Special Collections houses numerous collections relating to the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Primarily consisting of letters and diaries, some of the collections also include photographs, postal covers, account books, and other ephemera. The letters are generally written from soldiers at the front or in military hospitals to family members at home in upstate New York.
Regiments represented include the 14th United States Infantry; 27th, 85th, 104th, 109th, 121st, 129th, 153rd, 168th, 179th and 182nd New York Infantry; 3rd New York Cavalry; 1st New York Cavalry (Veteran); 50th New York Engineers; 8th New York Heavy Artillery; and the 69th New York Volunteer Artillery. Other writers served in the U.S. Military Telegraph Service or in medical practice at military hospitals.
Notable individual collections include the , which document nearly all of Robinson’s service in the 85th New York Infantry, including several months in Andersonville Prison as a prisoner of war; the , containing forty-five letters written to Anna Wilcox by four of her cousins during their service; and the , documenting the activities of this veterans’ association through the early years of the twentieth century.
Material from several of the collections has been digitized and is available via .