Spotlight for the Slavery in the American West Course
- American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971 This link opens in a new windowContains several collections focusing on the interaction between American Indians and the U.S. government in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Notable collections in this module from the 19th Century focus on Indian Removal from 1832-1840, the U.S. Army and American Indians in the years from the 1850s-1890s, including detailed coverage of Indian Wars. The featured collections on the 20th Century are Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and records from the Major Council Meetings of American Indian Tribes.
- American West This link opens in a new windowOver 300 manuscripts- ranging from the original manuscript journal and papers of James Audubon, and a twelve page letter of General Custer, to the logbook of a cattle trail driver and the Hinman papers describing the overland trail to California and the Gold Rush. A host of extremely rare or unique ephemeral material including advertisements, claim certificates, cheques, photos, wanted notices and news-sheets. Maps - an important and underutilised resource for teaching the American West - partly due to their size and unwieldy nature - partly due to their rarity. Includes many unique or extremely rare items - ranging from extra-illustrated volumes and association copies to city directories and pamphlets and leaflets.
Slavery Resources
- Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new windowThis collection searches a unique set of primary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States between 1830 and 1865.
- HeinOnline Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new windowThis HeinOnline collection brings together a multitude of legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery.
Included in the collection are hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery, and legal commentaries held in obscure, hard-to-find journals in the U.S. and elsewhere. - Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007 This link opens in a new windowThis digital collection documents key aspects of the history of slavery worldwide over six centuries. Topics covered include the African Coast, the Middle Passage, the varieties of slave experience, religion, revolts, abolition, and legislation. The collection also includes case studies from America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Cuba.
- Slavery & Anti-Slavery, A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowIn addition to the standard primary sources one would expect—newspaper collections and books published in the antebellum era, for example—SAS includes a broad selection of documents from several different archives.
Includes Parts I-IV.
- Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War (Proquest History Vault)This collection consists of several modules: Slavery and the Law; Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries; records focused on the Slave trade and other legal issues pertaining to slavery; Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantation Records; a module on the Civil War entitled "Confederate Military Manuscripts and Records of Union Generals and the Union Army"; and Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War. Slavery and the Law features petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867. Southern Plantation Records document the far-reaching impact of plantations on both the American South and the nation. Plantation records are both business records and personal papers because the plantation was both the business and the home for plantation owners. The Confederate Military Manuscripts module brings together unique collections that are being digitized for the first time. Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War features correspondence of the U.S. Army's Office of Civil Affairs.
Digital Collections - Indigenous Peoples
- American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new windowExplore manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books dating from the earliest contact with European settlers right up to photographs and newspapers from the mid-twentieth century. Browse through a wide range of rare and original documents from treaties, speeches and diaries, to historic maps and travel journals.
- American Indian Newspapers This link opens in a new windowNearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism in the US and Canada from historic pressings to contemporary periodicals. Developed with, and made possible by, the permission and contribution of the newspaper publishers and Tribal Councils concerned.
- American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971 This link opens in a new windowContains several collections focusing on the interaction between American Indians and the U.S. government in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Notable collections in this module from the 19th Century focus on Indian Removal from 1832-1840, the U.S. Army and American Indians in the years from the 1850s-1890s, including detailed coverage of Indian Wars. The featured collections on the 20th Century are Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and records from the Major Council Meetings of American Indian Tribes.
- Colonial America This link opens in a new windowColonial America will make available all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series from The National Archives, UK, covering the period 1606 to 1822. CO 5 consists of the original correspondence between the British government and the governments of the American colonies, making it a uniquely rich resource for all historians of the period.
- Early Encounters in North America This link opens in a new windowProvides access to over 100,000 letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts concerning events that took place in North America between 1534 and 1860. The focus of the database is on description, travel, and accounts of interactions among various cultural groups.
- Indian Claims Insight This link opens in a new windowIndian Claims Insight allows users to research the history of U.S. Indian claims from 1789-present. Unique compiled docket histories provide legal researchers with the ability to quickly search the full text of all content related to each claim, which can be narrowed on-the-fly to pinpoint a topic. The compilation includes not only court documents, but also cited treaties, related congressional publications, and maps to facilitate the ability of researchers to fully understand the specifics of each case without leaving the docket history page.
- Indigenous Peoples: North America This link opens in a new windowIndigenous Peoples: North America provides users with a robust, diverse, informative source that will enhance research and increase understanding of the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political status of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada.
- Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture, & Law (HeinOnline)This collection comprises more than 700 unique titles related to the law of indigenous peoples of the Americas. Access a vast digital archive of treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence. This collection also includes select legislative histories, scholarly articles, and other related works. Some notable titles include the Decisions of the Department of the Interior from 1883 to 1995 and the Opinions of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior Relating to Indian Affairs from 1917 to 1974, and Felix S. Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law. Also, available for the first time in digital format is Felix S. Cohen's Statutory Compilation of the Indian Law Survey. A Compendium of Federal Laws and Treaties Relating to Indians, Pts. 1 - 46 (1776 - 1938).
- North American Indian Drama This link opens in a new windowFull text of plays by American Indian, First Nation, and Pacific Islanders playwrights of the 20th century; information about the plays and their production, and biographical data. The collection represents groups across the United States and Canada, including Cherokee, Métis, Creek, Choctaw, Pembina Chippewa, Ojibway, Lenape, Comanche, Cree, Navajo, Rappahannock, Hawaiian/Samoan, and others. Also includes issues of the Native playwrights’ newsletter.
- North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new windowA compilation of biographical information on indigenous peoples from all areas of North America. When complete, the database will include 100,000 pages of content, including biographies, autobiographies, oral histories, reference works, manuscripts, and photographs, presenting the life stories of American Indians and Canadian First Peoples in their own words and through the words of others. Coverage: 1677 to present.
Caribbean Resources
- Caribbean History and Culture, 1535-1920 This link opens in a new windowCovers the diverse history of Caribbean islands over nearly 400 years. Includes books, pamphlets, almanacs, broadsides and ephemera. Compiled by the curators of the Afro-Americana Imprints collection
- Colonial Caribbean This link opens in a new windowStretching from Jamaica and the Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago, this resource makes available materials from 27 Colonial Office file classes from The National Archives, UK. Covering the history of the various territories under British colonial governance from 1624 to 1870, this extensive resource includes administrative documentation, trade and shipping records, minutes of council meetings, and details of plantation life, colonial settlement, imperial rivalries across the region, and the growing concern of absentee landlords.
African American Resources
- African American Communities This link opens in a new windowFocusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this resource presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.
- African American Historical Serials Collection This link opens in a new windowRECOMMEND USING CHROME; This collection was developed in conjunction with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) as part of an effort to preserve endangered serials related to African American religious life and culture. This unique resource documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922.
- African American Periodicals, 1825-1995 This link opens in a new windowFeatures more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations' bulletins, annual reports and other genres.
- African Americans and Jim Crow: Repression and Protest This link opens in a new windowThis collection covers many topical categories such as the growing body of work by African- American writers; the portrayal of African-Americans in art and literature; religion; race; early histories of slavery; the Civil War; Reconstruction; and others. From the late 19th century to the early 20th, the end of Reconstruction through the first World War.
- African Americans and Reconstruction: Hope and Struggle This link opens in a new windowThis collection covers many topical categories such as Reconstruction by state; works by African- American writers on race, slavery, and civil rights; the portrayal of African Americans in the Arts; early histories of the Civil War and slavery; and others. From the mid 1860’s to the early 1880’s, the end of the Civil War to Jim Crow.
- Black Thought and Culture: African Americans from Colonial Times to the Present This link opens in a new windowBlack Thought and Culture is a single source for the published works of numerous historically important black leaders. Along with well-known works, the collection features approx. 5,000 pages of unique, fugitive, and never-before-published materials. When complete, Black Thought and Culture will provide approximately 100,000 pages of monographs, essays, articles, speeches, and interviews written by leaders within the black community from the earliest times to 1975. Black teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other leaders form the mainstay of this corpus. The collection is intended for research in black studies, political science, American history, music, literature, and art.
American History
- American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I This link opens in a new windowBased on the American Antiquarian Society's landmark collection, this offers fully searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900. The subjects of these broadsides range from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters to official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports. Featuring many rare items, the pieces of ephemera include clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, bill heads, theater and music programs, stock certificates, menus and invitations documenting civic, political and private celebrations.
- American Periodical Series Online 1740-1940 This link opens in a new windowOver 1,100 periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically significant periodicals. Coverage 1740-1940.
- Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new windowOnline version of the microfiche set Early American Imprints, 1639-1800. Resource for aspects of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, e.g., agriculture, auctions, foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, temperance, and witchcraft.
- Early American Imprints, Series I: Supplement from the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1670-1800 This link opens in a new windowBooks, pamphlets, and broadsides published during the 17th and 18th centuries. From the bibliography by Charles Evans and Roger Bristol's Supplement.Published in cooperation with the Library Company of Philadelphia
- Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 This link opens in a new windowEarly American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 provides a comprehensive set of American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the early part of the 19th century. It is based on the noted “American Bibliography, 1801-1819” by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker. More than four million pages from over 36,000 items—including 1,000 catalogued new items unavailable in previous microform editions. Includes Series II Supplement.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive digital edition of The Eighteenth Century microfilm set, which has aimed to include every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas, between 1701 and 1800. Consists of over 180,000 titles of books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemera. Subject categories include history and geography; fine arts and social sciences; medicine, science, and technology; literature and language; religion and philosophy; law; general reference. Also included are significant collections of women writers of the eighteenth century, collections on the French Revolution, and numerous eighteenth-century editions of the works of Shakespeare. Where they add scholarly value or contain important differences, multiple editions of each individual work are offered.
- Making of America, Cornell University This link opens in a new windowA digital library of primary sources in American social history, this site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
- Making of Modern Law Digital Archive: Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowWe use the term primary sources not in the historian's sense of a manuscript, letter, or diary, but rather in the legal sense of a case, statute, or regulation. Designed to complement The Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, this archive offers online access to state and municipal codes, documents relating to constitutional conventions, and other resources in American legal history.
- Making of the Modern World This link opens in a new windowIncluding books, serials, pamphlets, essays and more,
tracks the development of the modern, western world through the lens of trade and wealth. - Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) This link opens in a new windowMulti-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century, with archives releasing incrementally beginning in spring 2012. The content is sourced from the world’s preeminent libraries and archives. It consists of monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, photographs, statistics, and other kinds of documents in both Western and non-Western languages. Collections I - XII.
- Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new windowBased on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana – A Dictionary of Books Relating to America From its Discovery to the Present Time, Sabin Americana, 1500–1926 is an online collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s.
Digital Full-text Publications
- HarpWeek: the Civil War Era through the Gilded Age (1857-1912) This link opens in a new windowFull text of the popular 19th century magazine, Harper's Weekly, on literature, history, current events, culture and society. Includes images from Harper's Weekly, with index.
- Godey's Lady's Book This link opens in a new window19th century magazine intended to "entertain and educate" women of America. Early issues include biographical sketches, articles about mineralogy, handcrafts, fashion, dance, equestrienne procedures, health & hygiene, recipes & remedies, and sheet music. Later issues contain book reviews and works by such 19th century authors as Poe, Hawthorne, Longfellow and Stowe. Illustrations.