Multidisciplinary database of journal articles (including peer reviewed), books, book chapters, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Coverage: 1887-present.
Early America
National and regional newspapers, including those from country and university towns, those from the new industrial centers of the Midlands, as well as newspapers from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Coverage: 1800-1900.
Multidisciplinary database of journal articles (including peer reviewed), books, book chapters, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Coverage: 1887-present.
Considered the authoritative edition of John Adamss complete diaries, selected legal papers, family correspondence, and state papers. Searchable across all volumes. Begun by editor Lyman Butterfield and continued by Margaret Hogan. A Rotunda Collections database. Coverage ongoing, begins 1735.
American history, literature, culture, and daily life. Choose this database to search the following as one file: American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, 1760-1900; Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800; Supplement from the Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) 1670-1800; Supplement from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) 1652-1800. Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819; Supplement from the Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) 1801-1819; Supplement from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) 1801-1819. Coverage: Varies.
Newspapers from all 50 states with eyewitness reporting, letters, advertisements, obituaries, etc. Includes access to Series I (1690-1876), Series II (1758-1900), Series III (1829-1922), Series IV (1756-1922), and Series V (1777-1922). Coverage: 1690-1922.
Provides full text coverage of the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes nearly 200 journals and 100 books, selective indexing for over 1,700 journals, and abstracts in English of foreign language articles.
Provides digital access to a highly comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1691 and 1912. Subject coverage includes: advertising, health, women's issues, science, the history of slavery, industry and professions, religious issues, culture and the arts, and more. Produced by a partnership between EBSCO and the American Antiquarian Society (AAS).
Fully searchable facsimile images that capture daily life in America. Wide variety of items, including clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, theater and music programs, stock certificates, advertisements, menus, and social invitations. Coverage: 1760-1900.
Contains books, maps, artwork, and other primary source materials from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. It is divided into two modules: Module 1 Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859; and Module 2 Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945.
This database contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals.
The Associates of Dr. Bray was a group comprised of English clergymen and philanthropists who created and funded schools for Black, and to a lesser extent, Indigenous North American, children in the American Colonies between 1758 and 1776. Their aim was not only to educate, but also to Christianise their pupils.
This collection contains correspondence files, minute books, and financial reports compiled by the Associates during the period 1724-1900. It also includes some relevant documents that pre-date the organisation itself.
Explore an extensive range of archival material connected to the trading and cultural relationships that emerged between China, America and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries. Manuscript sources, rare printed texts, visual images, objects and maps document this fascinating history.
When the Cincinnati Enquirer printed its first issue 1841, the thriving city the nations 6th largest in the mid-19th century - was known as The Queen of the West. A remarkable period of rapid growth, epitomizing the expansive spirit of the country at large, gave The Cincinnati Enquirer a unique perspective to report on international, national and regional news. Coverage: 1841-2009
Colonial America makes 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. Access: Modules 1 - 5
England's governance of, and activities in, the American, Canadian, and West Indian colonies. Digitized versions of the Privy Council and Related Bodies: America and West Indies, Colonial Papers (Collection CO 1 from The National Archives, London) and the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies 1574-1739. Fully searchable. Coverage: 1574-1757.
Primary sources and original research held by the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg. Includes manuscripts; historical, archaeological, and architectural research reports; York County probate inventories; and the Virginia Gazette 1736-1780. Coverage: 17th-early 19th centuries.
Explore documents covering a broad sweep of history from c1824-1961, taking in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and Central America.
Traces the progress of the Constitution and Bill of Rights through each of the thirteen states conventions. Convention and legislative records, private papers, newspapers, broadsides, and pamphlets. Fully searchable. A Rotunda Collections database. Coverage: 1776-1791.
All known correspondence of Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison. A Rotunda Collections database. Coverage ongoing, begins 1788.
Digital archive of over 1000 U.S. historical newspapers published during the past four centuries. Includes titles from all 50 states. Coverage: 1690-1922.
Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment contains 1,482 authors and over 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters.
English- and foreign-language titles printed in Great Britain from 1701-1800, along with thousands of important works from the Americas. Searchable full text. Coverage: 1701-1800.
Citations to more than 460,000 books, serials, pamphlets, advertisements, songs, election propaganda, and other ephemeral material published mainly in the British Isles and North America. From the collections of the British Library and over 2,000 other libraries. Database now freely available from the British Library. Coverage: 1473-1800.
Citations to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750. Based on the bibliography European Americana: A Chronological Guide to Works Printed in Europe Relating to The Americas, 1493-1750, by John Alden and Dennis Landis. Coverage: 1493-1700.
From feast to famine, explore primary source material documenting the story of food and drink throughout history. The materials in this collection illustrate the deep links between food and identity, politics and power, gender, race and socio-economic status, as well as charting key issues around agriculture, nutrition and food production.
The Rotunda Founders Early Access project makes available for the first time thousands of unpublished documents from our nation’s founders in a free online resource.
This digital collection of primary source documents helps us to understand existence on the edges of the anglophone world from 1650-1920. Discover the various European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia through documents that reveal the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in these areas.
Based on a rich variety of original manuscript collections from the American Jewish Historical Society in New York, this resource offers captivating insights into the everyday lives of the American Jewish population over three centuries.
Multidisciplinary full-text journal articles from 1,500 major journals. Please note: In many cases, JSTOR does not include the most recent 3 to 5 years of these journals. Please use other databases to retrieve recent articles, especially for current events topics. Coverage: Varies by title. Access is available to 2007+ alumni; requires W&M userid and password.
Considered the authoritative edition of the correspondence and papers of Hamilton. Searchable across all volumes. Edited by Harold C. Syrett et al. A Rotunda Collections database. Coverage: 1768-1804.
The entire Jackson edition, comprising the 9 volumes published so far through the year 1831, is now available in a fully searchable digital format within the American Founding Era collection.
A collection of letters, diaries, and other documents from a mother and daughter in South Carolina covering 1739 to 1830. An interesting look into the daily life of the management of an early American household and plantation.
Considered the authoritative edition of the correspondence and papers of Washington. Searchable across all volumes. Begun by editors Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig and continued by Edward Lengel. A Rotunda Collections database. Coverage ongoing, begins 1744.
Considered the authoritative edition of the correspondence and papers of Madison. Searchable across all volumes. Begun by editors William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal and continued by Barbara Oberg. A Rotunda Collections database. Coverage: 1751-1820.
The Papers of James Monroe provides easy access to a wide selection of original material, inviting a fresh assessment of this important figure and his legacy. This digital edition of Monroe’s papers includes the complete contents of the seven volumes in print to date.
This digital edition covers the complete papers of John Marshall, the longest-serving chief justice on the United States Supreme Court. Under his direction, the judicial branch achieved equality with the other branches of government and constitutionality was established as the crucial element in court decisions. This edition brings together all twelve printed volumes published from 1974 to 2006 into one searchable online resource.
Considered the authoritative edition of the correspondence and papers of Jefferson. Searchable across all volumes. Begun by editor Julian Boyd and continued by Barbara Oberg. A Rotunda Collections database. Coverage ongoing, begins 1760.
Provides access to Colonial Williamsburg Foundations online archive of research reports, manuscripts, probate inventories, and Virginia Gazette issues published in Williamsburg from 1736 to 1780. The Digital Library has now been integrated into the Research section of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundations website. Coverage: 17th-18th centuries.
Prominent early American newspaper published in Philadelphia. Articles, editorials, letters, news items, and advertisements. Fully searchable. Coverage: 1728-1800.
The first successful daily newspaper in America, published in Philadelphia. Coverage: 1776-1779.
Music, dance, theater, and poetry. Citations to articles in American newspapers from the earliest extant copy (1690) through the end of the Revolutionary War (1783), including those in the French and German languages.
This unique collection showcases the development of 'popular' medicine in America during the nineteenth century, through an extensive range of material that was aimed at the general public rather than medical professionals. Explore an array of printed sources, including rare books, pamphlets, trade cards, and visually-rich advertising ephemera.
Collection of databases devoted to disciplines in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. See titles of individual databases for further information. Coverage: Varies by database.
A collection of over 30,000 pages of historically unique material from more than 200 orderly books spanning from 1748 to 1817. The collection includes both British and American orderly books, a form of manuscript journals kept by military units containing their orders from higher-ranking officers in addition to other information essential to military operations, dating from the French and Indian War through the War of 1812, with the bulk representing the activities of American forces during the Revolutionary War.
Early American history and culture. Books, pamphlets, serials, and other works about North, Central, and South America, also the Caribbean. Coverage: 1500-1926.
SAH Archipedia is an authoritative online encyclopedia of the U.S. built environment organized by the Society of Architectural Historians and the University of Virginia Press. It contains histories, photographs, and maps for over 20,000 structures and places.
John Jay’s accomplishments span pre- and post-Revolutionary history and extend into all three branches of government. When President Washington appointed Jay, the court was a blank slate, and his papers provide a fascinating look at the creation of court procedure, much of which survives to this day. Fully annotated and searchable, this XML-based archive of Jay’s papers will include all seven volumes planned for the complete print edition.
Includes collections on the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery, the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system, and the dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions. Part 1. Debates over slavery and abolition; Part 2. Slave trade in the Atlantic world; Part 3. The institution of slavery; Part 4. The age of emancipation.
Brings together, for the first time, all known 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. The library has hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery--defending it, attacking it or simply analyzing it.
This digital collection documents key aspects of the history of slavery worldwide over six centuries, with 16 key areas of focus: slavery in the early Americas; African coast; the Middle Passage; slavery and agriculture; urban and domestic slavery; slave testimony; spiritualism and religion in slave communities; resistance and revolts; the Underground Railroad; the abolition movement and the slavery debate; legislation and politics; freed slaves, freedmen and free black settlements; education; slavery and the Islamic world; varieties of slave experience; slavery today and the legacy of slavery. The collection also includes case studies from America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Cuba.
Primary source documents of records and correspondence of southern plantations during the Antebellum period of U.S. History. These documents reflect the business and operation of plantations, including slavery records. Part of ProQuest's History Vault.
Explore domestic consumerism, life and leisure in America between 1850-1950 with Trade Catalogues and the American Home. This resource presents a wealth of highly illustrated primary source documents that highlight commercial tastes and consumer trends, and provide a valuable visual record for a breadth of interdisciplinary study.
This world history resource offers students and researchers a window to the past and transports them across continents. From the everyday to the extraordinary, these rare diaries and the supporting correspondence describe the travel experiences, destinations and desires of nineteenth and twentieth century American women.
Includes fully searchable previously unpublished transcripts of over 500 documents from the Virginia Company Archives; records of the Virginia Company of London; complete Ferrar Papers from Magdalene College, Cambridge; and a wide range of maps, illustrations, and other works. Coverage: 1590-1790.
News covering all of Virginia, also information from other colonies, Scotland, England, and other countries. Published weekly in Williamsburg, VA. Coverage: 1736-1780.
Virginia history and culture. Finding aids with descriptions of manuscript and archival collections in universities, colleges, and institutions in Virginia. Coverage: 1607-present.
A collection of documents from the National Archives and the U.S. Department of State Library dealing with private armed vessels used during the War of 1812. Documents include correspondence concerning letters of marque for privateers, agreements for the exchange of prisoners of war, passenger lists of vessels sailing from the U.S., and intercepted correspondence. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1814 (with some documents from 1789-1807).
Research Assistance
Rick Mikulski
Instruction & Research Librarian