The American West - Frontier History - Westward Movement

Westward Movement

U.S. History > American West > Westward Movement

California Pioneer Project
"The California Pioneer List (CPL) is a list of settlers to California who migrated to or were born in California prior to 1880 (included in the 1880 California Census) and obtained from those sent (e-mailed) directly from individuals doing genealogical research."
By the California GenWeb Project

Exploring the West from Monticello
"An Exhibition of Maps and Navigational Instruments, on View in the Tracy W. McGregor Room, Alderman Library, University of Virginia."

The Indian Fur Trade
"The Fur Trapper site is for the collecting and sharing of information on the effects of the fur trade on the American Indians. Much of the history from the late seventeen hundreds to eighteen forty reflects the prejudices of the times rather than factual information on the Fur Trade and its effects on the Plains, Rocky Mountain, and Canadian Indian Cultures."
Maintained by O.N. Eddins

Meeting of Frontiers
"...a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the American exploration and settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest...It is intended for use in U.S. and Russian schools and libraries and by the general public in both countries. Scholars, particularly those who do not have ready access to major research libraries, also will benefit from the mass of primary material included in Meeting of Frontiers, much of which has never been published or is extremely rare."
Library of Congress

Prairie Settlement
Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1742-1912
"This digital collection integrates two collections from the holdings of the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Solomon D. Butcher photographs and the letters of the Uriah W. Oblinger family. Together they illustrate the story of settlement on the Great Plains. Approximately 3,000 glass plate negatives crafted by Butcher record the process of settlement in Nebraska between 1874 and 1912. Butcher photographed actively in central Nebraska including Custer, Buffalo, Dawson and Cherry counties. The approximately 3,000 pages of Oblinger family letters discuss land, work, neighbors, crops, religious meetings, problems with grasshoppers, financial problems, and the Easter Blizzard of 1873."
American Memory, Library of Congress

Rare Map Collection - Union and Expansion
University of Georgia

The Trails Project - (dead link) "The primary goal of the Trails Project is to create a model for integrating technology into the curriculum and into the learning experiences of each student...uses the backdrop and rugged beauty and rich history of the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails to accomplish its goals."
Includes lesson plans, historic documents, information and the geology of the regions along the trails. [K-12]

Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1749
"...incorporates 49 diaries, in 59 volumes, of pioneers trekking westward across America to Utah, Montana, and the Pacific between 1847 and the meeting of the rails in 1749. In addition to the diaries, the collection includes 43 maps, 82 photographs and illustrations, and 7 published guides for immigrants...The collection tells the stories of Mormon pioneer families and others who were part of the national westering movement, sharing trail experiences common to hundreds of thousands of westward migrants
- American Memory, Library of Congress

University of Georgia Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection
"...maintains a collection of more than 800 historic maps spanning nearly 500 years, from the sixteenth century through the early twentieth century."
Site contents include: New World ; Colonial America ; Revolutionary America ; Revolutionary Georgia ; Union & Expansion ; American Civil War ; Frontier to New South ; Savannah & the Coast ; Transportation.

University of Washington Digital Collections

• Northwest of the West: The Frontier Experience on the Northwest Coast
  "This exhibit looks at the Pacific Northwest, especially the Puget Sound country, and asks, What kind of Euro-American settlers came here? Why did they come? Were their motives similar to those who settled in the trans-Missouri West? Why did the Pacific Coast develop as a basically urban society, when the West was rural? Did settlers here think of themselves as being on a frontier? When they thought of the West, did they actually look east of the Cascades and the Sierras, rather than at themselves?

Westward by Sea: A Maritime Perspective on American Expansion, 1820-1890
"This selection of items from Mystic Seaport's archival collections includes logbooks, diaries, letters, business papers, and published narratives of voyages and travels. The unique maritime perspective of these materials offers a rich look at the events, culture, beliefs, and personal experiences associated with the settlement of California, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest. A number of photographs, paintings, maps, and nautical charts are also included to illustrate the story of Americansí western seaborne travel. Various themes are touched upon, including whaling, life at sea, shipping, women at sea, and native populations."
- American Memory, Library of Congress

Last Modified April 2006.
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