Age of American Revolutions

Primary resources are the basis of your blog project this semester. Below are some links to primary resources online. Save yourself some time and read the descriptions to see if the resource is related to your project.

Remember:

A primary source is first hand evidence. It was there at the time of an event.

A primary source is contemporary to the period being studied.

Examples of primary sources are: speeches, letters, comics/cartoons, songs, legislation, court decisions, journals/diaries, interviews, artifacts, autobiographies, statistics, experiments, and photographs.

The American Revolution

1. On the American Revolution: Peter Force’s American Archives
2. Transcripts of U.S. Congressional debates: Annals of Congress, Register of Debates
3. Foreign relations: American State Papers
4. Manuscripts of “founding fathers”
   • The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, (available to MCLA community through the Freel Library)
   • Early American Manuscripts Project (includes papers of “founding fathers”)

Newspapers and Periodicals

5. US Newspapers
   • Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
   • 19^th Century US Newspapers (available online through Boston Public Library, requires BPL e-card)
6. US and International Newspapers
   • American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection (available online through Boston Public Library, requires BPL e-card)
   • 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers (available online through Boston Public Library, requires BPL e-card)
   • British Library Newspapers (available online through Boston Public Library, requires BPL e-card)

Slavery and Abolition

7. Black Freedom Struggle in the United States (available online through Boston Public Library, requires BPL e-card)
8. Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law (available to MCLA community through the Freel Library)

General works about the western hemisphere:

9. Sabin Americana (available online through Boston Public Library, requires BPL e-card)
10. 18^th Century Collections Online (available online through Boston Public Library, requires BPL e-card)

The Haitian Revolution

11. Haiti and the Atlantic World
    • The Other Revolution: Haiti, 1789-1804, online exhibit and archive
    • Haiti and the Atlantic World
    • The Haitian Revolution and the French Revolution
12. Haiti Documents
    • Memoir of General Toussaint L’Ouverture. Written by Himself
    • History of the Haitian Independence Struggle archive
    • The Louverture Project
    • Marronnage in Santi-Domingue
    • A Colony in Crisis: The Saint-Domginue Grain Shortage of 1789
    • Theatre in Saint-Domginue

Latin America

13. Choose three of the following databases below to explore and present on
    • Latin American Pamphlet Digital Collection
    • Miscellaneous Afro-Latin America Collection
    • Hans P. Kraus Collection: Spanish American Manuscripts
    • Digital Collection of Mexican and Argentinian Presidential Messages
    • The Pronunciamiento in Independent Mexico, 1821 – 1876
14. Latin America and the United States
    • Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier
    • Bexar Archives Online
    • Texas Slavery Project
15. Spanish-Language Databases
    • 500 Years of Mexico in Documents (entirely Spanish language)
    • Dupee Mexican History Collection Broadsides (mostly Spanish language)

**Is there something else you’d like to explore? Let me know and we’ll find something for you.

eResources available through the Boston Public Library

BPL eCards are virtual library cards that allow users immediate entry to all of Boston Public Library's remotely-accessible electronic resources, including magazine databases, downloadable audio, video, eBooks, and music.

Students living in Massachusetts while attending school are eligible for a card. Click here to sign up for one.

Save your ecard number and PIN on your computer for quick access.

Recommended Resource Pages at BPL

• History and Political Science
• Government and Law

Recommended Databases at BPL

• Slavery & Antislavery
• Sabin Americana
• 17th and 18th Century US Newspapers
• 19th Century US Newspapers