THE ENTIRE COLLECTION

TOPICS RIPE FOR Further Research and PUBLICATIONS

• A book on The Life and Times of Thomas Jackson.
  All the considerable work of assembling sources has already been done leading to this being  a prime opportunity to edit all this material into a book that will be used to reinforce the value and importance of the holdings in the Library of Congress.
• A strong white voice supporting black rights intended to reinforce abolition sentiments in England.
  In several letters if this collection, Thomas Jackson shows himself to be an unambiguous advocate for Black rights and a powerful critic of many of the laws and practices of white citizens. His respect for free Blacks whom he employed further reflects his consistently in speaking up for their equality.
• One man’s detailed take on what he heard, saw and experienced in Reading, PA during the Civil War
  The majority of the Thomas Jackson trove of letters were written while he was a resident in Reading, PA and include much contemporary information
• How a polarized population in a northern city interacted in responding to the continuation of slavery and developments in the civil war.
• The changes in Northern cities when Lee’s forces entered Pennsylvania in 1863.
• The scam of selling Northern sympathizers coded signs “to protect them when/ if Confederate forces arrive in the neighborhood.”
• Enlarging and consolidating existing local history records for the Reading, PA region before, during and after the civil war.
• English girls’ Boarding School Life in 1830s.
  The collection contains 19 long and dutiful letters from  a young girl, Elizabeth Slater to her parents while she was living away from home in a boarding school. They show in detail the preoccupations and expectations of a “good education” for girls at a time when were rarely educated.
• Rope making: Ancient tools that changed the way the world works.