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In 1995 retired businessman John Adler hired indexers to digitize and organize his rare complete set of Harper’s Weekly, dating from 1857 to 1916. While the entire run of the periodical is restricted to those who have purchased access to Adler’s database, he has made a significant portion of it available free online at harpweek.com.

This influential publication began in New York City in the middle of the turbulent 19th century. In 1850 Fletcher Harper used experience he’d gained in his brothers’ printing shop, Harper and Brothers (today HarperCollins) to start Harper’s Monthly. He launched Harper’s Weekly seven years later.

Harper’s Weekly was known for its moderate stance on the controversial issues of the day, which appealed to its middle- and upper-class readership in the North as well as in the South. By 1860, however, the paper’s editors clearly favored the Republicans, and though they were slow to back Abraham Lincoln, the publication eventually supported the president and his defense of the Union.

Over the next four years, Harper’s Weekly was a key source of information for Northerners trying to comprehend the war and its ramifications. It continued in this role postwar, guiding readers throughout the Victorian age.

The collections presented on this Web site serve as a lens through which readers can better understand and interpret late–19th century America. Readers curious about presidential races between 1860 and 1912 can find scores of cartoons ac companied by clear, accurate historical commentary. Other cartoons show how Americans saw Union and Confederate soldiers, African Americans, immigrants, Catholics, native Americans and “proper” Victorian women.

For teachers trying to illustrate the centrality of slavery in the war, there are useful subsites on harpweek.com dedicated to the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, showing how Americans debated these landmark legislative changes at the time.

Novelists and English teachers, mean while, will enjoy the subsite created by University of Iowa English professor Kathleen Diffley. She has selected 15 of the best short stories to appear in Harper’s Weekly during the war to show how these tales shaped readers’ understanding of military life, how the war divided families and influenced children, the complexities of guerrilla warfare and more. History teachers will appreciate the commentary and lesson plans created by Eric Rothschild, who used cartoons from the paper to help students understand why the North won, as well as Ku Klux Klan hearings and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

On the whole, harpweek.com is very user-friendly. Viewers might occasionally click on the “Home” button and be stuck in a subsite. But that’s a minor inconvenience given the vast resources Adler has made accessible online.

 

Originally published in the December 2009 issue of Civil War Times. To subscribe, click here