American Civil War Digital Collections. The Special Collections Department at the University of Delaware Library houses many unique primary sources related to the American Civil War. These include items such as letters, prints, documents, photographs and significant Abraham Lincoln materials. The American Civil War Digital Collections currently highlight the following collections: Letters and Diaries, Autograph Abraham Lincoln Documents, Alexander Gardner Photographs of Lincoln Conspirators, Pierce Family Papers, and Rosenthal Lithographic Prints of Civil War Encampments (described below). As the American Civil War Digital Collections at the University of Delaware Library continues to develop, they will be added to this online source.

American Civil War Digital Collections: Rosenthal Lithographic Prints of Civil War Encampments comprises 23 color lithographs printed by Rosenthal's Lith. of Philadelphia between 1861 and 1865.The views are a part of a large number of Civil War battle and camp scenes published by the company. Over one hundred and fifty views of specific battles and encampments were made from pencil drawings and hand-colored after printing. Although not signed, the images are credited to Max Rosenthal, who had a pass that gave him access to every camp of the Army of the Potomac.

Rosenthal's Lith. was an important lithographic printing company, active in Philadelphia from 1852 to 1884. The company included four Polish-born brothers who had immigrated to America: Louis, Morris, Simon, and Max Rosenthal. Max Rosenthal (1833-1918), who was skilled in etching, illustration, and lithography, was the artistic backbone of the group. Born in Poland, he was sent to Paris at age thirteen and apprenticed to the lithographer Martin Thurwanger. Both Rosenthal and Thurwanger immigrated to the United States around 1849 or 1850 to produce lithographs of scientific subjects for the government. Thurwanger returned to France and Rosenthal worked briefly for the lithographer Napoleon Sarony.

Viewing the Lithographs

Use the links above to access the ContentDM Search page. To view all the lithographs in the collection, go to the CONTENTdm Browse page. To view all of the lithographs in CONTENTdm in the same order as listed in the online finding aid, set your Preferences to sort by the Identifier field. There are 23 lithographs, each one numbered (1-23).