Colonial History

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1775 - The French and Indian War
Sections include Soldier Lists, White Coats, References, Events/Places to Visit, and a Document of the Month
By Larry Laroux

18th Century History
The Age of Reason and Change

Alexander Hamilton on the Web
"...a comprehensive guide and web directory to Alexander Hamilton, founding father, first Secretary of the Treasury, major author of the Federalist Papers and advocate of a strong central government...On this site you will find biographies, both long and short, a large number of Hamilton's writing, including the complete Federalist Papers, images of Hamilton, reviews and excerpts from some of the recent books about Hamilton, essays on the Hamilton/Burr duel and on dueling generally, and so forth."

Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History
"The bottom line is that I believe that the DH will be more accessible and more useful online than as a series of expensive, ponderous volumes." - Great attitude! Thank you.
J.A. Leo Lemay, Dept. of English, University of Delaware

Biographical Dictionary of Pennsylvania Legislators
"...the Biographical Dictionary of Pennsylvania Legislators Project at Temple University employs a team of professional historians to research and write individual biographies of Pennsylvania legislators from colonial times to the present day. The project's work offers an invaluable window into Pennsylvania's unique history, and, more generally, our national heritage...Our summaries of Volume One and Volume Two include links to some of the published biographies and introductory chapters as well as to complete name and subject indexes."

Classics of American Colonial History
"We have selected scholarly books and articles on American colonial history that appear to be of continuing interest. Our goal is to add four documents (articles or book chapters) per week. Readers are invited to suggest further public-domain documents for digitization."
From Dinsmore Documentation

The Coins of Colonial and Early America
"This Project features discussions, descriptions and images of the coins and tokens used in Colonial and Confederation America based on examples in the Department of Special Collections at the University of Notre Dame."
By Louis Jordan

Colonial American History Social Studies Resources - (dead link)
A K12 site with many useful links

Colonial Hall: Biographies of America's Founding Fathers

The Columbus Letter
Includes Publication, Reproduction, Transcription and Translation of the original Basel 1494 Letter in the first section and the section discusses the Context of the letter, including its history, genealogy, diffusion. A most fascinating site.
Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Maine

The Diary, Correspondence, and Papers of Robert "King" Carter of Virginia, 1701-1732
Transcribed and Edited by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
"This site includes transcriptions of the diary, correspondence, and papers of the richest and most important man of his day in Virginia, who owned at his death at least 300,000 acres containing many farms and plantations that produced tobacco and other crops for sale, some 1,000 slaves to work those plantations, and large sums of money invested in Virginia and in England. Robert Carter was a member of the Council of Virginia, was acting governor, and a political power in the colony. He had received a classical education in England, and corresponded widely both within the colony and with merchants in England."
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia

The Early America Review
A Journal of Fact and Opinion On the People, Issues and Events of 18th Century America

Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings
A large collection of sermons, extracts, poems, quotes and more.
By Bill Carson
[see also American Religions]

Jamestown Rediscovery
"...a ten-year interdisciplinary project searching for the remains of 1607 Jamestown on the 22.5 acre APVA property on Jamestown Island, Virginia.
- Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities

Jesuit Plantation Project
Maryland's Jesuit Plantations, 1650-1838
"The Jesuit Plantation Project involves the conversion of the Maryland Province Archive to an electronic format. The archive contains over 200 years of personal, legal, and financial documents produced by the six Jesuit-owned plantations in Maryland."
Georgetown University

The Leslie Brock Center for the Study of Colonial Currency
Includes Pamphlets, and Other Contemporary Writings as well as links to modern essays

Maps of the French and Indian War
From the Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society
Sections include: About the War ; About Maps ; Online Atlas ; View Maps.

Massachusetts Historical Society

• Educating Youth - (dead link)
  • John Quincy Adams
    One President's Adolescence
    "featuring Ordinary and Extraordinary Letters, Diary Entries, and Parental Advice from JQA's Early Years"
    Writings from 1773-1782
    Curriculum by Robert Baker, Teacher, Needham High School

Mayflower Web Pages
"This site is a merger of two fields: genealogy and history...links to every Mayflower passenger's proven genealogical information, a complete set of all Mayflower wills, addresses of important records offices, information about Mayflower lineage societies, and more...For the historian, there are full texts of early Plymouth writings."
- Caleb Johnson

National Park Service

• Colonial National Historical Park (Jamestown and Yorktown, PA)
  "Colonial National Historical Park (NHP) administers two of the most historically significant sites in English North America. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607, is administered jointly with the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and Yorktown Battlefield, the final major battle of the American Revolutionary War in 1781."
  Sections include: Cape Henry Memorial ; Jamestown National Historic site ; Yorktown National Cemetery
  • Historic Jamestowne
    The first permanent English Colony on the North American continent.

Old Deerfield, Massachusetts Memorial Hall Museum
Museum of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association.

• Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704
  "Was this dramatic pre-dawn assault in contested lands an unprovoked, brutal attack on an innocent village of English settlers? Was it a justified military action against a stockaded settlement in a Native homeland? Or was it something else?...Explore this website and hear all sides of the storyóthen you decide."
  Sections include: 1704 Home ; Meet the 5 Cultures ; People ; Artifacts ; Maps ; Timeline ; Voices & Songs ; Explanations ; Glossary.

Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture - (dead link)

PBS - Benjamin Franklin (November 2002)
An Extraordinary Life, An Electric Mind
Companion site to the TV broadcast.
Sections include: Citizen Ben ; Wit and Wisdom ; Inquiring Mind ; World of Influence ; Timeline ; Ben A To Z ; Teacher's Guide ; Explore ; Resources.

PBS - Secrets of the Dead - Death at Jamestown
"...takes a 21st century look at the eerie fate of the men and boys who left London to establish the first permanent British colony in North America: Jamestown, Virginia. Three years after they first set foot on American shores, 440 of the original 500 settlers had died...Death at Jamestown paints an eerie new picture of the conditions in Jamestown, and implicates some very unlikely culprits."
Sections include: Background ; Clues & Evidence ; Interview ; Resources.

Plimoth-on-Web - (dead link)
Plimoth Plantation : The Living History Museum of 17th-Century Plymouth.

• The Plimoth Plantation Museum - (dead link)
  Sections include: Plimoth Plantation, Inc. ; 1627 Pilgrim Village ; Hobbamock's Wampanoag Indian Homesite ; Mayflower II ; Archaeology at Plimoth Plantation.
• The Library - (dead link)
  On-Line Documents include: Plymouth Colony History ; The Wampanoag ; The Pilgrims in American Culture ; Plimoth Plantation: Behind the Sciences ; Links ; Genealogical Websites.

Salem Witch Trials
Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
"...consists of an electronic collection of primary source materials relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692 and a new transcription of the court records."
Sections include: Archives ; Books & Letters ; Documents ; Maps ; People.
Project Director: Benjamin C. Ray, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Virginia

Salem Witch Trials Memorial - (dead link)

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.

Virtual Jamestown
"The Virtual Jamestown Archive is a digital research, teaching and learning project that explores the legacies of the Jamestown settlement and "the Virginia experiment." As a work in progress, Virtual Jamestown aims to shape the national dialogue on the occasion of the four hundred-year anniversary observance in 2007 of the founding of the Jamestown colony.
This well designed online resource includes: Maps and Images ; Court Records ; Labor Contracts ; Public Records ; Reference Center ; First Hand Accounts and Letters ; Newspapers ; Teaching Materials.
Product of collaboration between Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, and the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia.

See also

Maintained by Mike Madin.
Academic Info http://www.academicinfo.net/usearlycolonial.html

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