American Antiquarian Society Digital Collections

The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) provides digital access to many of its collections. Most of these are made up of photographic images held by the AAS and include the Ambrotypes Collection, the Daguerreotypes Collection, and the Tintypes Collection, as well as Photographs of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Structures in Massachusetts, Photographs of North American Indians, 1850-1900, and the Farber Gravestone Collection. Several collections of digitized artwork are also available, such as Audubon’s Birds of America, the Charles Pierce Collection of Social and Political Caricatures, the David Claypool Johnston Family Illustrations, the Drawings Collection, Painted Portraits, Miniatures and Sculpted Portrait Busts, and the Silhouettes Collection. Printed materials include the Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project, the Printed Ribbon Badges Collection, and the Watch Papers Collection. Digitized manuscripts can be found in the Letters of Abigail Adams and the Paul Revere Collection.

Amherst College Digital Collections

Amherst College has digitized many of its early American sources. Its Art & Architecture Collection is made up of over 130,000 digital images. Several collections from Amherst’s Archives & Special Collections are available as well. Items featuring Amherst’s early history can be found in the Amherst College Commencement Collection, the Amherst College Early History Collection, and the Amherst College Early History Manuscripts and Pamphlets Collection, and Dean of the Faculty Records. Items from various 19th century Amherst alumni are also available, including the Henry J. Van Lennep (AC 1837) Sketches and Papers, the Justin Perkins (AC 1829) Papers (Selections), and the Sidney Brooks (AC 1841) Papers. Also available is the Emily Dickinson Collection, featuring original poems, manuscripts, and letters of Amherst’s most prominent alumnus. Other early American materials can be found in the Jeffrey Amherst Collection and the Walt Whitman Collection.

Boston Athenæum Digital Collections

The Boston Athenæum has digitized some 13,000 items from its collections. A significant amount of these are photographic collections, such as the Alice Mason Civil War Photograph Album, the Arthur Dexter Nineteenth-Century Photographic Albums, the Eadweard MuyBridge, Central American Collection, the Harriet Hayden Albums, as well as various Ambrotypes, Tintypes, and Other Cased Photographs. Some of the Boston Athenæum’s artwork is also available, including the Isaac Sprague Drawings and Watercolors. Several rare books and prints have also been digitized. Among these are the Boston Directory, Confederate Imprints, Locomotive Builders’ Prints, the George Washington Library Bookbindings, Menus from Boston Hotels, Nineteenth-Century Political Ballots, Publishers’ Bindings, and the Schoolcraft Collection of Books in Native American Languages. Sheet Music is also available, including Lincoln Related Sheet Music and Pro-Confederate Civil War Sheet Music. The Boston Athenæum's digitized manuscripts are comprised of Confederate Paper Currency, Confederate Financial Documents, the Provident Institution for Savings in the Town of Boston Records, and the Robert Morris Papers.

Boston College Digitized Collections

Boston College Digitized Collections provides access to several early American sources, much of which are held at the John J. Burns Library. Its Boston Area History collections include 19th Century Diaries, Boston Newspapers, the Elizabeth Hayward Collection of Ursuline Academy Materials, and the Thomas Murray Family Papers. Some general United States History collections are available, such as the Becker Collection, the Boston College Collection of Cotton Mather Letters, Civil War Correspondence, and the Robert E. Brooker III Collection of American Legal and Land Use Documents. There are also several Irish History and Literature collections. The Irish and Irish Diaspora Correspondence includes letters written by or to Irish-Americans during the Irish Famine and the American Civil War.

Congregational Library & Archives Digital Collections

The Congregational Library & Archives maintains a growing library of digitized materials. Its most prominent collection is New England’s Hidden Histories, a series of rare and unique colonial-era church records found not only in the Congregational Library & Archives, but across New England. Series I: Church Records contains various records from Puritan, Congregational, and other Christian churches. Dozens of churches are represented. Series II: Personal Papers and Documents is comprised of manuscripts created by individuals and ecclesiastical councils. Diaries, letters, sermons, sermon notes and other papers can all be found in this series. Lastly, Series III: Conference and Association Records is made up of meeting minutes, committee reports, membership lists, rule and recommendations for ministering, and various other materials related to New England’s early Christian organizations. These documents highlight not just the religious, but the associational culture of early New England. The Congregational Library & Archives also maintains its Image Catalog, which features more than 1,300 digitized photographs, prints, books, magazines, newspapers, and other ephemera.

Digital Amherst

Digital Amherst provides online access to the digitized materials of Jones Library, which has served the Amherst community since 1919. Some early American materials are included. The Library has digitized its Amherst Tax Records Collection, which consists of tax record books dating to the mid-18th century. 19th century photographs can be found in the John L. Lovell Collection. Other 19th century items can be found in the Jones Family Collection, including photographs, family papers, and other artifacts related to the Library’s benefactors.

Digital Commonwealth: Massachusetts Collections Online

Digital Commonwealth is a collaborative project between 220 Massachusetts libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies to provide statewide online access to their digitized materials. A list of Member Institutions is available. Its Collections focus on all eras of Massachusetts history, but the colonial and early national periods are well represented. Many of these collections are unique and are not available digitally elsewhere. For instance, the Boston Public Library uploads its digitized materials exclusively to Digital Commonwealth.

Harvard Digital Collections

Harvard Digital Collections makes available online much of Harvard University’s vast trove of early American sources. Much of these materials are housed at Harvard’s Baker Library, Houghton Library, and the Harvard University Archives. Some images from Harvard’s immense selection of photographs have been digitized, including the Daguerreotypes at Harvard and the Harrison D. Horblit Collection of Early Photography. Artwork such as Harvard’s Botanical Illustrations and the Jacques Burkhardt Scientific Drawings have also been digitized. Early American maps can be viewed in City Maps and Urban Environments and Scanned Maps. Several digital collections of a more general nature have material related to early America, such as the American Currency Collection, Expeditions and Discoveries, Immigration to the United States, the Latin American Pamphlet Digital Collection, the Political Buttons Collection, Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality in the U.S. & U.K., The South Sea Bubble Collection, and Women Working. Digital collections that are more specific to early America include France in the Americas, Joseph Story: Manuscripts, Correspondence, and Visual Materials, and the William Ellery Channing Collection. Yet, the most significant collection for early America is Colonial North America (CNA) at Harvard Library. Once complete, this massive project will provide access to some 700,000 digitized images of Harvard’s 17th and 18th century manuscripts related to North America. A series of essays offers viewers A Closer Look at what materials CNA has to offer. Some of the collections have been grouped together by subject. They include Women, The Sea, Maps, Families, Science, and Law.

Massachusetts Historical Society Digital Collections

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) has digitized some of its most popular and unique materials. Most of these resources are presented in the form of either digital collections or online exhibits. The exhibits piece together individual items taken from the MHS’s individual collections to tell stories about a certain topic. Several of the resources are made up of photographs, including The Atkins Family in Cuba, Early Photographs, the Marian Hooper Adams Photographs, and the Photography of Francis Blake. Some of the collections and exhibits feature material related to the American Revolution. Among these are the Annotated Newspapers of Harbottle Dorr, The Coming of the American Revolution, Perspectives on the Boston Massacre, and Revolutionary-Era Art and Artifacts. America’s early national period is represented in Boston Abolitionists, Massachusetts Considers Ratifying the U.S. Constitution, The War of 1812, and Who Counts. There are also several digital resources for the Civil War, including 54th Regiment, the Charles Francis Adams Civil War Diaries, and Massachusetts in the Civil War. Some of the MHS’s manuscript collections have also been digitized, such as the Adams Family Papers, the Correspondence of Mercy Otis Warren and Hannah Winthrop, the Diaries of John Quincy Adams, and the Thomas Jefferson Papers. Other digitized collections of note include Boston by Manuscript, Maps of the French and Indian War, Thomas Nast: A Life in Cartoons, and The Tradition of Anglo-American Mourning Jewelry.

Peabody Essex Museum Online Collections

The Peabody Essex Museum has digitized some of its early American holdings. Most prominent is The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming. This digital collection includes depositions, warrants, confessions, and other manuscript materials related to the Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of Rare Books held by the Museum’s Phillips Library have also been digitized and are available to view through the Internet Archive.

Senter Digital Archive

The Senter Digital Archive provides online access to the digitized collections of Haverhill Public Library. Much of this material dates to the 19th century. Collections in this archive include several 18th and 19th century Maps of Haverhill and the surrounding area. The rest of the digitized materials are primarily photographs. Images of Churches and Winter Street are available, as are photographs of Historic Houses, the Shoe Industry, and the Civil War.