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For more results, go to The Collection.

4 November 1973

Enns, Paul H., (fl. 1973)

Typed letter signed

Title: to Congressman Carlos J. Moorhead

One letter from Paul H. Enns to Congressman Carlos J. Moorhead dated November 4, 1973. Paul H. Enns supports the impeachment of President Nixon. The letter is written by a pastor at Lancaster United Methodist Church.

GLC09613.02.0246

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circa 1400-1500

Unknown

Manuscript

Title: [Antiphon]

Single sheet of music. Date inferred. An antiphon is a verse usually from Scripture sung before and after a canticle or psalm as part of the liturgy.

GLC00496.124

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1493

Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506)

Pamphlet Include in Object Type Dropdown: 

Title: Epistola Christofori Colom... de insulis Indie supra Gangem.... [exploration]

First edition, in Latin, second (corrected) issue, printed at Rome after 29 April 1493. Gothic type; 33 lines per page. Pamphlet printing letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain concerning his first voyage to America, the so-called Barcelona letter. The earliest printed Columbus letter, describing his discovery of the Caribbean islands of Juana and Hispaniola.

GLC01427

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4 May 1493

Alexander VI, Pope (1431-1503)

Broadside Include in Object Type Dropdown: 

Title: [Demarcation bull, granting Spain possession of lands discovered by Columbus]

Broadside entitled "Copia de la bula del decreto y concession q[ue] hizo el papa / Alexandro sexto al Rey y la Reyna nuestros senores de las Indias conforme al capitu." Unique copy of second version possibly printed at Valladolio, by Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba. Title in Spanish and text in Latin.

GLC04093

circa 1500-1930

Header Record Include in Object Type Dropdown: 

Title: [Collection of Americana from Revolution & Civil War] Decimalized

[decimalized]

GLC00496

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21 June 1540

García de Loaysa, Francisco (fl. 1540)

Letter signed

Title: to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado [in Spanish]

Written on behalf of King Charles I of Spain (Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor), by the President of the Council of the Indies, Francisco García de Loaysa. Report of the Niza expedition. Authorizes Coronado's expedition to explore the heart of the North American continent.

GLC04883

1552

Casas, Bartolomé de las, (1474-1566)

Book Include in Object Type Dropdown: 

Title: Aqui se Contiene una Disputa, o Controversia [Second Edition]

The fifth tract on the conquest of the New World and rights of the Indians. In Spanish.

GLC04220

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circa 1580

Grenville, Richard, Sir (1541?-1591)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Blighe

Writes to his cousin to ask him to lend him money. In 1585 Grenville sailed to Virginia with 300 settlers that he successfully disembarked on Roanoke Island (off the coast of what is now North Carolina).

GLC00496.027

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1585-1763

Kneller, Godfrey, Sir (1646-1723)

Engraving Include in Object Type Dropdown: 

Title: [Engraving of Samuel Pepys]

Engraving that appears to be based on the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller, created in 1689.

GLC00496.258.02

1585-1763

Wildes, John (fl. 1746)

Autograph document signed

Title: Petition to move training

GLC01450.248.04

1585-1763

Autograph document signed

Title: To Captain Nathanial Green

GLC01450.248.10

1585-1763

Unknown

Autograph document

Title: Recipe for consumption

GLC01450.600.015

n.d.

Unknown

Photograph Include in Object Type Dropdown: 

Title: William Coddington [picture]

Print of William Coddington, who was an official in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island colonies in the seventeenth century.

GLC02150.53

1585-1763

Leisler, Jacob (fl. 1698-1700)

Document signed

Title: [Legal document between Francina Staats and Jacob Leisler]

Fragment of a land inheritance document between Francina Staats and her brother Jacob Leisler. Contains Jacob Leisler's seal and signature. Francina Staats and Jacob Leisler (Jr.) were the children of Jacob Leisler, the colonial governor of New York.

GLC02468.15

1585-1763

Allen Goerge

Autograph document signed

Title: Estate Inventory

Assets of Charles Allen (small edit where a word is added)

GLC02924.064

1585-1763

Allen Goerge

Autograph document signed

Title: Estate Inventory

Assets of Charles Allen (no edit)

GLC02924.065

1585-1763

Unknown

Autograph letter

Title: Extracts from deeds

GLC02924.072

1585-1763

Pope Seth

Autograph letter

Title: Land Grant

GLC02924.073

1585-1763

Unknown

Manuscript document

Title: "three things are to be helped in conscience fraud, accident, . . .

. . . things of confidence." Fragment of a larger document. Explains what constitutes an accident.

GLC03107.01338

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1585-1763

Livingston, Robert

Manuscript document signed

Title: to Arent Bratt re: case against John Barnard

The document outlines Christopher Estrat's complaint against John Barnard, who allegedly agreed to lease a piece of land to Jan Baptist and Estrat for 7 years, but then ran Estrat off of it before the lease expired. Estratt is therefore suing Barnard for damages. Livingston's description of the case is then followed by a note from Barnard to Arent Bratt, in which Barnard asks Bratt to attend his case at the Court of Common Pleas.

GLC03107.01822

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1585-1763

Davenport, Thomas

Manuscript document

Title: Account of Peeter Van Brugh & Johannes Cuyler

Van Brugh and Cuyler purchased shroud and some other materials.

GLC03107.01823

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1585-1763

Wessells, Dirk

Manuscript document

Title: "Dirk Wessells Esq: Mayor of the Citty of Albany to the Sherriffe . . .

Constables and other his Majes. officers greting show yee that wee the said Mayor have Lyncenced and" P.1 ends incomplete. P.2 contains an account. Docketed on verso.

GLC03107.01824

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1585-1763

Livingston, Philip

Manuscript document

Title: "a Lyst of Rents due to the estate of father Livingston"

GLC03107.01825

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1585-1763

Johnston, John

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Robert Livingston re: remedies for Livingston's illness [fragment]

Johnston prescribes some remedies to cure Livingston's maladies.

GLC03107.01826

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1585-1763

Unknown

Manuscript document

Title: "Reasons offer to the arbitrators why they ought not to allow . . .

of Jacob Harwoods sham sale of Robt. Livingstons Tallys of 1670." P.1 of the document outlines how Harwood's actions anulled any legitimate sale. P.2 is an account of how Robert Livingston came into possession of a part of the estate of Coll. Dongan. Docketed on verso.

GLC03107.01829

For more results, go to The Collection.

For more results, go to History Now.

Lincoln, Civil Liberties, and the Constitution

Video

Government and Civics

Parks and Politics: A Look at Federal Land

Video

Geography, Government and Civics

The Changing Face of the Supreme Court in American History

Video

Government and Civics

The Supreme Court and Religious Freedom

Video

Government and Civics

The Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Cold War

Video

Government and Civics, World History

No Party Now: Politics in the Civil War North

Video

Government and Civics

The Impact of the New Deal

Video

Economics, Government and Civics

8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

FDR’s Personal History and Influences

Video

In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th-Century America

Video

Economics, Government and Civics

The Emancipation Proclamation

Video

Government and Civics

5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

Two American Revolutions

Video

Government and Civics

The Costs of the American Revolution

Video

Economics, Government and Civics

5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

The Aftermath of the French and Indian War

Video

Government and Civics

The Hemingses of Monticello

Video

Government and Civics

Non-Violent Methods of Protest

Video

Economics, Government and Civics

7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Video

Government and Civics

7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy

Video

Government and Civics

7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

FDR’s First 100 Days . . . and Obama’s

Video

Economics

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

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Government and Civics

9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

A Voyage Long and Strange

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World History

9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

Morgan: American Financier

Video

Art, Economics, World History

8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

Lincoln in Latin America

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Government and Civics, World History

Reform Cities: Chicago, Osaka, and Moscow

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Economics, World History

Europeans and the New World, 1400–1530

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Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History

Calling the Constitutional Convention

Video

Government and Civics

8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13+

For more results, go to History Now.

Showing results 26 - 50

Women and Politics in 20th-Century America (Self-Paced Course)

This course examines the struggles and successes of American women in fighting for equality in American politics, life, and culture, from the movement for suffrage through campaigns for fair wages. Led by esteemed historian Linda Gordon, one of only three historians ever to win the Bancroft Prize twice, students study grassroots political activism, landmark court decisions, significant achievements in the arts, and the intersection of work on behalf of women’s rights in the United States with other galvanizing movements for equality at home and abroad. We also consider the evolving role of

Alexander Hamilton's America (Self-Paced Course)

Alexander Hamilton is very much the man of the moment, but he was equally a man of his times. This self-paced course puts Hamilton in the context of the colonial and Revolutionary eras to help us fully understand both where he came from and the impact he had on American government and politics. In the course, participants will come to appreciate the many ways in which Hamilton’s story opens up multiple perspectives on US history. From the close economic connections between the Caribbean and mainland colonies of the British empire, to the importance of cities in the developing nation, to the

Romeo Smith: Slave, Soldier, Freeman

Born a slave, Romeo Smith of Windham, Maine, entered the Continental Army with the promise of freedom in exchange for military service. He served in the 7th Massachusetts for three years and was supposedly manumitted. Yet in January 1784, the threat of being reclaimed as a slave surfaced and Romeo sought the assistance of General Henry Knox. The document featured here is Knox’s retained draft certifying Smith’s freedom. "This is to certify that the bearer hereof Romeo Smith is a free man, and has served three years in the Army of the United States of America. Any person [struck: going a]

Women in the Civil War: Vivandieres

Vivandieres, sometimes known as cantinieres, were women who followed the army to provide support for the troops. Ideally, a vivandiere would have been a young woman—the daughter of an officer or wife of a non-commissioned officer—who wore a uniform and braved battles to provide care for wounded soldiers on the battlefield.  The history of vivandieres can be traced to the French Zouave regiments in the Crimean War. By 1859, many local militia regiments in the United States had adopted the name "Zouave," wore colorful uniforms, and adopted the practice of having a "daughter of the regiment" in

A Civil War soldier’s letters: "Save them if it cost the farm"

George Tillotson from Greene, New York, enlisted with the 89th New York Infantry in November of 1861. This ambrotype (photograph made on glass) and a series of letters from the summer of 1862 remind us that soldiers and their families faced hardships on the home front as well as on the battlefield. George had been in the army for five months and was stationed at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, when his wife, Libby, sent him the photograph featured here. The photograph was damaged in the mail and began a heartbreaking series of correspondence.  April 19, 1862 – "Your letter of the 6th inst

Washington Dodge: <i>Titanic</i> Survivor, April 1912

One hundred years ago this weekend, the RMS Titanic sank, claiming the lives over 1,500 passengers and crew. In this account, Dr. Washington Dodge recounts his tale of survival. Written on board the RMS Carpathia during the three-day journey back to New York, this eyewitness account is one of the earliest and most compelling accounts of the disaster. Dodge’s handwriting and sentence phrasing offer a glimpse into his state of mind as he penned his testimony. Excerpt: When boat 13 was lowered to A deck to be loaded I went to this deck – After 8 or 10 women had been placed aboard, no [struck:

Abraham Lincoln, Mary Owens, and the accidental engagement

In 1836, Abraham Lincoln found himself in a tenuous situation. He was engaged to a woman he barely knew and didn’t want to marry. Mrs. Elizabeth Abell had been pushing for a romance between Lincoln and her sister, Mary Owens, whom Lincoln had met briefly in 1833. When Elizabeth went home to visit her family in Kentucky three years later, she said she would bring Mary back to Illinois if Lincoln would agree to marry her. Lincoln jokingly agreed. He realized the consequences of his rash statement when Mary came to New Salem and considered herself engaged. Lincoln immediately regretted his

Mother’s Day, 1919: "may you never get another letter from France as long as you live!"

What would be a better Mother’s Day present than learning that your child would be returning home from war? In 1919, thirty-year-old Lawrence Hopkins of the 305th Engineers was at the Forwarding Camp in Le Mans, France, awaiting orders to return home. On Wednesday, May 7, he wrote his mother in Ashtabula, Ohio, an early Mother’s Day letter in hopes he would be at sea by Sunday. With great excitement he announced the possibility of being home by Decoration Day (Memorial Day): Forwarding Camp, Le Mans, FranceMay 7, 1919 Dear Mother: It is my fond hope that this will be my last letter written

Civil War–era sketches by David Stauffer

When the Civil War broke out, David McNeely Stauffer (1845–1913) was only sixteen years old. While attending Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania from September 1861 through June 1863, he served brief, emergency enlistments when the state of Pennsylvania was threatened by Robert E. Lee’s forces. He joined the 2nd Pennsylvania Emergency Regiment in September 1862 and served until winter. In June 1863, he joined in the defense of Gettysburg with the 
Independent Battery of Pennsylvania. When Stauffer’s enlistment expired in January 1864, he briefly joined the Engineering Corps of the

Patriotic Verse in a Schoolboy’s Math Book during the Revolutionary War

Between the pages of his math exercise book John Barstow jotted down a patriotic tune called "The Amaricans Challing" on January 2, 1777. Carefully written in a youth’s unsteady hand, the text appears to be a transcript of a popular camp song from the Revolutionary era. How this declaration of patriotism found its way into Barstow’s math lessons is unknown. The book is filled with conversion tables for weights and measures, time and money tables, and multiplication and division tables in addition to mathematical problems. One can imagine a young child learning the song from a father or older

"Document of the Month" - October

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean

OCTOBER 10 AND NOVEMBER 5, 1863: DAVIS TRIES TO RALLY CONFEDERATE MORALE The summer of 1863 had been a poor one for the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee’s army was not just repulsed from its invasion of Pennsylvania but bloodily beaten at Gettysburg. At the same time, William S. Rosecrans maneuvered Braxton Bragg’s Confederates out of Middle Tennessee at the cost of fewer than six hundred Union casualties. Farther west, Ulysses S. Grant had at last captured Vicksburg, the strongest Confederate citadel of the Mississippi, and delivered complete control of the "Father of Waters" to the Union. Lee

Food Conservation during WWI: "Food Will Win the War"

When most people think of wartime food rationing, they think of World War II. However, civilians were encouraged to do their part for the war effort during World War I as well. This colorful poster by artist Charles E. Chambers was issued by the United States Food Administration to encourage voluntary food conservation. "Food Will Win the War" was the name of the campaign initiated by the newly appointed head of the agency, Herbert Hoover. Food was necessary not only to feed America’s growing Army, but to help relieve famine in Europe, in part to prevent the overthrow of European governments

"Document of the Month" - November

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson

MARCH 9, 1864—ULYSSES S. GRANT IS COMMISSIONED AS LIEUTENANT-GENERAL On March 8, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant and his eldest son, Fred, arrived at Washington, DC. It was the general’s first visit to Washington since 1852, when he had been a young officer. What happened next is fairly well known. The front desk clerk at Willard’s Hotel did not recognize his distinguished guest and assigned him a small room before realizing that the hero of Vicksburg and Chattanooga was standing before him. After struggling to eat a meal at the hotel restaurant as excited onlookers buzzed around him, Grant made his

Select images from the American Civil War

In October 1862, Mathew Brady opened a photography exhibition at his studio in New York City. Entitled The Dead of Antietam, the exhibition attracted large crowds and brought the war home in a way that news articles and casualty listings could not. On October 20, 1862, an editorial in the New York Times explained that "the dead of the battle-field come up to us very rarely, even in dreams. We see the list in the morning paper at breakfast, but dismiss its recollection with the coffee. There is a confused mass of names, but they are all strangers; we forget the horrible significance that

The Emancipation Proclamation: Raising money for sick and wounded soldiers

The Emancipation Proclamation stands as the single most important accomplishment of Lincoln’s presidency. The preliminary proclamation, announced on September 22, 1862, served as a warning for Southern states that if they did not abandon the war, they would lose their slaves. More important, it was the first step toward the official abolition of slavery in the United States. While many Northerners were not initially abolitionists, their support of Abraham Lincoln and the Union military, as well as the demonstrated determination of slaves to escape bondage in the South and the courage of

New World War II acquisition: Pearl Harbor patriotic poster from 1942

Following the Japanese bombardment of the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan and Germany and immediately mobilized the country for war. "Remember Dec. 7th!" is a propaganda poster intended to promote a sense of nationalism and boost support for the war effort. It combines imagery suggesting the destruction of the base—smoke and a tattered American flag—with a quotation from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain." Invoking Lincoln could both give comfort to Americans and

"Document of the Month" - December

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean

December 17, 1862: Lincoln’s Cabinet Crisis Less than a week after the disastrous Union defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862, Abraham Lincoln confronted one of the most serious political crises he faced during the war. The debacle fed mounting frustration among Republicans over the administration’s conduct of the war. Led by its Radical members, the Senate Republican caucus tried to force Secretary of State William H. Seward out of the Cabinet. The Radicals accused Seward of opposing vigorous prosecution of the war, exercising undue influence on the President, and

"Document of the Month" - January 2013

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

Martha Washington: First Lady’s grandchildren were her top priority

On April 30, 1789, George Washington was sworn in as our nation’s first president. His wife, Martha Washington, was not at his side. Washington had only received the election results two weeks earlier, on April 14, when Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson arrived at Mount Vernon to notify Washington. He left for the temporary national capital, New York City, two days later and arrived on April 23. He traveled through six states, attending celebrations in cities and towns along the route and being greeted by thousands of citizens who lined the roads. Martha, her two grandchildren, and seven

Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson

January 20, 1863: "Mud March" of the Army of the Potomac After its bloody defeat in December 1862 the Army of the Potomac settled down for the winter around Falmouth, Virginia, on the north bank of the Rappahannock River across from Fredericksburg. Aware that several of his subordinates were actively intriguing for his replacement as the army’s commander, Ambrose Burnside was determined not to sit still for long. He issued orders calling for a march westward, looking to cross the Rappahannock upriver from Fredericksburg and outflank the defensive line held by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern

"Document of the Month" - February 2013

If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean

February 23, 1863: Vallandigham Denounces the Draft What is the proper way for Americans to express political opposition to an ongoing war? How can the party out of power maintain its own identity without appearing disloyal? Can party members oppose the conflict itself and still proclaim themselves patriots? These questions pressed themselves on the Federalists during the War of 1812 and the Whigs during the US–Mexican War and have recurred in recent years, but they took on a special urgency for northern Democrats during the Civil War. (Because a political party system never emerged in the

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