Letters and diaries tell stories that no amount of data or newspapers can reveal. They talk to us from across time and space, and no archive is complete without them. In the Valley project archive we have brought together letters and diaries from, about, and to our two communities, Augusta and Franklin counties. A mention of Staunton or Chambersburg in a letter or diary was sufficient for us to include it in the Valley archive, even those written by passers-by. Anything written out of or to Augusta or Franklin between 1865-1870 is included in Part III of the Valley archive.

The letters and diaries in this part are marked up in Standard Generalized Mark-Up Language (SGML). Through our collaboration with the Electronic Text Center at UVa, we have put these letters into this powerful format so that you can search them by ke yword, date, or subject. This allows you to target certain themes or questions most efficiently, while you still have the option of browsing these documents at your leisure.