The Continuing War

THE CONTINUING WAR by James I. Robertson, Jr. The National Civil War Centennial Commission has embarked on the largest single pubUcations program ever undertaken in any one field of American history. At a meeting of delegates from thirty-one state centennial commissions held in Washington, January 31-February 1, 1962, new National Commission Chairman Allan Nevins announced details of the program. Concerted writing will be done in three major and relatively neglected fields of Civil War history. At the same time, compilation and pubUcation of the papers of two outstanding Civil War figures will be initiated. Several weU-known historians have already agreed to participate in the program, and the enthusiasm across the nation for the project in general has proven an endorsement of this new goal of the Commission. Heading the Ust of this new program are three undertakings in the field of bibUography. One will be "A Guide to the Study of the Civil War"and wiU consist of a descriptive, cross-indexed bibUography of the more than 50,000 books on the Civil War period. While this multi-volume Usting will be more inclusive than the outdated Harvard Guide, it will not include regimental studies currently being compiled by Charles E. Dornbusch and pubUshed by the New York City Public Library. The very scope of this bibUography precludes its completion during the centennial years. Yet Commission officials are hopeful that a board ofeditors can begin work on the monumental task within the next few months. The second project in this field wiU be a similar bibUography of extant manuscriptsources in state archives, historical societies, and other major depositories. This listing wiU likewise be cross-indexed for easy reference . A third bibUography to be published will list the multitude of significant articles in magazines, journals, and other periodicals. This listing wiU include articles pubUshed over the past 100 years and will be arranged topicaUy with an index of names and places. To be included in this bibUography are articles from such periodicals as the Confederate Veteran, Southern Historical Society Papers, and The Land We Love. The National Commission is hopeful that supplementary volumes to each of the three bibliographies will be published at regular intervals in years to come. 228 A "Guide Series" is the second major project of the Commission. Planned in this category are a one-volumeguide to aUimportantbattlefields— to be written with the aid of national parks and national monument services; a one-volume guide to historic homes and pubUc buildings with war associations; and assistance to the National Archives in the compilation and pubUcation of its topical guide to the Official Records. The largest strides to date have occurred in the Commission's third pubUcations program. This is an "Impact Series"—a set of scholarly volumes , each 300-350 words in length, and discussing in detail the impact of the CivilWar on specificphasesofAmerican life. AlfredA. Knopf will pubUsh the series in uniform type and binding. Among those already contractedfor volumes in this series are: Paul Gates, Cornell University: Impact of the War on Agriculture; William Greenfield, University of New Hampshire: Impact on Business Organization and Leadership; Merle Curti, University of Wisconsin: Poverty, Crime, Charities, and Corrections; Richard HarweU, Bowdoin College: Entertainment and Recreation; Dr. W. F. Norwood of Linda Loma University and Dr. W. B. Bean, University of Iowa: Medicine, Surgery, and Public Health; Daniel Aaron, Smith College: Literature and General Culture; D. W. Brogan, Cambridge University: Impact of the War on Europe; A. Hunter Dupree , University of California: Science and Technology; Harold Hyman, University of California at Los Angeles: Constitutional and Statutory Law and Interpretation; James I. Robertson, Jr., Civil War Centennial Commission: Impact of the War on Northern memoirs and war writings (the volume to be entitled "The North to Posterity" and to be modeled on Douglas Freeman's simüar study for the Southern side). Other volumes in this series will treat of the impact of the war on the position and outlook of women, on labor and Uving standards, on immigration and internal population movements, on state and national governments , and on moral forces—including ethics in business and poUtics as well as reform movements and reUgion in general. The...