The
Spanish American War Centennial Website needs your help in several ways!
First, we are actively seeking contributors to the site, either professional or amateur historians who would like to write on some aspect or on some personality of the conflict, or persons who would like to contribute copies of original diaries, reminiscences and/or pictures from ancestors who served in the war.
This page will describe the types of items that the website editors are seeking to add to the ever growing volume of information available on the website. It also describes how to reserve a topic, provides basic format guidelines, information on how to submit your contributions and also suggests some specific topics we are hoping to include.
Secondly, we ask that when you decide to order books, DVD's, CD's, software, etc., from Amazon.com (or simply want to view their holdings), that you go to their site from ours! If you order anything, this website will get a small percentage back from Amazon for guiding you to their site. It costs you nothing extra! To get to the Amazon site, look for the Amazon search box at the bottom of our pages (we are slowly adding them), such as that at the bottom of this page (see it by clicking here). Also, on some pages, if a book from Amazon is used as a source, clicking on the title in the article bibliography will take you to that book on Amazon.
If you need more information, please email us!
Information on this page:
What types of information are the
website editors looking for?
How to find a topic
How to reserve a topic
Article format and general
requirements
Image formats
Submitting your contributions
Suggestions for topics
Who is the site associated with?
What types of information are the website editors looking for?
If it is related to the Spanish American War, we are interested in learning more about it and adding it to the website! We are always searching for good articles and images to add. The articles can take the form of biographies of the famous and not-so-famous, histories of particular American or Spanish ships, weapons, military units, and land or naval actions. We are also always trying to add information on places to visit, events and symposia, etc. First-hand accounts, unpublished letters and diaries are also greatly desired for the website.
Also, we have the National Spanish American War Veterans' Gravesite Recording Project for which we always searching for info.
Images are always welcome...but we can really only use photos in which
the people or places are identified and about which something is known
(such as the military unit of the individual in the photo). Also, images
of identified participants in the war (such as your relatives) in their
uniforms are always welcome. See image
formats below to learn about our format requirements.
People frequently email us asking what they should write about. The
best way to determine where you can be of the greatest service is
by browsing through the website. If you know of a subject that interests
you, check to see if it is already addressed on the website. We have
found that our best articles come from people writing about subjects
that are truly interesting to them. If the topic that interests you the
most is not already on the website, then you have found your topic! If
you still are looking for a good topic, take a look at our partial
list
of topics, below.
Once you have determined what subject you want to write about, let us
know what it is. This allows us to avoid having multiple individuals
working on the same topic, duplicating efforts.
Article format and general requirements.
We have a few general requirements:
1. All articles must be unbiased - This website has gained a reputation for presenting the Spanish American War from an unbiased standpoint. Our readers and contributors are living throughout, and articles which show a bias that cannot be substantiated through historical evidence will not be accepted.
2. Follow the pre-set format - Once you have determined a subject, take a look at the website articles that are on similar topics, and follow the format in which they are written.
3. Be concise - Stay on topic, and stay focused on your topic. Most articles are only a few pages long. If you cannot address your topic in a few pages (about six pages), consider narrowing your topic, or consider writing an article that can be easily broken into segments. Keep in mind that the longer an article is, the fewer the number of people who will read it.
4. Opening paragraph - Each article should have a single introductory paragraph that explains the importance of your topic. This is required for proper indexing by some search engines.
5. Bibliography - Each article must be accompanied by a bibliography.
6. Long quotes of first-hand accounts - If you plan to quote a participant's experiences, and the quote is more than a few paragraphs long, submit the quote separately. We will link the account to your article. The plan is that the first-hand account can be placed separately under our "Action Reports and First Hand Accounts" Section.
7. Your byline - Be sure to indicate how you want your article credits to be listed.
8. Editorial rights - We do reserve the right to refuse to add a submitted article to the website. We also reserve the right to ask you to make changes, if something in your article cannot be supported by historical evidence.
Images are the mainstay of any website. Of course, we also try to have a fair amount of historical substance with each image. Images submitted should either complement your own article, or an article already on the website. Since download time is critical for a webpage (the longer the download time, the fewer the number of people who will wait), the number of images per page should be kept to a reasonable number. We suggest about one image per typed page.
Images can simply be emailed to us as attachments. We ask that the images be submitted in jpeg format, and in files that do not exceed 150 KB. Higher resolution images cannot be used on the webpage because of excessive download time, so there is no need to submit jpegs with a greater file size.
If you do not have access to a scanner, let us know and we work out a way to obtain the images. For instance, you could snailmail us the images, we could scan them for inclusion with your article, and then snailmail them back to you, if required.
Above all, please do not submit .tiff files without first contacting
us. Also, do not send a large number of images at one time without first
letting us know. If we are to receive a large number of images, we
will need to co-ordinate how this should be done.
Submitting your contributions.
Submitting a completed article is easy. Simply email
it to us as an attachment. We prefer Word files, but we can work with
other applications also. If we are unable to open your submittal, we
will let you know, and suggest other submittal options.
The following is a list of some possible article ideas. This is not an all inclusive list, but just some suggestions.
Any first-hand account of the war, including letters, diaries, etc.
Any unit roster (or similar genealogical data) from the warBiographies:
Leonard Wood (former commander of the Rough Riders)Events:
General Merritt
General Chaffee
John J. Pershing
Admiral Mahan
Admiral Camara
General Campos
Richard Wainwright (of the MAINE and GLOUCESTER)
Capt Francis Cook (of the BROOKLYN)
General Toral
Governor General Blanco
Governor General Jaudenes
Governor General Augustin
Alfonso XIII
Walter Reed
Russel Alger (Secretary of War)
John Long (Secretary of the Navy)
Henry Cabot Lodge
Hamilton Fish, Jr., (of the Rough Riders)
Emilio Aguinaldo
Capt. Bustemante (torpedo inventor and naval officer)
Lt. Gen. Linares
Prime Minister Sagasta
Prime Minister Canovas
Henry Bradley Plant
Col. Frederico Escario (leader of the Santiago relief expedition)Battle of San Juan HillMilitary Unit Histories:
Battle of Las Guasimas
Battle of El Caney
Bombardment of San Juan, Puerto Rico
The fall of Manila
The signing of the Treaty of Paris
Actions of the Naval Militia
The Sampson Schley Controversy
Who is the site associated with?Any American, Spanish, Cuban, Filippino, or Puerto Rican military unit which is not yet on the website.Ships:
71st New York Volunteer InfantryNEW ORLEANSWeapons:
WOLVERINE
Many of the smaller gunboats, torpedo boats3.2 artillery piece
Plasentia gun
The website is not associated with the U.S. government, or any college or university. We are truly independent with the sole interest of presenting a fair, honest, and scholarly study of the Spanish American War.