were produced after the war and thus reflect the “Lost Cause” mythology that took root in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For example, the Confederate Veteran, a publication from which several of the sources are drawn, played a key role in developing and propagating the “Lost Cause” idea that the aims of the Confederacy were noble, and that the outcome of 1865 was the regrettable result of the North’s advantages of manpower and resources. For more on the Lost Cause or the Confederate Veteran, explore the "Historical Events in the Confederate Veteran" exhibit, created by University of Missouri student and Haskell Monroe Collection intern Catherine Hutinett.