The Valley of the Shadow

In 1993, Edward L. Ayers and a team of historians and researchers launched a digital humanities project that was one of the first of its kind: “The Valley of the Shadow” invited visitors to explore two neighboring communities divided by the Civil War, presenting hundreds of searchable newspapers, census and military records, transcribed letters and diaries, archival images, and more. Some 30 years later, we were invited by New American History to reimagine the project and refresh its interfaces and its database: bringing an updated Valley to a new generation of students and scholars.