This module consists of 26 collections from the holdings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the first North American historical society and the first library to devote its primary attention to collecting Americana. The collections digitized by ProQuest from the holdings of the Massachusetts Historical Society focus on the Colonial Era, the Revolutionary War, and the Early National Period, with some collections extending into the Civil War era. Among the collections on the Colonial Era, one notable collection is the Pre-Revolutionary Diaries, 1635-1774. This collection consists of 276 diaries written by 112 people. Taken together, these diaries provide a rich portrait of life in America before the American Revolution. Highlights of the Revolutionary War and Early National Period are the Benjamin Lincoln Papers, Revere Family Papers, Elbridge Gerry Papers, and Artemas Ward Papers.
The Documentary History of the First Federal Congress are used by Congress, historians, political scientists, and jurists to understand the most important and productive Congress in United States history. Containing all of the contents of the celebrated twenty-two-volume letterpress edition from Johns Hopkins University Press, this digital edition is fully searchable.
"Beginning with the Continental Congress in 1774, America's national legislative bodies have kept records of their proceedings. The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress make up a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation and the development of the federal government and its role in the national life. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.
Books on the law formed a major part of the holdings of the Library of Congress from its beginning. In 1832, Congress established the Law Library of Congress as a separate department of the Library. It houses one of the most complete collections of U.S. Congressional documents in their original format. In order to make these records more easily accessible to students, scholars, and interested citizens, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation brings together online the records and acts of Congress from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention through the 43rd Congress, including the first three volumes of the Congressional Record, 1873-75. "
This site from the National Archives provides access to and information about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the U.S., and the Bill of Rights.
Access to the Virginia Gazette Newspaper 1730-1780. Also provides access to York County Probate Records (17th/18th century,) transcripts and images of selected historical documents, as well as Research Reports "documenting the study of the eighteenth-century town since the establishment of the Foundation. "
"Document Bank of Virginia (DBVa) is the Library of Virginia’s initiative to get documents into classrooms. Using primary sources, teachers can make history relevant to students while helping them learn and understand state standards. DBVa will teach students to be critical thinkers as they analyze the original documents and draw their own conclusions about Virginia’s past."
a collection of electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820. Open to the public for research and teaching purposes, EADA is published and supported by the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) under the general editorship of Professor Ralph Bauer, at the University of Maryland at College Park. Description from site
"This web-friendly presentation of the original text of the Federalist Papers (also known as The Federalist) was obtained from the e-text archives of Project Gutenberg. Any irregularities with regard to grammar, syntax, spelling, or punctuation are as they exist in the original e-text archives."
"In this unique anthology, Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner draw on the writings of a wide array of people engaged in the problem of making popular government safe, steady, and accountable. The documents included range from the early seventeenth century to the 1830s, from the reflections of philosophers to popular pamphlets, from public debates in ratifying conventions to the private correspondence of the leading political actors of the day."
"Correspondence and Other Writings of Seven Major Shapers of the United States:
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Over 184,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from the authoritative Founding Fathers Papers projects."
"The twenty-six volumes of the Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 aims to make available all the documents written by delegates that bear directly upon their work during their years of actual service in the First and Second Continental Congresses, 1774-1789. "
"Contains 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most broadsides are one page in length; others range from 1 to 28 pages. A number of these items contain manuscript annotations not recorded elsewhere that offer insight into the delicate process of creating consensus. In many cases, multiple copies bearing manuscript annotations are available to compare and contrast."
- Publishing and Publicizing the Declaration of IndependenceA Colonial Williamsburg Foundation digital project that contains images of various documents
"The Virginia Gazette was the official newspaper of Virginia, printed in Williamsburg from 1736 until 1780. When the capital of Virginia moved to Richmond in 1780, printers transferred their businesses to the new seat of government. Both Dixon & Nicolson and Clarkson & Davis resumed their papers in Richmond." Colonia Williamsbur - John D. Rockefeller Library
"...provides access to remarkable and wide-ranging materials digitized as part of a multi-year project to make available to the world more than 700,000 digitized pages of all known archival and manuscript materials in the Harvard Library that relate to 17th- and 18th-century North America. Each item is connected to countless stories—of lives lived quietly and extravagantly, of encounters peaceful and volatile, and of places near and far – providing an opportunity to travel back in time, to rethink familiar stories, and to discover new ones."
The Documentary History of the First Federal Congress are used by Congress, historians, political scientists, and jurists to understand the most important and productive Congress in United States history. Containing all of the contents of the celebrated twenty-two-volume letterpress edition from Johns Hopkins University Press, this digital edition is fully searchable.
Over 180,000 titles (200,000 volumes) which includes books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides and more. Based on the English Short Title Catalogue Works published in the UK during the 18th century plus thousands from elsewhere, Primarily in English - also includes other languages.
Book Sources: Colonial America & Early Republic
A selection of books/e-books available in Trible Library.
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Along with time-tested readings, about one-third of this edition's authors are new, including a number of thinkers from earlier periods, as well as more recent selections from liberal, conservative, and more unconventional thinkers.
"major thematic essays, hundreds of easy-to-reference entries, thematic and regional chronologies, numerous primary documents, plus hundreds of illustrations"
Colonial Conflict along the Hudson-Champlain Corridor, 1609-1760
Includes "300 primary sources, including letters, journal entries, official diplomatic and military correspondence, and other firsthand accounts"
"Contains some 100 primary source documents that include ledgers, travel accounts, autobiographies, official reports, memoirs, logbooks, patents, letters, articles of agreement, and corporate minutes"
Papers relating to the libraries established in America and elsewhere by Bray; Letters and papers of Bray and others regarding religious and civil affairs in the American colonies; Printed material by Bray; American manuscripts, letters and documents.
Volume 1. Africa -- Volume 2. Australia -- Volume 3. Canada -- Volume 4. India -- Volume 5. New Zealand -- Volume 6. USA.
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