Community and Conflict » About This Site

About This Site

The Springfield-Greene County Library District and several organizations throughout the Ozarks are working together to digitize Civil War era documents. Funded by a Library Services and Technology Act grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Missouri State Library, Community and Conflict strives to expand and enhance scholarship on the Ozarks by documenting how the Civil War changed life in the region.

The Civil War in many areas of the Trans-Mississippi theater have been relatively unnoticed by scholars, and few digitized materials are available from the region. As a result, the larger community does not fully understand the role the Ozarks played in the War. It is the goal of this project to unify collections scattered throughout the Ozarks by making them available to researchers online. This project focuses on the consequences and effects of the war on community, families, economy, and culture.

The Library District partnered with: Dr. William Piston and David Richards at Missouri State University, the History Museum for Springfield-Greene County, the Greene County Archives and Records Center, the Jasper County Records Center, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri Rolla, and the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield to develop the scope and themes of Community and Conflict. Together partners have identified collections within their holdings and beyond.

This digital collection is designed to eliminate barriers to access by providing historical letters, journals, diaries, court cases and other materials to researchers online. These collections tell the stories and explore the many facets of life during the most turbulent time in the history of the Ozarks.

Project staff developed a planning and development manual for digitization projects to provide insight to the logistical operations of digitization projects, tips for selecting and evaluating collections, guidelines for scanning, metadata and transcriptions, and strategies for building strong partnerships with other organizations. The Library District offers this resource to assist other institutions with their digitization projects.