Hi Alex, I've written a bit about this here, which is a brief excerpt from my forthcoming book on the history of message exchange and time. This excerpt focuses mostly on communication between soldiers and their families, but touches on your broader question: <goog_1537437003> http://www.waitingforword.com/a-delayed-crossing/ I've found David Henkin's book, *The Postal Age <http://a.co/5O82qRW>*, to be an amazing book on this topic. Best, Jason -- Jason Farman, Ph.D. Director, Design Cultures & Creativity Program Associate Professor of American Studies Faculty Member, Human-Computer Interaction Lab University of Maryland, College Park http://www.jasonfarman.com <http://www.jasonfarman.com> http://twitter.com/farman New Book Out Fall 2018: Waiting for Word <http://waitingforword.com> On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 7:37 PM, Alex Leavitt <alexleavitt@gmail.com> wrote:

Not an internet question, but maybe people are familiar enough with communications technology to give some pointers:

I've gotten REALLY into communications infrastructure history recently. There's a ton documented on World War 1 and 2, but less on the American Civil War. I'm looking specifically for documentation of non-war communication tools: less about war participants and more about ordinary people's communication patterns (letters, telegraph, photography, newspapers, etc.). Namely, what was an American before and during the Civil War doing to learn about the state of the nation? Does anyone have any good sources to look at?

Thanks! Alex _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/ listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

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Hi Alex, Not exactly the time period in question, but these two works will take up to just prior to the Civil War (mid 1840's), so possibly of use: Richard John's history of the US Postal Service, Spreading the News Daniel Walker Howe's history of the expansion of US early telecommunications and transportation infrastructures, What Hath God Wrought Best, Kelly --- Kelly Quinn, PhD Clinical Assistant Professor and Graduate Instructor Coordinator Department of Communication University of Illinois at Chicago

On Jul 19, 2017, at 6:38 PM, Alex Leavitt <alexleavitt@gmail.com> wrote:

Not an internet question, but maybe people are familiar enough with communications technology to give some pointers:

I've gotten REALLY into communications infrastructure history recently. There's a ton documented on World War 1 and 2, but less on the American Civil War. I'm looking specifically for documentation of non-war communication tools: less about war participants and more about ordinary people's communication patterns (letters, telegraph, photography, newspapers, etc.). Namely, what was an American before and during the Civil War doing to learn about the state of the nation? Does anyone have any good sources to look at?

Thanks! Alex _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/