Today was spent at both the main and Lawrenceville branches of the Carnegie Public Library, where I found a goldmine of sources (mostly newspaper articles of various dates). I feel very confident about conference now.
I popped over to visit Arsenal Park while I was there and took a few more pictures:
Lawrenceville Historical Society
This is the homepage for the Lawrenceville (PA) Historical Society. Check out the Ask a Historian and Article sections; they have a wealth of information about the Allegheny Arsenal. And for Stephen Foster fans (his daddy founded Lawrenceville) they host the annual Doo-dah Days.
http://www.travelchannel.com/video/pittsburghs-bloody-tragedy
The Travel Channel show "Off Limits" did an episode about the Allegheny Arsenal, in which the host also explores its subterranean tunnels, reputed to be a stockpile of weapons for the Union.
Here is a cover of Harper's Weekly in July 1861 with what is the best known image of women working in arsenals - here, cartridge fillers at the Watertown Arsenal in Massachussetts.
In her wonderful book "Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Homefront", Judith Giesberg analyzes this image. In it, there is nothing at all unseemly about working women. These women appear to be nicely dressed and under close male supervision. However, the male supervisors at this same arsenal would, in 1864, be accused of sexual harassment and favoritism by some of its female employees.
Eyewitness 1862: No exaggerating horror at arsenal explosion
Here is a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from a few years ago about the shock and disbelief that local citizens felt about the Allegheny Arsenal explosion.
Local Civil War History Comes to Life on Web - Research Expertise - IUP
As a grad student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania a couple years ago, I interned at the Special Collections and Archives. Now they are beginning to digitize Civil War collections related to Indiana County (PA): letters, photographs, et cetera. I wish I could have been a part of this project, but I will be following it with pride.
