Literature in the antebellum South came in many forms. If a farmer, city-dweller or plantation owner wanted a little light reading, for example, they could always crack open a book or leaf through the local newspaper. Printing in the years leading up to the Civil War was more advanced than ever, and as a result, printed material began to blanket every corner of the United States.
Even with...
As its economy flourished with rapid growth in the iron industry, Richmond developed into one of the largest producers of tobacco and flour, not only in the United States, but the world. In a time when the slave trade provided a solution to America's desire for cheap labor, Richmond became a hub for exchange facilitation. The extension of new railroads into surrounding areas created a sense of nationalization...
A one-time University of Virginia student and sometime resident of Baltimore and Richmond, Poe published his first collection of writings in 1840. Many of the stories in the Tales had been published previously in various literary journals, such as Godey's Lady's Book and Ladies' American Magazine, and the Southern Literary Messenger, to which Poe was a major contributor. The new volume received...