Letters & Diaries: This section contains all the pre-war letters and diaries in the Valley Archive. You may explore the part on either Augusta or Franklin. Both sections contain a page that gives a brief description of each collection of personal papers, so you may scan through the collections for what looks most interesting or useful. You may also search the letters and diaries, to find a particular word, phrase, or name. More about the Letters & Diaries.

Newspapers: This section contains transcriptions and images of the newspapers from Augusta and Franklin, providing access to how news was reported in the counties. You may browse the individual newspapers by date, read articles grouped by relevant topics, or search the newspapers for particular words or phrases. In most cases, you may also view scanned images of the original newspaper pages. More about the Newspapers.

Census & Tax Records: This section contains the all the census and tax records on Augusta and Franklin counties from the pre-war period. You may search the 1860 population, agriculture, manufacturing, or slaveowner censuses. Another resource you may search is the Free Black Registry, a record people in Augusta kept on all free blacks who lived in the county. You may also search the city tax records from either Staunton in Augusta County or Chambersburg in Franklin County.

Church Records: This section contains all the records kept by churches in Augusta and Franklin between the 1850s and 1870s, including information about marriages, births, deaths, and baptisms. You may search the church records by county or church. More about the Augusta and Franklin churches.

Maps & Images: This section contains over 45 maps of the two counties. You may examine maps of Augusta, Franklin, or comparison maps of both counties. These maps detail a wide variety of aspects of life in the counties, from the local river systems to how people voted in elections. Most of the maps were created through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, producing images of the counties not otherwise possible. You may also explore images of the Valley.

1860 Statistics: This section contains over 50 tables that show statistics on life in the two counties, such as the percentage of slaveholders in Augusta and where free blacks lived in Franklin. You may examine statistics on Augusta, Franklin, or comparison statistics on both counties. These tables are based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology and databases built by the Valley Project.

Reference Center: This section contains helpful tools for examining the Valley Archive. Here you will find the Valley Timelines, which give a basic chronology of events in the two counties. You may also use the Search the Valley Databases page, which gives you access to every search engine available in the Valley Archive. You will also find the Valley Bibliography, which details all the sources we consulted in constructing the Valley Project.

Site Map: This section gives you access to all the different parts of the Valley of the Shadow in a single text-based location. From here you may access any of the main Valley pages.