The Valley of the Shadow

The Valley of the Shadow is a digital history project about the American Civil War, hosted by the University of Virginia, detailing the experiences of Confederate soldiers from Augusta County, Virginia and Union soldiers from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, USA.

William G. Thomas III and Edward L. Ayers, the creators of the project, have called it "an applied experiment in digital scholarship." The site contains scanned copies of four newspapers from each of the counties in addition to those of surrounding cities such as Richmond and New York: the Staunton Spectator (Staunton, Virginia; Whig), the Republican Vindicator (Staunton, Virginia; Democratic), the Franklin Repository and Transcript (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Republican), and the Valley Spirit (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Democratic). Elsa A. Nystrom and Justin A. Nystrom state about the site:

path through the material, following what most closely aligns with their specific interests – “alternative readings” in the words of the authors. Initially, their use of the digital medium seems fairly straightforward until one realizes just how much is there, and as an extension, how much one might miss inadvertently.