Collection Guide
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Civil War Covers -- Scrapbook
Wyles SC 585
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Table of contents
Title: Civil War Covers -- Scrapbook,
Date (inclusive): ca. early 1860s
Collection Number: Wyles SC 585
Extent:
.1 linear feet
(1 folder)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Vault
Language:
English.
None.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Civil War Covers -- Scrapbook. Wyles SC 585. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Undetermined.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains a scrapbook with approximately 136 unused Civil War Union covers (envelopes), ca. early 1860s. All
covers are illustrated, many printed in one or more colors, usually blue or red. Many are patriotic in nature, portraying
figures such as Washington and Lincoln. Others are printed with caricatures or political cartoons, accompanied by slogans,
often derogatory towards the South, secessionist states, and Jefferson Davis. Examples include an image of a hangman's noose,
with the caption "Good 'Noose' for Traitors"; a drawing of a skull and snake, with the caption "Vanity, Treachery & Death.
Secession Emblems"; and an illustration of a zebra, with the caption "Why, here's Jeff Davis. How is this? He's taken off
his skin. Ah, yes, I see, he only was a Jackass who stepped in".
Printers represented in the collection include Brown & Ryan (New York), Gay & Hollingshead (New York),T. Lynch (New York),
Magee (Philadelphia), D. Murphy's Son (New York), Alfred S. Robinson (Hartford), Reagles & Co. (New York), William Ridenburgh,
John Ross (Baltimore), S. C. Upham (Philadelphia), Union Envelope Depot (New York), J. G. Wells (New York), Young, Lockwood
& Co. (Buffalo), and S. H. Zahm & Co. (Lancaster, Pa)
UCSB Special Collections has other two other collections containing Civil War covers, namely:
- Civil War Covers. Wyles SC 922.
- Confederate Collection. Union and Confederate covers. Wyles Mss 50.
- Grant [Campbell] Collection, 1864-1865. More than 300 mainly unused Union covers. Wyles, Mss 49.
Civil War covers were produced in large numbers and many survive. Other institutions with collections of covers include the
Connecticut Historical Society and Western Reserve Historical Society, both of which have descriptions on their websites.