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Head Quarters, Co. “A”, 129th Ills. Vol. Infty.
Gallatin, Tenn., June 28th 1863

Dear Wife

Sunday has passed. I hoped to have time to write to the S. S. Pic Nic to-day, but was disappointed. After being relieved from guard it was time for church, & after church I found some blanks on my desk waiting for me. I made them out & spent a short time looking up a sermon & then Dress Parade.¹

I preached to-night from Isaiah, 26th Chap. & 4th verse to a very large congregation, house full to overflowing & had unusual liberty. I hope done some good. Oh, how I wished to be in the pulpit at Pontiac to-night with your eyes looking up into mine. I tried to imagine you were here. Bill Russell went with me.² I feel very happy; God has been good. I always feel well after trying to preach. I thought to-night of the little children who were wont to gather around the alter & say “Our Father Who Art in Heaven,” a type of angelic purity; of the time standing by my Mother’s knee I first learned to love Jesus. Dear Mary, those are among the fondest recollections of my youth. As soon as our boy can comprehend, teach him to love Jesus. I know you will. May God help us to do our duty & make him obedient & loving. Let our prayers ascend in his behalf.

No word yet from Father, I feel very anxious to hear from him.³ Mrs. Smith is not enjoying good health. Allen heard from Lou yesterday; she arrived home safe. How is Sis & Mrs. Remick getting along Spiritually? Is Sis punctual in attendance at S. School, Church & class? Use your influence to help her along. I feel some anxiety for her. Tell me how Abba & Lida are?⁴ Are they study [studious] or are they carried away with fashion & self importance? I feel a very deep interest in their spiritual welfare & have prayed for them much. Remember me to all the little ones.

Give me all the information about the result of the Pic Nic. I will send my Gold Watch home by the first opportunity; one of the wheels is broken. If you wish to carry it with you, get it fixed, & I would rather it were running than not. I bought another yesterday.

As it is getting late, I must get my light out. May God bless you all. Give my love to all the family. I hope to hear from you soon. Kiss Frankie for me.

Good night.

Yours Ever,
J. F. Culver

1. Beginning on Tuesday, June 23, the regiment fell out for reveille at 4 A.M., guard mount at 7:30 A.M., dinner at 12 noon, retreat at 7 P.M., and tattoo at 8 P.M. Dress parades were held twice a week, on Saturdays and Sundays, at 6:30 P.M. There were two weekly battalion drills, held from 4:30 to 6 P.M. on Mondays and Fridays. Regimental Papers, 129th Illinois, NA.
2. William Russell, the former sheriff of Livingston County, had been employed by the regimental sutler Edwin Maples as his assistant.
3. Soldiers of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s II Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, had been in occupation of Carlisle, Mr. Culver’s home town, since June 27. Hannah Culver on July 9 reported, “Father’s health is not improving. He is better one day and worse the next. He seems to be wearing away. He is very weak and does not eat more than necessary to sustain life.” Hannah Culver to J.F.C., July 9, 1863, Culver Collection.
4. Abba (Abigail) and Lida were the teenage daughters of J. W. and Sarah DeNormandie Remick. Their father was a prosperous farmer and clerk of the Livingston County Circuit Court, while their mother was a superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School. Eighth Census, Livingston County, State of Illinois, NA; History of Livingston County, pp. 315, 648-649.

Head Quarters, Co. “A”, 129th Ills.
Gallatin, Tenn., June 27th 1863

Dear Mary

I have been on duty to-day & am to-night. I see by the papers this evening that Carlisle is in possession of the Rebels,¹ & I greatly fear the shock will be too great for Father to bear.² I feel very anxious to hear from home which at present is impossible.

The invasion need not interfere with your visit to New York.³ &, as soon as the way is open, you can go from there to Carlisle if you can make up your mind to go there at all. Do not let the loss of your trunks interfere with your arrangements if they should not be found in time, as I presume you can easily replenish your wardrobe in Pontiac. I telegraphed to Louisville & received information that the trunks were not in the Depot there. I have also written to Jeffersonville & will write to Indianapolis & Chicago. Tell me where you lost track of them.

I hope you will not worry about them. I have no papers that are of sufficient importance as to cause you any uneasiness; while I feel quite sure that they will be found. I feel happy that you have got home safe, & I hope you will soon feel fresh & blooming as ever.

While up-town [Gallatin] to-day I called at Kings. The family are all well. I did not see any one but Mrs. King, Maggie & Marion.⁴ The latter looks rather worse than when you left & is quite sick.

I shall try if I have time to-morrow & write to the S. Schools. I hope to hear soon from you about the condition of ours. I hope Sister Maggie has sufficiently recovered as to be able to get around.⁵ Give her my love & a kiss also [for] little Mary.⁶

I wonder if Frankie has forgotten me yet. I should like to see him. Will it become necessary to wean him soon? What did Mother [Mrs. Murphy] say of your case? When does she expect to start East? Tell me all the news. Tell Abba Remick I directed the letter I wrote to her & Lida to Evanston.

I thought as your last letter was so long on the way I should receive another to-day. Don’t forget your resolution to write every day. You see I am doing well as this is the second letter today.

I often think now of many things I might have spoken of while you were here, but while you were here I thought so little of Pontiac that I forgot to ask you all I wanted to know. Now that you are there, my mind is with you all the time.

What is the condition of the Churches there? Do not forget to remind Bro. Fisher of the renewal of my license.⁷ Oh, how I would like to be with you to-morrow; we would go to S. School & Church. I seem to live old times over again, & the recollection of the last year with you makes me very happy. May God bless you.

I lament my inability to render your stay with me here more comfortable. No opportunities to get away from the dull camp, [so] your life must have been most intolerable. You do not know how often I felt grieved over the condition of affairs, of the time I had to leave you at Richland all alone, & often was absent for days, & all the time you alone.

Dear Mary, if God spares my life to return, I will strive to make your life very happy that you may forget your grievances in this land of Dixie. May God give us a long & happy reunion. I hope you will pray for me. I think of it almost every night when I go to bed, & I love to feel that my wife has prayed for me.

Kiss Frankie for me. I wish I could give you the kiss to give him. Write soon & often. May God keep your heart pure as he ever has & make you supremely happy & keep us all under his kind protecting care for continual usefulness in this life & the full enjoyment of a “Home in Heaven.”

Good night.

Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. In the first week of May 1863, General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia had defeated the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville. To capitalize on this success. General Lee in the second week of June put his columns in motion toward Pennsylvania. Lee’s II Corps, sweeping up the Shenandoah Valley, defeated the Federals at Winchester on June 14-15, crossed the Potomac at Williamsport, and, advancing by way of Chambersburg, entered Carlisle on June 27. Wilbur S. Nye, Here Come the Rebels (Baton Rouge, 1965), pp. 301-310.
2. Joseph Culver, J.F.C.’s father, was 72 years old. He was a retired farmer, living in Carlisle’s East Ward, and in 1860 valued his real estate at $25,000 and his personal property at $5,000. Eighth Census, Cumberland County, State of Pennsylvania, NA.
3. Mary Culver’s New York State goal was New Hartford, in Oneida County, several hundred miles northeast of Lee’s invasion route.
4. Maggie (Margarette) and Marion were two of the children of Charles and Mary King. Eighth Census, Sumner County, State of Tennessee, NA.
5. Maggie Utley had recently given birth to a son. Culver, “Robert Murphy and Some of His Descendants,” p. 99.
6. Mary was the Utleys’ one-year-old daughter. Ibid.
7. Bro. Fisher may have been Samuel Fisher, a 53-year-old resident of Pontiac Township. A widower, Fisher in 1860 was living with his three children. Eighth Census, Livingston County, State of Illinois, NA.

Congratulations to Kimberly Bloedel, Head of the Marvin A. Pomerantz Business Library! Kim has been serving as interim director of the library for the past 6 months, and she has served as the Business Reference Librarian since 2006. She will now take charge of the 275-seat, state-of-the-art facility in the Tippie College of Business. Please welcome her to her new position.

University of Iowa College of Medicine Historical Photograhs are now available through the Iowa Digital Library.  The collection includes 194 images from 1844-2010.  The collection is a composite of several collections held at the Hardin Library including two boxes of lantern glass slides from ca. 1910.  The original slides are now housed in the University Archives.  Work to document and compile these images has been active in the Rare Book Room since 2012.  It is with great pleasure that we can now make these images broadly available.

Donna Hirst, Curator
John Martin Rare Book Room   June 26, 2013

Head Quarters, Co. “A”, 129th Ills. Vol.
Gallatin, Tenn., June 27th 1863.

My dear Wife

I recd. your letter of Monday last night.¹ I hope you will give yourself no uneasiness about your trunks. I think they will get through all safe.² I telegraphed to Louisville & Jeffersonville last evening, &, if they are not found there, I will telegraph to Indianapolis & Chicago to-day.³ I will order them forward[ed] by Express when they are found.

I am glad you have got through safe & hope you may both soon be rested & well. I did not think you would get through your visit so soon, but you will take much pleasure I hope in your trip East.⁴

It has been raining very hard for the past 4 or 5 days, & the ground is very wet. I was detailed to go Scouting again last night but fortunately was relieved. Capt. Hoskins was quite sick the past two days but is much better today.

I have had no letters since you left except yours. The Post master is about to leave with the mail so I must close. We are all well. Give my love to all. Tell Maggie I think Frank Culver a very good name for her boy.⁵ With many kind remembrances for all our friends & the prayer that God may abundantly bless you, I am, as ever,

Your affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. Mary Culver’s letter of June 22, along with others written between June 22 and Aug. 6, 1863, are missing from the Culver Collection.
2. On her return from Gallatin to Pontiac, Mary Culver’s trunks had gone astray.
3. As the trunks traveled separately, J.F.C. correctly deduced that they had been misdirected at one of the transfer points. Louisville was the terminus of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, while Jeffersonville, Indianapolis, and Chicago were other transfer points on the route by which Mary Culver had returned to Pontiac.
4. Mary Culver planned a trip after a brief rest to New York and Pennsylvania to visit friends and relatives.
5. The Utleys named the baby Albert Allen. Culver, “Robert Murphy and Some of His Descendants,” p. 99.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

This spring and summer in Iowa City has brought lots of different types of weather and with that lots of different events to be prepared for.  We were in a severe drought for most the winter and early spring, then the rains started.  At the end of May as the river was rising outside our back door the library and the University began to put its flood preparation plan into place.  In the Main Library that meant covering floor drains, moving supplies around, and moving high priority books out of the basement.

 

 

Since the Flood of 2008, the library has moved all of the special collection material from the basement.  The only remaining books are on compact shelving.  It was determined that we would need to move all of the items on the lowest shelves to higher ground.  With the help of library staff volunteers under the direction of Circulation Staff we were able to move the books to the 4th floor.

 

 

 

 

 

But just as we thought we would be in the clear more storms rolled in!  During a particularly bad storm all library staff and patrons were moved into the lower level to ride out a tornado warning.  As we began to filter back into our top floor work areas we realized that we had sprung a couple of leaks.

Thanks to careful planning and lots of help we sprang into action and grabbed our trusty disaster cart.  We were able to remove books from shelves and look them over for any signs of water.  We placed tarps over the area and called in facilities services. Though the library didn’t end up taking on any water from the river it was a great feeling to be so prepared and not rushed.

Although we are looking at weekly forecast full of rain, we are confident that our preparations and readiness will keep our collections dry!

With the decline of print, databases have become the primary way publishers delivers journals. But databases are designed for searching, not reading. BrowZine works by uniting articles from databases into complete journals, then arranging them by subject on a library-branded newsstand. The result is a revolutionary new way to browse, read and monitor scholarly journals. All in a tablet format.

• From your iPad, download BrowZine from the App Store and install it.
• When you open BrowZine for the first time, you will see a list of schools, please select “University of Iowa”; then, enter your University of Iowa credentials (the same you would use with the proxy service to access resources from off campus).
• Select the subject areas and start browsing!

If you have previously downloaded BrowZine and have been using our Open Access library, you will first need to log out of that library.  To do so, open BrowZine and tap the Settings button at the bottom; in the Settings page, tap the Logout/Change Library button in the upper right.  The list of libraries will appear, please follow the above steps.

Learn more about BrowZine at http://thirdiron.com/browzine/.

Please send additional comments to Janna Lawrence.

Online access is now available to Zebrafish, starting with volume 1, issue 1.

Zebrafish is “ the only peer-reviewed journal to focus on the zebrafish, which has numerous valuable features as a model organism for the study of vertebrate development. Due to its prolific reproduction and the external development of the transparent embryo, the zebrafish is a prime model for genetic and developmental studies, as well as research in toxicology and genomics. While genetically more distant from humans, the vertebrate zebrafish nevertheless has comparable organs and tissues, such as heart, kidney, pancreas, bones, and cartilage.”

The journal can accessed through the links in this blog post or by searching the library catalog or the e-journal search page. It is indexed in the PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science citation databases. Off-campus access is available to students, faculty and staff who use the Libraries’ links and sign in with a HawkID and password.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Zebrafish, please contact the Sciences Library at lib-sciences@uiowa.edu or 335-3083.

Want some help writing your next paper?  Come to Hardin Library’s class on RefWorks and learn about this web-based bibliographic management tool.  You’ll learn:

• how to import citations from PubMed
• how to enter references
• how to create a quick bibliography
• how to add end and foot notes using Write-n-Cite

RefWorks is available free for anyone affiliated with UI and can be accessed off campus.  Save time if you have to write a paper using RefWorks.

Our next session is:
Tuesday, June 25th, 12:00-1:00 pm (Hardin Library East Information Commons)

Register online (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/workshop/) or call 319-335-9151.

Head Qurs., Co. “A”, 129th Ills. Vol. Infty.
Gallatin, Tenn., June 22nd 1863

Dear Mary

I delayed writing all day Saturday [the 20th] thinking that on Sunday I would write you a long letter, but just as I was preparing to go to church I received orders to go on a Scout. I was in the saddle all day & thus had no opportunity to write. This morning I am detailed as Judge Advocate on a Board of Commission which meets at 9 o’clock.¹ My health is good. Your shawl & a letter from Maggie [Utley] arrived on Thursday, so I presume I heard the news of the birth of the great heir before you did.² They say he looks like Frankie, so he must be a wonderful boy. You will please give my hearty congratulations & a kiss to Maggie. (I wonder if she gets a new dress.)

I will send your shawl this morning by Mr. J. F. Earnhart.³ He stops at Chenoa but will send it along immediately.⁴

I gave Mrs. King part of the cake sent by Mr. Byrne.⁵ I have not seen the girls since you left, but the whole family are well.

[General] Morgan has been near Gallatin with a large force for a few days.⁶ It is hard to tell whether he will attack the Town or not. He is anxious to save his friends in it & knows we will burn it up.

We are all enjoying good health. I feel somewhat lonely but you know that is scarcely admissable in a Soldier’s life, so I am compelled to overcome it. I wished to write to the Liv[ingston] Co. S. S. Union yesterday, but failed the same as I did in writing to you. I thought of several matters of business on Saturday but cannot call them to mind this morning.

The weather is beautiful & not so warm as it was last week. We hear every day that we will march soon but know nothing definite. I have no word from Bro. Johnie yet.⁷ I am waiting anxiously to hear from you.

Mrs. Smith has been sick ever since you left & talks of going home.⁸ Lou [Allen] is well & talks also of going home.⁹ Mrs. Folks has gone.¹⁰ There is considerable danger, & I feel very much more like fighting since Frankie & you are out of harm’s way. I can shoot up Town if necessary, you don’t know how easy.

I had an opportunity to go to Louisville on duty the next day after you left, so if you had been one day later I should have gone with you. But I must close.

I heard of the body of Luther Vandoren.¹¹ It floated down the river on Thursday last, but there being no boats the citizens would not venture in. We may possibly recover it at an Island some ten miles below where we spent yesterday.

The mail has gone, & I must go to the Depot. Give my love to all, remember me to the S. S. I will write soon again. Write to

Your affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. The “Board of Commission” referred to was the one to which J.F.C. had been appointed on Dec. 18, 1862. It was charged with examining and auditing claims of loyal citizens against the United States. Regimental Papers, 129th Illinois, NA.
2. A second child, their first son, had been born to Leander and Margaret Utley. Culver, “Robert Murphy and Some of His Descendants,” p. 99.
3. James F. Earnhart, a 29-year-old gunsmith, had been mustered into service on Sept. 8, 1862, as a private in Company E, 129th Illinois. He was detailed as regimental gunsmith and called Fairbury his home. Compiled Service Records of Union Soldiers, NA.
4. Chenoa is in Livingston County, about 10 miles southwest of Pontiac.
5. Mrs. Mary King was the 35-year-old wife of Charles B. King, the Gallatin undertaker, from whom Mary Culver had rented a room during her four-month visit. It has been impossible to further identify Mr. Byrne.
6. Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan with 3,000 to 4,000 horse-soldiers was camped near Alexandria, reportedly getting ready for a dash on Carthage or to raid into Kentucky. Alexandria was 35 miles southeast of Gallatin. O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXIII, pt. II, pp. 440-441.
7. Brother John Murphy, a quartermaster sergeant in Company M, 1st Illinois Light Artillery, was stationed at Triune, Tenn., 20 miles southeast of Nashville.
8. Mrs. Margaret Smith was the 27-year-old wife of Lt. John W. Smith of Company A. She had traveled from Pontiac in February for a visit with her husband, which had been prolonged by illness.
9. Lou Allen of Newton was the wife of Pvt. Joseph Allen of Company A. Eighth Census, Livingston County, State of Illinois, NA.
10. Mrs. Elmira Folks of Pontiac was the 19-year-old wife of Sgt. Richard D. Folks of Company G. Ibid.
11. Pvt. Luther Vandoren had drowned in the Cumberland River, near Gallatin, on June 10. Compiled Service Records of Union Soldiers, NA.