About the Collection
The Crisis of the Union enables students and other researchers to use primary documents in their study of political, economic, social, religious, racial and gender issues from the Jacksonian Era to the Gilded Age. The collection is comprised of pamphlets, books, broadsides, cartoons, clippings, paintings, maps, and other print memorabilia about America from circa 1830 to 1880.

Items are drawn primarily from the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia. The contents were first identified for inclusion in the Library Company's Exhibit, "The Origins of the Republican Party," Phillip Lapsansky, curator, Robert Francis Engs and Randall Miller, historical consultants.

Additional research resources can be found at the Civil War Consortium of Greater Philadelphia's Guide to Civil War Research Resources in Philadelphia.