New Orleans Daily Picayune, Jan 1864-Mar 7, 1865

[vbetts]

Well, I spent my three-day weekend scanning through two reels of the New Orleans Daily Picayune (January 1864-March 7, 1865), looking for something that I didn't find. But while I had the film, I pulled together a file of articles, mostly civilian, which I've posted at:
http://www.uttyl.edu/vbetts/new_orleans_picayune_64-65.htm
All sorts of things--fashion, humor, songs, poetry, POWs, soldier gals, cigarettes (don't tell anyone!), holidays, Mardi Gras, dances, clairvoyants, Selma, flags, monkeys up hoops, bullfrog hunters, French Market, chewing gum, fighting black Confederates, a couple of weird cross-gender things, eating at Willard's, refugees, seamstresses, ethics of cosmetics, mascot dog, haunted house in Vicksburg, Missouri barbecue, beards, Mexican fairs (and those little sugar cones), dueling with brass keys, description of Central Texas, a defense of minstrels, personal ads, female prison in Mass., etc.

Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net

[KathyBradford]

Wow, Vicki!

You researched more in three days than many people do in a lifetime. Thank you for making such a vast array of 1860's life accessible.

How do you transcribe it so quickly?

Thank you,

[vbetts]

I've got my computer right next to my microfilm reader, so I just read down the pages until I find something interesting. It only takes a couple of issues to get the arrangement of any paper--telegraph stuff, local, advertisements. The advertisements don't change very often, and the telegraphed stuff is all military/political and can usually be found in any history book. What's best for my purposes in any newspaper are the local information and the human interest stuff. Oh, and the police reports if there are any! What a hoot! So I can usually limit close examination to only one to two pages, with a glance over the rest. I just keep in mind the topics that pop up here and on cw-reenactors as well as other themes in current Civil War social history. And it helps that I'm a pretty quick typist.

Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net

[SparksBird]

Vickie,
Thanks for the info. I am glad to see that you have found some information that is defending the poor minstrel musician.

Rick Musselman