Reference Materials

Below is a list of reference materials related to the early Americas. These resources provide a tremendous guide for locating primary sources related to early American history. Some of the guides are of a general nature, while others are quite specific. They are arranged by the location of materials.

United States

“A Calendar of Manuscript Materials Relating to the History of the Six Nations or Iroquois Indians in Depositories Outside Philadelphia, 1750-1850,” ed. William Nelson Fenton, American Philosophical Society Proceedings 97 (1953): 578-595

A Catalogue of Manuscripts and Printed Documents, Chiefly Americana, Selected from the Archives and Manuscript Collections of the Americana Philosophical Society…, (Philadelphia, 1937)

A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Collection of Western Americana Founded by William Robertson Coe, ed. Mar. C. Withington (New Haven, 1952)

A Checklist of Manuscripts in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, ed. Ruth Lapham Butler (Chicago, 1937)

A Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in the United States, ed. Philip M. Hamer (New Haven, 1961)

A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to American History in British Depositories Reproduced for the Division of Manuscripts of the Library of Congress, ed. Grace Gardner Griffin (Washington, 1946)

A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to the History of the British Empire, 1748-1776, Lawrence Henry Gipson, vol. 15 of The British Empire Before the Revolution (New York, 1970)

A Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society, ed. Fred. Shelley (Newark, 1957)

A Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Rutgers University Library, ed. Herbert F. Smith (New Brunswick, 1964)

A Guide to the Microfilm Collections of Early State Records (Washington, 1950)

A Guide to the Principal Sources of Early American History in the City of New York, eds. Evarts B. Greene and Richard B. Morris (1953, 2nd. ed.)

A Guide to the Resources of the American Antiquarian Society: A National Library of American History (Worcester, 1937)

“A List of Printed Guides to and Descriptions of Archives and Other Repositories of Historical Manuscripts,” American Historical Association, Annual Report, 1896 I (1897): 481-512

“American Historical Manuscripts in the Historical Manuscript Room,” ed. Zara Jones Powers, Yale University Library Gazette 14 (1939): 1-11

American Library Resources: A Bibliographical Guide, ed. Robert B. Downs (1951)

American Manuscript Collections in the Huntington Library for the History of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, ed. Norma B. Cuthbert (San Marino, 1941)

“An Official Guide to the Historical Materials in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History,” Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History Annual Report, 1922-1912 (Nashville, 1914)

“A Provisional Guide to Manuscripts int he South Carolina Historical Society,” ed. Helen C. McCormack, South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, 45-48 (1944-1977)

A Union List of Manuscripts in Libraries of the Pacific Northwest, ed. Charles W. Smith (1931)

The Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection at Hamilton College: A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Maps and Drawings, 1521-1860, eds. Samuel J. Hough and Penelope R. O. Hough (Gainesville, 1994)

Bibliographies in American History, ed. Henry P. Beers (1942)

Calendar of Records in the Custody of the Public Archives Commission oft he State of Delaware (Dover, 1935)

Calendar of the Correspondence of James Monroe (Washington, 1904)

Calendar of the General Otho Holland Williams Papers in the Maryland Historical Society (Baltimore, 1940)

Calendar of the New Jersey State Library Manuscript Collection (Newark, 1939)

Calendar of the Papers of Martin Van Buren, ed. Elizabeth Howard West (Washington, 1910)

Calendar of the Sir William Johnson Manuscripts, Richard E. Day (Albany, 1909)

Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 1652-1869, W. P. Palmer, S. McRae, and W. H. Fleurnoy, 11 vols. (Richmond, 1875-1893)

Catalogue of Archival Material…, Hall of Records Commission Publication, no. 2 (Annapolis, 1942)

Catalogue of the Manuscripts int he Collection of the Virginia Historical Society and Some Printed Papers (Richmond, 1901)

Check List of Collections of Personal Papers in Historical Societies, University and Public Libraries, and Other Learned Institutions in the United States (Washington, 1918)

Check List of Historical Records Survey Publications (Washington, 1943, rev. ed.)

Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1909 (Washington, 1911, 3rd ed.)

Descriptive List of Manuscript Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Reuben Gold Thwaites (Madison, 1906)

Dictionary of American Biography, eds. Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, 30 vols. (New York, 1928-1995)

“Early Annapolis Records,” ed. Morris L. Radoff, Maryland Historical Magazine 35 (1940): 74-78

The First Century of the John Carter Brown Library: A History with a Guide to the Collections, Lawerence C. Wroth (Providence, 1946)

Forest History Sources of the United States and Canada, ed. Cloudaugh M. Neiderheiser (1956)

French and Spanish Records of Louisiana: A Bibliographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources, Henry Putney Beers (Baton Rouge, 1989)

Guide to Business History: Materials for the Study of American Business History and Suggestions for Their Use, ed. Henrietta M. Larson (1948)

Guide to Manuscript Collections int he Duke University Library, eds. Nannie M. Tilley and Noma L. Goddwin (Durham, 1947)

Guide to Manuscript Materials of American Origin in the Illinois Historical Survey, ed. Marguerite J. Pease (Urbana, 1956, rev. ed.)

Guide to Manuscript Materials Relating to Western History in Foreign Depositories Reproduced for the Illinois Historical Survey, ed. Marguerite J. Pease (Urbana, 1956, rev. ed.)

Guide to the Archives and Manuscripts of the American Philosophical Society, eds. Whitfield J. Bell and Murphy D. Smith (Philadelphia, 1966)

Guide to the Diplomatic History of the United States, 1775-1921, eds. Samuel F. Bemis and Grace G. Griffin (1935)

Guide to the Draper Manuscripts, Josephine L. Harper (Madison, 1983)

Guide to the Manuscripts of the Kentucky Historical Society, ed. G. Glenn Clift (Frankfort, 1955)

Guide to Photocopies Historical Materials in the United States and Canada, ed. Richard W. Hale, Jr. (1961)

Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the Library of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, ed. Elizabeth C. Biggert (Columbus, 1953)

Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the William L. Clements Library, ed. William S. Ewing (Ann Arbor, 1953, 2nd ed.)

Guide to the Manuscript Collections of Colonial Williamsburg, ed. Lynette Adcock (Williamsburg, 1954)

Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1949, 2nd ed.)

Guide to the manuscripts of the Wisconsin Historical Society, ed. Alice E. Smith (Madison, 1944)

Guide to the Municipal Archives of the City and County of Philadelphia, eds. Charles E. Hughes, Jr. and Allen Weinberg (Philadelphia, 1957)

Guide to the National Archives of the United States (Washington, 1987)

Guide to the Personal Papers in the Manuscript Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, ed. Grace Lee Nute and Gertrude W. Ackermann (St. Paul, 1935)

“Guides to American History Manuscript Collections in Libraries of the United States,” ed. Ray Allen Billington, Mississippi Valley Historical Review 38, no. 3 (Dec., 1954): 467-496

Handbook of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress (Washington, 1918)

Harvard Guide to American History, eds. Frank Freidel and Richard K. Showman, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1974, rev. ed.)

The Hispanic World, 1792-1898: A Guide to Photoreproduced Manuscripts from Spain int he Collections of the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico, Estela Guadalupe Jiménez Codinach (Washington, 1994)

Inventory of Unpublished Material for American Religious History in Protestant Church Archives and Other Repositories, William H. Allison (Washington, 1910)

List of Business Manuscripts in Baker Library, ed. Robert W. Lovett (Boston, 1951, 2nd ed.)

List of Manuscript Collections in the Library of Congress to July 1931, Curtis W. Garrison (Washington, 1931)

List of Manuscript Collections Received in the Library of Congress July 1931 to July 1938, Percey C. Powell (Washington, 1939)

List of National Archives Microfilm Publications (Washington, 1965)

Manuscript Collections in the Columbia University Libraries: A Descriptive List (New York, 1959)

“The Manuscript Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society: A Brief Listing,” ed. Stephen T. Riley, Massachusetts Historical Society Miscellany, no. 5 (Boston, 1958)

Manuscript Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, eds. Lucile M. Kane and Kathryn A. Johnson (St. Paul, 1955)

The Manuscript Collections of the Princeton University Library: An Introductory Survey, ed. Alexander P. Clark (Princeton, 1960, rep.)

Manuscript Relating to Commonwealth Caribbean Countries in United States and Canadian Repositories, ed. K. E. Ingram (Bridgetown, 1975)

Manuscripts and Records in the University of New Mexico Library (Albuquerque, 1957)

Manuscripts in Public and Private Collections in the United States (Washington, 1924)

“Manuscript Treasures in the New York State Library,” ed. Edna L. Jacobsen, New York History 20 (1939): 265-276

Newspapers on Microfilm (Washington, 1957, 3rd ed.)

Papers of James Monroe Listed in Chronological Order from the Original Manuscripts in the Library of Congress, ed. Worthington Chauncey Ford (Washington, 1904)

Preliminary Guide to the Research Materials of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (Harrisburg, 1959)

Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States House of Representatives, 1789-1946, eds. Buford Rowland, handy B. Fant, and Harold E. Hufford (Washington, 1959)

Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States Senate, eds. Harold E. Hufford and Watson G. Caudill (Washington, 1950)

Public Documents of the First Fourteen Congresses, 1789-1817, ed. A. W. Greeley (Washington, 1900)

Resources of Pacific Northwest Libraries, ed. John Van Male (1943)

Resources of Southern Libraries: A Survey of Facilities for Research, ed. Robert B. Downs (1938)

Select List of Manuscripts in the Connecticut State Library, Connecticut State Library Bulletin, no. 9 (Hartford, 1920)

“Some Manuscripts in the history of Nineteenth Century American Natural Science,” Edward Lurie, Isis (Dec. 1953)

“Source Material of the Detroit Public Library as Supplied by the Acquisition of the Burton Historical Collection,” ed. L. O. Woltz, Michigan History Magazine 6 (1922): 386-399

“Source Material for the Study of American History in the Libraries of Chicago,” ed. G. B. Utley, Bibliographical Society of America Papers 16 (1922): 30-38

The Southern Historical Collection: A Guide to Manuscripts, eds. Susan S. Blosser and Clyde N. Wilson (Chapel Hill, 1970)

Special Library Resources, ed. Rose L. Vormelker, 4 vols. (1941-1947)

Survey of Manuscript Collections in the New-York Historical Society, ed. Susan E. Lyman (New York, 1941)

Union List of Microfilms: A Basic List of Holdings in the United States and Canada (Ann Arbor, 1951, rev. ed.)

Canada

A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to the History of the British Empire, 1748-1776, Lawrence Henry Gipson, vol. 15 of The British Empire Before the Revolution (New York, 1970)

The French & British in the Old Northwest: A Bibliographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources, ed. Henry Putney Beers (Detroit, 1964)

Guide to the Materials for United States History in Canadian Archives, ed. David W. Parker (Washington, 1913)

Guide to the Manuscript Collection in the Toronto Public Library (Toronto, 1954)

Guide to Photocopies Historical Materials in the United States and Canada, ed. Richard W. Hale, Jr. (1961)

Manuscript Relating to Commonwealth Caribbean Countries in United States and Canadian Repositories, ed. K. E. Ingram (Bridgetown, 1975)

“The Manuscript Sources of Canadian History,” A. G. Doughty, The Cambridge History of the British Empire, vol. 6, Canada and Newfoundland (Cambridge, 1930)

“The Public Records of the Province of Quebec, 1763-1791,” ed. James Kenney, Royal Society of Canada Proceedings and Transactions, 3rd ser., 34, Section II (1940): 87-113)

Report on Canadian Archives, Douglas Brymner, et al., 8 vols. (Ottawa, 1888-1904)

Union List of Manuscripts in Canadian Repositories (Ottawa, 1968)

Caribbean

A Guide to Manuscript Sources in United States and West Indian Depositories Relating to the British West Indies During the Era of the American Revolution, ed. G. F. Tyson (Wilmington, 1978)

A Guide to Records in Barbados (Oxford, 1965)

A Guide to Records in the Leeward Islands, ed. E. C. Baker (Oxford, 1965)

A Guide to Records in the Windward Islands, ed. E. C. Baker (Oxford, 1968)

A Guide to the Source Materials for the Study of Barbados History, 1627-1834, ed. Jerome S. Handler (Carbondale, 1971)

Guide to British West Indian Archive Materials, in London and on the Islands, for the History of the United States, eds. Herbert C. Bell, et al. (Washington, 1926)

Guide to the Study of the British Caribbean, 1763-1834, ed. L. J. Ragatz (Washington, 1932)

“Public Records in the British West Indies Islands,” ed. Richard Pares, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 7 (1929-1930)

Preliminary Report on Manuscript Materials Relating to the American Revolution in the West Indian Islands, eds. G. F. Tyson and C. Tyson (Millwood, 1978)

Report of the Caribbean Archives Conference held at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, September 20-27, 1965 (1965)

Sources of Jamaican History, 1655-1838, ed. K. E. Ingram (Zug, 1976)

Sources for West Indian Studies: A Supplementary Listing, With Particular Reference to manuscript Sources, ed. K. E. Ingram (Zug, 1983)

Supplement to A Guide to the Source Materials for the Study of Barbados History, 1627-1834, ed. Jerome S. Handler (Providence, 1991)

United Kingdom

A Guide to Manuscript Sources for the History of Latin America and the Caribbean in the British Isles, ed. Peter Walne (London, 1973)

A Guide to the Materials for American History to 1783 int he Public Record Office of Great Britain, ed. C. M. Andrews, 2 vols. (Washington, 1912-1914)

The American Controversy: A Bibliographical Study of the British Pamphlets About the American Disputes, 1764-1783, ed. Thomas R. Adams (New York, 1980)

The Fulham Palace Papers in Lambeth Palace Library, American Colonial Section: Calendar and indexes, ed. W. M. Manross (Oxford, 1965)

Guide to British West Indian Archive Materials, in London and on the Islands, for the History of the United States, eds. Herbert C. Bell, et al. (Washington, 1926)

Guide to Manuscript Materials for a History of the United States to 1783 in the British Museum, in Minor London Archives, and in the Libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, eds. C. M. Andrews and Frances G. Davenport (Washington, 1908)

Guide to the Materials in London Archives for the History of the United States Since 1783, eds. C. O. Paulin and F. L. Paxton (Washington, 1914)

Maps and Plans in the Public Record Office: America and the West Indies, ed. P. A. Penfold (London, 1974)

France

A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to the History of the British Empire, 1748-1776, vol. 15 of The British Empire Before the American Revolution, Lawrence Henry Gipson (New York, 1970)

Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, ed. Henry Martin, 8 vols. (Paris, 1885-1899)

Catalogue Général des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques Publiques de France: Chambre des Députés, eds. Ernest Coyecque and H. Debraye (Paris, 1907)

Guide to Materials for American History in the Libraries and Archives of Paris, ed. Waldo G. Leland (Washington, 1932)

Rapport sur les Archives de France Relatives à l’Histoire du Canada, ed. J. Edmond Roy, Public Archives of Canada Publications no. 6 (1911)

Spain

A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to the History of the British Empire, 1748-1776, vol. 15 of The British Empire Before the American Revolution, Lawrence Henry Gipson (New York, 1970)

Descriptive Catalogue of the Documents relating to the History of the United States in the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba deposited in the Archivo General de Indias at Seville, Roscoe R. Hill (Washington, 1916)

Guide to the Materials for the History of the United States in Spanish Archives…, ed. William R. Shepherd (Washington, 1907)

List of Documents in Spanish Archives relating to the History of the United States, which have been Printed or of which Transcripts are Preserved in American Libraries, ed. James Alexander Robertson (Washington, 1910)

Lists of published sources related to the early Americas.

A list of digital collections related to the early United States.

A list of archives and research libraries in the United States that hold significant collections of early American sources.