Customs House Museum receives restored Civil War diary
June 29, 2017
Local Groups, Individuals provide funds to have Civil War Diary cleaned, restored, returned to Custom House Museum
Clarksville, TN – An important record of Clarksville’s past returned, cleaned and restored, this month to Customs House Museum and Cultural Center thanks to help from several local organizations and individuals.
Serepta Jordan’s diary from 1857 to 1864 in New Providence records murders, slave insurrections, the building of Fort Defiance (then known as Fort Sevier), mustering of troops, battles fought and lost during America’s Civil War, along with births, deaths, marriages, and details of daily 19th-century life.
Austin Peay State University history professor Minoa Uffelman part of team to restore Civil War-era diary
February 28, 2017
Clarksville, TN – Military conflicts are not fought in isolation, and the American Civil War was no different. While civilians like Serepta Jordan never lifted a musket, Jordan and millions like her felt its impact, and it is precisely that neglected perspective that made the discovery of her diary by area historians so significant.
A working-class woman living in Clarksville during the war, Jordan was not a name remembered by history.
Clarksville’s Customs House Museum receives Tennessee Grant for Serepta Jordan Diary project
February 11, 2017
Serepta Jordan’s writings recorded Clarksville life from 1857-64
Clarksville, TN – A large measure of teamwork is going into the restoration and publication of the diary of Serepta Jordan, who recorded her life in Clarskville from 1857 to 1864 in crisp hardwriting in a repurposed leather-bound ledger book.
The diary is part of the collection of the Clarksville’s Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, which welcomed a $3,000 Archive Development Grant on Thursday delivered by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett.