Milne Library is very pleased to announce the release of its latest digital collection: The Civil War Letters of Elisha Randolph Robinson.
This collection is a digital version of Civil War Letters held in the Milne Library Special Collections which were donated to the College by Paul and Lynn Kelly of Portland, OR. The original letters were donated with type-written transcripts which are included in the digital collection.
The letters are correspondence from soldier and sergeant E. Randolph Robinson to various members of his family during his nearly three years serving with the Union army in the U.S. Civil War. The bulk of his letters were sent from locations in Virginia, including Suffolk, Manassas Junction, Culpeper and Harpers Ferry. Robinson was present at Appomattox when Lee surrendered and wrote of what he witnessed among the troops that day in the field. Most of the letters written to him were from family members in LaGrange and other locations in New York state and include several written prior to and after Robinson's Civil War service.
Library staff and work study student, Sage Asquith, began work on the digital collection in the fall 2024 semester. Asquith digitized all 168 letters, edited PDF files for all 168 transcripts, and took meticulous care in editing and converting PDF and TIFF files to ensure proper digital preservation and access. Milne Library would also like to thank Maureen “Moe” Weinman, Tracy Paradis, Allison Brown, and Steve Dresbach for their efforts in making this digital collection openly accessible to all.
The Civil War Letters of Elisha Randolph Robinson can be accessed in KnightScholar.
Milne Library will be hosting a trial of the database, Statista, from March 24 through April 24.
During the trial, students, faculty, and staff are welcome to explore the database, consider possible applications, identify strengths and weaknesses, and share feedback with Alana Nuth, head of Collection Management (nuth@geneseo.edu).
Statista offers a robust search interface and access to more than one million statistics from more than 40,000 trusted sources, which cover more than 1,000 markets.
Read more details about the Statista database (PDF).
Access the Statista trial database HERE.