One of my personal projects over the next few months is to fill out my Civil War Navy bibliography. I approach this first by defining the "shelves" or categories to file the volumes. For a start, let's go with the categories defined within the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies (which by the way, is a mandatory inclusion in ANY Civil War library, no excuses since it is available electronically):
- Operations of the Cruisers - or as I like to call it, the "Blue Water Navy."
- Blockading Operations - which separate neatly into three sub-sections based on the command infrastructure: North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Gulf Coast (the Official Records further break out East and West Gulf Squadrons).
- Eastern Theater Support Operations - mostly operations in direct support of the Army's activities in Virginia.
- Western River Operations - centered, but certainly not exclusive to, the Mississippi River. I personally separate these out into two sub-categories: Upper Mississippi Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley.
- Supply and Logistic support.
- Administrative, departmental and diplomatic activities.
- Biographies of key leaders and personnel.
- Ship histories - considering technical and service aspects.
- Ordnance and munitions - Yes, my personal favorite.
So what other "shelves" would you add? (or take away?)
What books would you like to see on those shelves? Any suggested reading?
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