Web Site Review

Documenting the American South (DAS) is a rich archive of sources on southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial period (so we are told) through the early twentieth century. Numerous recollections, images, broadsides, and musical lyrics evoke the southern perspective on the worlds of the Old and New South. The various texts are well chosen to amplify the often muted voices of the past. DAS consists of five projects: "First-Person Narratives of the American South"; "Library of Southern Literature"; "North American Slave Narratives" (these are printed narratives of former slaves, not the Federal Writers' Project collection); "The Southern Homefront, 1861–1865"; and "The Church in the Southern Black Community." Each section includes an explanatory introduction with substantial redundancy of text. In the planning stage is an addition that will feature "North Caroliniana." DAS includes 971 books and manuscripts. The archive also contains a thousand images of currency, manuscript letters, maps, broadsides, title pages, illustrations, and photographs. Full citations of all entries are included in bibliographies arranged chronologically and alphabetically. Thematically, the site focuses upon slavery, civil war, and African American religion. Scholars guided by an Editorial Board for Documenting the American South have selected the texts from the premier southern collections in the library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library have funded the various projects of the archive.

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