- The forty-two color ink drawings presented here were made in 1864 by a Confederate prisoner of war at Point Lookout, Maryland, the Union's largest Civil War prison camp. The drawings highlight the concerns and experiences of prisoners of war; most scenes show prisoners playing cards, buying food, or engaging in barter with food vendors. All of the prison guards depicted are African American, and encounters are recorded between these guards and the Confederate prisoners. The album into which these sketches were pasted also includes photographs of commanding officers at Point Lookout, printed orders to prison guards about the treatment of prisoners, and letters from prisoners to President Lincoln asking to be released. The volume is part of the Naval History Society Collection, which was donated to the New-York Historical Society in 1925 by James Barnes. James Barnes was the son of the Naval History Society's founder, John S. Barnes, whose own father, Brigadier General James Barnes, commanded the Point Lookout prison. John S. Barnes found the album among his father's papers after his death in 1869., Manakee, Harold R. 'Omenhausser's Confederate Prisoners of War Sketch.' Maryland Historical Magazine (June 1958): 177-179 and cover.
- Sarah R. Blunt (born in 1830 or 1831) was a Union nurse during the Civil War. Leaving her home and family in Brooklyn's third ward, Blunt aided soldiers at Point Lookout, Maryland, and Harper's Ferry, Virginia. This collection includes Sarah R. Blunt's letters to her mother, father, sisters, and cousin in Brooklyn, New York, written from hospitals in Point Lookout, Maryland and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (March 4, 1862-July 24, 1865). She writes of her living conditions, duties, and the wounded soldiers.
- The William Oland Bourne collection in the New-York Historical Society's Manuscripts Department includes correspondence, papers, broadsides, and unpublished manuscripts related to his work as a social reformer, editor and author in New York City during the 1850s and 60s. Through his publication, The Soldier's Friend, he sought to aid disabled soldiers by offering prizes to those who had lost their right arms in combat during the American Civil War and had learned to write with their left hands. It is the material relating to this enterprise that was selected from the collection for digitization. The selection includes letters, photographs and papers regarding the competition sponsored by Bourne's publication, The Soldier's Friend, for best specimens of left-handed penmanship by disabled soldiers., William Oland Bourne (1819-1901), social reformer, editor, and author in New York City. He was the editor of 'Soldiers Friend,' a publication hat advocated for the rehabilitation of soldiers who suffered injuries and trauma during the American Civil War. He lived and worked in New York City.