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Online Collections from the Manuscript Division

Manuscript Division materials in the collections listed below are available as digital images or as searchable text. Please read about copyright restrictions before making use of these documents. Many are included in the Library's page for collections in manuscript/mixed materials format.

African American OdysseyAfrican American Odyssey
This Special Presentation of the Library of Congress exhibition, The African-American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship, showcases the Library's incomparable African-American collections. The presentation was not only a highlight of what is on view in this major black history exhibition, but also a glimpse into the Library's vast African-American collections. Both include a wide array of important and rare books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings.

Nelson W. AldrichNelson W. Aldrich Papers
The files, 1908-1912, of the National Monetary Commission (2,362 items; 4,724 images) from the papers of U.S. representative and senator from Rhode Island Nelson W. Aldrich (1841-1915) are part of a larger collection available for research use onsite in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress.  Established by the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908, the National Monetary Commission was created in order to study banking and currency operations at home and abroad and to suggest changes in American practices.  Aldrich and other members of the commission visited England, France, and Germany to consult with experts and collect data. Specialists representing the commission made similar visits to other nations and reported their findings.

American Colony in JerusalemAmerican Colony in Jerusalem
This presentation features letters, scrapbooks, photograph albums, and other documentation from Part I of the American Colony in Jerusalem Collection. The full collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress represents well over 10,000 items stemming from the history of the American Colony, a non-denominational utopian Christian community founded by a small group of American expatriates in Ottoman Palestine in 1881.

American Colony in JerusalemAmerican Federation of Labor Records
The records of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) span the years 1883-1925 and consist of letterpress volumes of correspondence of Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) and William Green (1870-1952), presidents of the organization, and by other officials including James Duncan, Gabriel Edmonston, Frank Keyes Foster, and John McBride. Comprising approximately 172,300 items (328,445 images), the collection relates to the formation of local unions, meetings, charters, bylaws, ethics, publicity, arbitration, AFL's political principles, communism, socialism, anthracite coal strikes of 1897 and 1902, fund-raising, boycotts, and the United Mine Workers, American Railway Union, International Association of Machinists, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and American Federationist, the AFL's magazine.

American Life Histories: WPA Folklore Project ManuscriptsAmerican Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Folklore Project, WPA Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
These life histories were compiled and transcribed by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations.

American WomenAmerican Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States (Manuscript Division section)
The Manuscript Division holds collections of notable women who were involved in the suffrage and abolition campaigns, as well as the papers of first ladies, of women who achieved various “firsts” in history, and of women who were pioneers in fields formerly restricted to men. Also obtained were the records of women's voluntary associations and national reform and trade organizations founded and supported by women. Other holdings include letters and diaries documenting women's everyday existence and revealing women's hopes, disappointments, and accomplishments.

Susan B. AnthonySusan B. Anthony Papers
The papers of reformer and suffragist Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) span the period 1846-1934 with the bulk of the material dating from 1846 to 1906. The collection, consisting of approximately 500 items (6,265 images) on seven recently digitized microfilm reels, includes correspondence, diaries, a daybook, scrapbooks, speeches, and miscellaneous items. Donated by her niece, Lucy E. Anthony, the papers relate to Susan B. Anthony's interests in abolition and women's education, her campaign for women's property rights and suffrage in New York, and her work with the National Woman Suffrage Association, the organization she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded in 1869 when the suffrage movement split into two rival camps at odds about whether to press for a federal women's suffrage amendment or to seek state-by-state enfranchisement.

Hannah Arendt PapersThe Hannah Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress
The papers of the author, educator, and political philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) are one of the principal sources for the study of modern intellectual life and constitute a large and diverse collection reflecting a complex career. With over 25,000 items (about 75,000 digital images), the papers contain correspondence, articles, lectures, speeches, book manuscripts, transcripts of Adolf Eichmann's trial proceedings, notes, and printed matter pertaining to Arendt's writings and academic career. The entire collection has been digitized and is available to researchers in reading rooms at the Library of Congress, the New School University in New York City, and the Hannah Arendt Center at the University of Oldenburg, Germany. Parts of the collection and the finding aid are available for public access on the Internet.

John Carvel ArnoldJohn Carvel Arnold Papers
The papers of laborer and Union soldier John Carvel Arnold (1833-1865) consist of 190 items (533 images) in one container and span the years 1856-1937, with the bulk dating from 1864 to 1874. The collection principally contains correspondence of Arnold with his wife, Mary Ann Arnold, during his Civil War service with Company I, 49th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army, relating chiefly to his views on the military situation in Virginia and Maryland (1864-1865), army rations and pay, the Confederates, Copperhead Democrats, family finances, and his wife's difficulties in maintaining a home and educating the children.

John Carvel ArnoldChester A. Arthur Papers
The papers of Chester Alan Arthur (1829-1886), who became the twenty-first president of the United States in 1881 after James A. Garfield�s assassination, consist of 4,400 items (7,667 images), most of which were digitized from 10 reels of previously produced microfilm. Spanning the years 1843-1960, with the bulk dating from 1870 to 1888, the collection contains correspondence, financial papers, scrapbooks, clippings, and other papers relating to Arthur�s presidency, his service as collector of customs for the Port of New York, and his work with the New York Republican State Committee.

Associated PressAssociated Press News Dispatches
The collection of news dispatches of the Washington, D.C., Bureau of the Associated Press spans the period 1915-1930 and consists of 375 volumes (387,082 images), housed in 254 boxes, the contents of which provide an unbroken chronology of world and national events as reported by the news agency. Topics that appear in this chronologically arranged collection include but are not limited to World War One, women’s suffrage, the Jazz Age, and the outbreak of the Great Depression.

Clara Barton PapersThe Clara Barton Papers at the Library of Congress
Philanthropist, nurse, educator, and lecturer. Correspondence, diaries, reports, legal and financial papers, organizational records, lectures, writings, scrapbooks, printed matter, memorabilia, and other papers relating to Barton's work to provide relief services during the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, the work of the American National Red Cross which she founded, and the National First Aid Association of America.

Alexander Graham Bell Family PapersThe Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, 1862-1939
The online version of the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress comprises a selection of 4,695 items (totaling about 51,500 images). This presentation contains correspondence, scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, articles, and photographs documenting Bell's invention of the telephone and his involvement in the first telephone company, his family life, his interest in the education of the deaf, and his aeronautical and other scientific research. Included among Bell's papers are pages from his experimental notebook from March 10, 1876, describing the first successful experiment with the telephone, during which he spoke through the instrument to his assistant the famous words, "Mr. Watson--Come here--I want to see you." Bell's various roles in life as teacher, inventor, celebrity, and family man are covered extensively in his papers.

Behnam Civil War Order 55Donald Benham Civil War Collection
The Donald Benham Civil War Collection consists of 300 items (576 images) in one container, and spans the years 1806 to 1916, with the bulk dating from 1850 to 1870. The collection consists of correspondence, financial and legal records, military orders and records, speeches, and miscellaneous items comprising Civil War material amassed by collector Donald Benham.

Mary Anne BickerdykeMary Anne Bickerdyke Papers
The papers of Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke (1817-1901), a Civil War nurse and agent for the United States Sanitary Commission who was known as "Mother Bickerdyke" to Union soldiers, consist of 1,800 items in five containers spanning the years 1847-1905. A large portion of the papers consists of correspondence grouped into family, general, and special correspondence files.

Harry A. Blackmun PapersThe Harry A. Blackmun Papers at the Library of Congess
The papers of Harry Andrew Blackmun (1908-1999), lawyer, judge, and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, are housed in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress. The collection spans the years 1913-2001 with the bulk concentrated from 1959 to 1994. Selected materials from the collection -- including the 38-hour oral history video interviews and associated transcript -- have been digitized and are now publicly available online.

Mary Anne BickerdykeBlackwell Family Papers
The Blackwell Family Papers span the years 1759-1960, with the bulk of the material dating from 1845 to 1890. Consisting of approximately 29,000 items (58,002 images), most of which were digitized from 76 reels of microfilm, the collection predominantly represents two generations of the Blackwell family and twenty individual family members. Nearly two centuries of the family�s daily lives are documented in correspondence, diaries, speeches, and other papers, exemplifying the family�s long commitment to social reform movements, such as abolition; women�s rights, including the right to equal education; women�s suffrage; and temperance.

Blair HouseBlair Family Papers
The papers of the Blair family, a prominent nineteenth-century political family, consist of 19,100 items (33,263 images) most of which were digitized from 49 reels of previously produced microfilm. Spanning the years 1744-1968, with the bulk dating from 1829 to 1892, the collection contains correspondence, memoranda, diaries, speeches, lectures, writings, legal files, financial records, military records, biographical and genealogical material, printed matter, photographs, and other papers of Blair family members. The collection principally documents the careers of patriarch Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876), journalist and presidential advisor, and his sons Francis Preston Blair (1821-1875), soldier and politician, generally identified as Frank P. Blair, and Montgomery Blair (1813-1883), lawyer and cabinet officer in the Lincoln administration.

Wm. Oland BournePrincess Marie Bonaparte Papers
Correspondence (300 items; 1,238 images) from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) to Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962), his analysand, pupil, confidante, and benefactor, forms the entirety of this digital collection. Part of a larger collection of Princess Marie Bonaparte Papers at the Library of Congress, Freud�s letters, telegrams, and cards span the years 1925-1939 and provide an intimate perspective on the last fifteen years of his life. A separate digital edition of Bonaparte�s letters to Freud, 1925-1939, are available onsite at the Library of Congress. The remainder of the Bonaparte Papers, which includes her journals, memoirs, correspondence with psychoanalysts and others, draft writings, notebooks, and other itmes has not been digitized, but is available for research use in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress.

Wm. Oland BourneWm. Oland Bourne Papers
The papers of reformer, poet, editor, and clergyman William Oland Bourne (1819-1901) span the years 1841-1885, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1856-1867. As editor of the periodical The Soldier's Friend, Bourne sponsored a contest in 1865-1866 in which Union soldiers and sailors who lost their right arms by disability or amputation during the Civil War were invited to submit samples of their penmanship using their left hands. The contest, which awarded a total of $1,000 in prizes for the winning entries, was followed in 1867 by a second contest, which awarded $500 in prizes.

Breneman family collectionBreneman Family Collection of Early American Manuscripts
Correspondence, oath of allegiance, notes, certificates, and other papers pertaining to colonial Pennsylvania, the American Revolution, and the experiences of German immigrants in the mid- to late-eighteenth century Pennsylvania. Individuals represented include Edward Braddock; Richard Butler; John Harris; George II, King of Great Britain; Georges Washington Louis Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de Lafayette; Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de Lafayette; Phillip Marsteller; Robert Hunter Morris; Samuel Morris; Henry Melchior Muhlenberg; Thomas Penn; Timothy Pickering; George B. Porter; Christian Reinick, Edward Shippen; William Smith, Arthur St. Clair, Henry William Stiegel, and George Washington.

James BuchananJames Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Papers
The papers of James Buchanan (1791-1868), representative and senator of Pennsylvania, secretary of state, and fifteenth president of the United States, and those of his niece and White House hostess Harriet Lane Johnston (1830-1903) contain approximately 1,600 items dating from 1825 to 1887. James Buchanan’s papers include correspondence, notes, drafts of remarks, commissions, land patents and other papers relating chiefly to Buchanan’s career in the United States Senate, as secretary of state, and as minister to Great Britain prior to his presidency.

Carrie Chapman CattCarrie Chapman Catt Papers
The papers of suffragist, political strategist, and pacifist Carrie Love Chapman Catt (1859-1947) span the years 1848-1950, with the bulk of the material dating from 1890 to 1920. The collection consists of approximately 9,500 items (11,851 images), most of which were digitized from 18 microfilm reels. Included are diaries, correspondence, speeches and articles, subject files, and miscellaneous items, including photographs and printed matter.  The collection reflects Catt's steadfast dedication to two major ideals--the rights of women, particularly the right to vote, and world peace.

Salmon P. Chase PapersSalmon P. Chase Papers
The papers of Ohio governor, Lincoln cabinet official, and Supreme Court justice Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873) span the years 1755-1898, with the bulk of the material originating between 1824 and 1872. They consist of approximately 12,500 items, most digitally scanned from 38 microfilm reels. The papers focus chiefly on Chase’s legal career, activities as an abolitionist, involvement in Ohio and national politics, tenure as secretary of the treasury (1861-1864), influence on national finance, and service as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court (1864-1873).

Grover Cleveland PapersGrover Cleveland Papers
The papers of New York governor and lawyer Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), who became the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president of the United States, consist of 108,200 items (192,602 images) Spanning the years 1743 to 1945, with the bulk dating from 1885 to 1908, the collection contains correspondence, diaries, messages to Congress, speeches, writings, printed matter, and other papers relating chiefly to Cleveland�s presidencies and presidential campaigns. Most of the collection relates to Cleveland�s first presidential administration (1885-1889). Other subjects include Cleveland�s second presidential administration, presidential elections, and Democratic Party politics.

CSA RecordsConfederate States of America Records
The records of the Confederate States of America span the years 1854-1889, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1861-1865, during the Civil War in America. The collection relates to the formation of the government of the Confederacy and the conduct of its internal, external, and military affairs. With few exceptions, the collection consists of official or semiofficial records generated by departments of the Confederate government and their agents. The departments of state, justice, treasury, navy, war, and the post office are represented, along with material relating to the president, congress, and constitution.

Evolution of the Conservation MovementThe Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
This presentation documents the historical formation and cultural foundations of the movement to conserve and protect America's natural heritage, through books, pamphlets, government documents, manuscripts, prints, photographs, and motion picture footage drawn from the collections of the Library of Congress. The collection includes a report prepared by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1865 and a private souvenir album documenting the 1899 Harriman Alaska expedition.

Calvin Coolidge PapersCalvin Coolidge Papers
The papers of John Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), thirtieth president of the United States, consist of approximately 179,000 documents (218,513 images). Held in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, these papers constitute the largest collection of original Coolidge documents in the world. The collection contains incoming correspondence with attachments, notes, carbon copies of outgoing letters from Coolidge or one of his secretaries, telegraph messages, appointment books, and names and addresses of White House guests.

Prosperity and ThriftProsperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929
This collection assembles a wide array of Library of Congress source materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition. The collection includes nearly 150 selections from twelve collections of personal papers and two collections of institutional papers from the Manuscript Division. It is particularly strong in advertising and mass-marketing materials and will be of special interest to those seeking to understand economic and political forces at work in the 1920s.

Carl SaganFinding Our Way in the Cosmos: From Galileo to Sagan and Beyond
Like our ancestors, we look up at the heavens and wonder. What is the structure of the universe? How significant are we? Are we alone? In Carl Sagan’s words, “we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” To commemorate the acquisition of The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive, the Library of Congress presents an exploration of these questions across the breadth of its collections and offers a first glimpse into Carl Sagan’s papers.

Nathan DanielsNathan W. Daniels Diary and Scrapbook
The papers of Union army officer and Freedmen’s Bureau advocate Nathan W. Daniels (1836-1867), spanning the years 1861-1867, consist of three volumes of a handwritten diary with photographs, illustrations, and newspaper clippings mounted throughout the text. Also included are a typescript of summaries and transcripts of the bulk of the diaries prepared by the donor of the collection, C. P. Weaver, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. 

Anna DickinsonAnna Dickinson Papers
The papers of lecturer, reformer, actress, and author Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932) span the period 1859-1951, but are chiefly concentrated in the years from 1859 to 1911. The collection consists of approximately 10,000 items (20,221 images), most of which were digitized from 25 microfilm reels. Included are family correspondence, general correspondence, speeches and writings, a legal file, financial papers, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and research notes of Dickinson's biographer, Giraud Chester.

Frederick Douglass PapersThe Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress
The papers of the nineteenth-century African-American abolitionist who escaped from slavery and then risked his own freedom by becoming an outspoken antislavery lecturer, writer, and publisher contain approximately 7,400 items (38,000 images) relating to Douglass' life as an escaped slave, abolitionist, editor, orator, and public servant. The papers span the years 1841 to 1964, with the bulk of the material from 1862 to 1895. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches and articles by Douglass and his contemporaries, a draft of his autobiography, financial and legal papers, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous items.

Jubal Anderson EarlyJubal Anderson Early Papers
The papers of United States and Confederate army officer, lawyer, and Virginia state legislator Jubal Anderson Early (1816-1894) consist of 5,000 items (5,368 images) in 18 containers. Spanning the years 1829-1930, the bulk of which were created after the Civil War, the collection includes correspondence, diaries, military papers, speeches and articles, clippings, a scrapbook, printed matter, and maps relating to his military, legal, and political careers. Material created prior to the Civil War reflects Early's years as a cadet at the United States Military Academy, his army service, law practice, and Virginia political activities. Papers relating to Early's experiences during the Civil War include items concerning his participation in the battles of First Bull Run and Williamsburg, the Gettysburg Campaign, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864

Edward F. Edinger PapersEdward F. Edinger Papers
The papers (3,100 items) of leading Jungian analyst Edward F. Edinger (1922-1998) span the years 1550 (photostatic copy of an alchemical treatise) to 2016, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1998. The collection illustrates Edinger�s ability to explain C. G. Jung's ideas and concepts in a simple and precise manner, making Jung's work more accessible. The papers also provide insight into Edinger's own theoretical work, including his belief that modern man's psychological disorientation was a result of the loss of a core religious mythology, and his interest in the therapeutic role of alchemy, literature, philosophy, and religion. Included are writings, lectures, correspondence, notes, photographs, military records, printed matter, research material, transcriptions, and other material relating to Edinger�s career. Additional collection items include Edinger�s occasional journal entries and notes, drawings of the psyche, and a diagram of the historical precursors of psychotherapy.

East FloridaEast Florida Papers
This collection consists primarily of the records (65,000 items; 190,918 images) of the Spanish colonial government of East Florida from 1784, when Spain regained the colony from Great Britain according to the terms of the Treaty of Paris External, which settled the Revolutionary War, until 1821, when Spain ceded Florida to the United States after the Adams-On�s Treaty External of 1819. Some records dating back to the early eighteenth century are included. The collection is largely in Spanish, with some in English. The digital scans were created from 175 reels of previously produced microfilm.

Millard FillmoreMillard Fillmore Papers
The papers of Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), educator, U.S. representative from New York, vice president, and thirteenth president of the United States, contain approximately thirty-five items spanning the years 1839-1925, with the bulk dating from 1839 to 1870. The collection includes correspondence relating primarily to political issues such as slavery, Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and congressional politics.

Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin Papers
The papers of statesman, publisher, scientist, and diplomat Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) consist of approximately 8,000 items spanning the years 1726 to 1907, with most dating from the 1770s and 1780s. The collection documents Franklin's diplomatic roles as a colonial representative in London and France, where he sought to win recognition and funding from European countries during the American Revolution, negotiated the treaty with Britain that ended the war, and served as the first United States minister to France.  The papers also document Franklin's work as a scientist, inventor, and observer of the natural world.

Frontline Diplomacy: Foreign Affairs Oral History CollectionFrontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
This collection presents a window into the lives of American diplomats. Transcripts of interviews with U.S. diplomatic personnel capture their experiences, motivations, critiques, personal analyses, and private thoughts.  These elements are crucial to understanding the full story of how a structure of stable relationships that maintained world peace and protected U.S. interests and values was built. The interviews in the collection are mostly with Foreign Service Officers but there also are some with political appointees and other officials.

Freedom's FortressFreedom's Fortress: The Library of Congress, 1939-1953
This presentation tells the history of the Library of Congress during a particularly important period. From 1939 to 1953 the Library underwent a myriad of changes that established the institution as one of America’s foremost citadels of intellectual freedom. Archibald MacLeish and Luther Harris Evans, Librarians of Congress during this time, adopted new administrative procedures that improved the Library’s ability to acquire collections and made it a more vital resource both for Congress and the public during and after the war.

Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud Papers
The papers of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) span the years from about the 6th century B.C.E. (a small Greek statue) to 1998, with the bulk of material dating from 1871 to 1939. The digitized collection documents Freud's founding of psychoanalysis, the maturation of psychoanalytic theory, the refinement of its clinical technique, and the proliferation of its adherents and critics. Many facets of Freud's life and work are reflected, including his early medical and clinical training; his relationship with family, friends, colleagues, students, and patients; his association with early psychoanalytic societies; his perspectives on analytical training; and his numerous writings.

James A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield Papers
The papers of U.S. president, army officer, lawyer, and educator James A. Garfield (1831-1881) consist of approximately 80,000 items (199,421 images). Spanning the years 1775-1889, with the bulk dating from 1850 to 1881, the collection contains correspondence, diaries, speeches, records of Garfield's Civil War military service, legal records, genealogical material, college notebooks, tributes, printed matter, scrapbooks, and other material relating primarily to Garfield's career and death. Subjects include Ohio and national politics, the disputed election of 1876, tariff and national finance, Credit Mobilier of America, and the Fitz-John Porter court-martial. 

Samuel J. GibsonSamuel J. Gibson Diary and Correspondence
The papers of Union soldier Samuel J. Gibson (1833-1878) consist of a diary kept by Gibson in 1864 while serving with Company B, 103rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, and a letter to his wife while held as a prisoner at Camp Sumter in Georgia, the Confederate prisoner of war camp commonly known as Andersonville Prison. The diary documents the capture of the Federal garrison at Plymouth, North Carolina, in April 1864, and Gibson’s experiences as a prisoner of war at Andersonville and Florence, South Carolina.

Gladstone Afro-American MilitaryWilliam A. Gladstone Afro-American Military Collection
The William A. Gladstone Afro-American Military Collection (ca. 500 items) spans the years 1773 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from the Civil War period, 1861-1865. The collection consists of correspondence, pay vouchers, orders, muster rolls, enlistment and discharge papers, receipts, contracts, affidavits, tax records, miscellaneous military documents, and printed matter. Most items document African Americans in military service, especially the United States Corps d'Afrique and the United States Colored Troops, which were organized during the Civil War. 

Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough PapersLouis Malesherbes Goldsborough Papers
The papers of naval officer Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough (1805-1877) consist of 8,000 items (11,114 images) scanned from original materials. Spanning the years 1797 to 1874, the collection contains correspondence, military records, financial papers, printed material, illustrations, and other papers concerning Goldsborough�s long career in the United States Navy.

Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant Papers
The papers of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), army officer and eighteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 50,000 items dating from 1819-1974, with the bulk falling in the period 1843-1885. They include general and family correspondence, speeches, writings, reports, messages, military records, financial and legal records, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and other papers.  The collection relates to Grant's service in the Mexican War and Civil War, his pre-Civil War career, and his postwar service as U.S. secretary of war ad interim under President Andrew Johnson, his 1868 presidential campaign and two-term presidency, his unsuccessful 1880 presidential bid, and his extensive travels and financial difficulties. 

Horace GreeleyHorace Greeley Papers
The papers of journalist Horace Greeley (1811-1872) consist of 2,000 items and span the years 1812 to 1928, with the bulk dating from 1860 to 1872. The collection includes correspondence, typescripts and transcripts of Greeley�s letters and writings; articles, notes, lectures, and speeches by and about Greeley; scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and other printed matter; and miscellaneous material. Incidents of Greeley�s boyhood, his early struggle in New York to maintain himself in the printing and publishing business, and the growth and success of the New York Tribune. Additional subjects include Whig politics and the slavery issue prior to the Civil War. There is little material relating to Greeley�s three-month term in Congress (1848-1849) or his senatorial aspirations in 1861 and 1867. Lecture requests, business and editorial matters concerning the New York Tribune, New York politics, family illnesses, Jefferson Davis�s bail bond, the Liberal Republican Party, and the presidential campaign of 1872 are also documented in the collection.

"I Do Solemnly Swear ...""I Do Solemnly Swear ...": Presidential Inaugurations
A collection of approximately 400 items or 2,000 digital files relating to inaugurations from George Washington's in 1789 to George W. Bush's inauguration of 2001. This presentation includes diaries and letters of presidents and of those who witnessed inaugurations, handwritten drafts of inaugural addresses, broadsides, inaugural tickets and programs, prints, photographs, and sheet music. The collection has been organized chronologically by presidential inauguration and an effort has been made to offer a balanced number of items for each inaugural event.

Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton Papers
The papers of Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1757-1804), first treasury secretary of the United States, consist of his personal and public correspondence, drafts of his writings (although not his Federalist essays), and correspondence among members of the Hamilton and Schuyler families. The collection, consisting of approximately 12,000 items dating from 1708 to 1917, documents Hamilton's impoverished Caribbean boyhood (scantily); events in the lives of his family and that of his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton; his experience as a Revolutionary War officer and aide-de-camp to General George Washington; his terms as a New York delegate to the Continental Congress (1782-1783) and the Constitutional Convention (1787); and his careers as a New York state legislator, United States treasury secretary (1789-1795), political writer, and lawyer in private practice.

Charles S. HamlinCharles S. Hamlin Papers
The digitized portion (8,096 items; 17,808 images) of the papers of lawyer, politician, assistant secretary of the treasury, and governor of the Federal Reserve Board Charles S. Hamlin (1861-1938) includes diaries (1887-1937), diary indexes (1887-1937), and miscellany (1894-1939) relating principally to the formation and early history of the Federal Reserve System and Hamlin's service as a governor and first chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

Warren G. HardingWarren G. Harding-Carrie Fulton Phillips Correspondence
The Warren G. Harding-Carrie Fulton Phillips Correspondence (240 items; 1910-1924) consists primarily of letters written by President Harding (1865-1923), before and during his tenure as a U.S. senator, to his paramour Carrie Fulton Phillips (1873-1960), wife of a Marion, Ohio, store owner. Also included are drafts and notes for correspondence written by Phillips during her approximately fifteen-year relationship with Harding, as well as a handful of other related items.

Harned WhitmanThomas Biggs Harned Collection of Walt Whitman Papers
The Thomas Biggs Harned Collection of Walt Whitman Papers consists of approximately 3,000 items (4,126 images) spanning the period 1842-1937, with most of the items dated from 1855, when Whitman first published the poem Leaves of Grass, to his death at age seventy-three in 1892. Harned, an attorney and one of Whitman’s three literary executors, donated his collection to the Library of Congress in 1918. It consists of correspondence, poetry and prose manuscripts, notes and notebooks, proofs and offprints, printed matter, and miscellaneous items.

Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison Papers
The papers of U.S. senator from Indiana and U.S. Army officer Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), who became the twenty-third president of the United States, consist of 69,600 items (178,479 images). Spanning the years 1780 to 1948, with the bulk dating from 1853 to 1901, the collection contains correspondence, speeches, articles, notebooks in shorthand, legal papers, financial records, scrapbooks, memorials, printed matter, memorabilia, and other papers. The collection covers every aspect of Harrison�s life and career. Subjects include relations with his family, the Civil War, Indiana politics, Harrison�s senatorial career (1881-1887) and presidency (1889-1893), the political campaign of 1888, his Indianapolis law practice, and the Venezuela boundary dispute.

William Henry HarrisonWilliam Henry Harrison Papers
The William Henry Harrison Papers contains approximately 1,000 items dating from 1734 to 1939, with the bulk dated from 1812 to 1841. Harrison(1773-1841), an army officer, representative, and senator from Ohio, served as the ninth president of the United States. His collection includes a letterbook, correspondence, and military papers stemming mostly from his military and political career in the Northwest Territory, his service in Indian wars and the War of 1812, his time as territorial governor of Indiana Territory (1800-1812), and his role as Whig Party candidate in the unsuccessful 1836 presidential bid and the successful 1840 election, the latter leading to his abbreviated presidential term, cut short by his death one month after his inauguration.

Herndon-Weik Collection of LincolnianaHerndon-Weik Collection of Lincolniana
The Herndon-Weik Collection of Lincolniana consists of 4,600 items (9,729 images), most of which were digitized from 15 reels of previously produced microfilm. Spanning the years circa 1824-1933, the collection contains papers representing Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), William Henry Herndon (1818-1891), and Jesse William Weik (1857-1930), records of The Weik Manuscript Corporation, and miscellaneous material collected chiefly by Herndon and Weik for use in writing Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life (1889).

Joseph HoltJoseph Holt Papers
The papers of commissioner of patents, United States postmaster general, secretary of war, judge advocate general of the United States Army, and lawyer Joseph Holt (1807-1894) consists of 20,000 items in 118 containers and three oversize folders. The material spans the years 1797-1917, with the bulk concentrated in the period 1859-1889. The collection consists principally of correspondence supplemented by diaries, ledgers, account books, bills and receipts, briefs and other legal papers, newspaper clippings, speeches, photographs, and printed matter.

Jedediah HotchkissJedediah Hotchkiss Papers
The papers of educator, Confederate cartographer and topographical engineer Jedediah Hotchkiss (1828-1899) span the years 1835-1908, with the bulk of the material dating from 1875 to 1898. They consist of approximately 20,000 items, most digitally scanned from 61 microfilm reels, although some account books and other financial records of Sara Anne Comfort Hotchkiss, which had never been microfilmed, were digitized from the originals. The papers reflect Jedediah Hotchkiss’s varied activities as a student, geologist, lecturer, school teacher, engineer, soldier, and historian.

Zora Neale Hurston PlaysThe Zora Neale Hurston Plays at the Library of Congress
A selection of ten plays written by Hurston (1891-1960), author, anthropologist, and folklorist. Deposited in the United States Copyright Office between 1925 and 1944, most of the plays remained unpublished and unproduced until they were rediscovered in the Copyright Deposit Drama Collection in 1997. The plays reflect Hurston's life experience, travels, and research, especially her study of folklore in the African-American South. Totaling 1,068 hundred images, the scripts are housed in the Library's Manuscript, Music, and Rare Books and Special Collections Divisions.

Andrew Jackson PapersAndrew Jackson Papers
The Andrew Jackson Papers is one of twenty-three presidential collections in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. The Jackson archival collection contains more than 26,000 items dating from 1767 to 1874. Included are memoranda, journals, speeches, military records, land deeds, and miscellaneous printed matter, as well as correspondence reflecting Jackson’s personal life and career as a politician, military officer, president, slave holder and property owner.

Thomas Jefferson PapersThe Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents. This is the largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. Document types in the collection as a whole include correspondence, commonplace books, financial account books, and manuscript volumes. The collection is organized into ten series or groupings, ranging in date from 1606 to 1827 and documents the broad range of Jefferson's intellectual and political interests.

Robert Lansing PapersAndrew Johnson
The papers of vice president, senator, and representative Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), who became the seventeenth president of the Unites States in 1865 after Abraham Lincoln�s assassination, consist of 40,000 items (63,710 images). Spanning the years 1783-1947, with the bulk dating 1865-1869, the collection contains correspondence, memoranda, diaries, messages and speeches, courts-martial and amnesty records, financial records, lists, newspaper clippings, printed matter, scrapbooks, photographs, and other papers relating chiefly to Johnson�s presidency.

Hans Peter Kraus Collection of Spanish American DocumentsHans Peter Kraus Collection of Spanish American Documents
The Hans Peter Kraus Collection of Spanish American Documents, 1433-1877, consists of 162 multipage items dating mainly from 1500 to 1800. The collection documents the history of the Spanish colonies in the Americas, chiefly Mexico, but also Peru, Guatemala, and New Granada (the present-day countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela), and territories that became part of the United States, including California, Florida, and New Mexico. Topics covered include Spanish exploration of the Americas, laws and governance of New Spain, economic conditions, the Catholic Church, the Inquisition in Mexico, and relations with Native American peoples, France, the American colonies, and the United States.

Robert Lansing PapersRobert Lansing Papers
The private memoranda, desk diaries, and notes, 1915-1922, of diplomat and lawyer Robert Lansing (1864-1928) consist of 22 volumes (3,090 images) located in containers 63-67 of a larger collection of Lansing papers available for research use onsite in the Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room. The entire collection spans the years 1831-1935, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1914-1920, when Lansing served as counsellor for the Department of State (1914-1915) and as secretary of state (1915-1920), with a focus on World War I and Lansing's participation in the American commission to negotiate peace.

Charles William Le Gendre PapersCharles William Le Gendre Papers
This selection of the first five containers (1,760 items; 4,774 images) of the papers of army officer and diplomat Charles William Le Gendre (1830-1899) spans the years 1866-1893, but is concentrated in two periods, 1866-1875 and 1891-1892. The materials consist of correspondence, memoranda, dispatches, reports, Chinese and Japanese documents, and other papers relating chiefly to Le Gendre�s diplomatic career in the American foreign service and in the Japanese and Korean governments. The collection documents his service as American consul at Amoy (Xiamen), China (1866-1872); advisor in the Japanese foreign service and in a diplomatic post representing Japan in Taiwan (1872-1875, then known as Formosa); and advisor in the Korean government (1890-1899). Subjects include American interests in Asia, Asian civilizations, establishment of peaceful relations with Taiwan, and Korean trade relations.

Letters of Delegates to CongressLetters of Delegates to Congress
The twenty-six volumes of the Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 aims to make available all the documents written by delegates that bear directly upon their work during their years of actual service in the First and Second Continental Congresses, 1774-1789. Although letters from delegates comprise the preponderance of the entries, there are many diaries, public papers, essays, and other documents. This work builds on an earlier eight-volume edition of Letters of Members of the Continental Congress edited by Edmund C. Burnett.

Abraham Lincoln PapersAbraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
The papers of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), lawyer, representative from Illinois, and sixteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 40,550 documents dating from 1774 to 1948, although most of the collection spans from the 1850s through Lincoln’s presidency (1861-1865). Roughly half of the collection, more than 20,000 documents, comprising 62,000 images, as well as transcriptions of approximately 10,000 documents, is online. Included on this website in their entirety are Series 1-3 of the Lincoln Papers and the original materials in Series 4.

Abraham Lincoln PapersHorace H. Lurton Papers
The papers of Horace H. Lurton (1844-1914), associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1910 to 1914, consist of 250 items (759 images) in one container. The collection spans the years 1860-1915, with the bulk dating from 1893 to 1915. Correspondence for the period 1860 to 1867 includes letters written by Lurton while he attended Douglas University, which later became the University of Chicago, and as a Confederate prisoner of war at Camp Chase and Johnson's Island Prison in Ohio. Much of the correspondence dating from the Civil War was addressed to his friend A. W. B. Allen of the manufacturing firm Bridgeford & Co., Louisville, Kentucky. There is no content for the years 1867 to 1893.

Machen Family PapersLewis H. Machen Family Papers
The Gresham family material in the Lewis H. Machen Family Papers consists of seven diaries kept by Georgia teenager LeRoy Wiley Gresham (1847-1865) during the Civil War, and approximately 550 items of correspondence, primarily letters exchanged by members his family’s inner circle. Among the principal figures represented, all from Macon, Georgia, are John Jones Gresham, an attorney, judge, and plantation owner; his wife Mary Baxter Gresham; and their children, Thomas, LeRoy, and Minnie. Following Minnie's marriage to Arthur Machen in 1873, and for the years of her residence in Baltimore, Maryland, the papers consist largely of letters she received from her husband, family, and friends.

James Madison PapersThe James Madison Papers
The James Madison Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consist of approximately 12,000 items captured in some 72,000 digital images. They document the life of the man who came to be known as the "Father of the Constitution" through correspondence, personal notes, drafts of letters and legislation, an autobiography, legal and financial documents, and miscellaneous manuscripts. The collection is organized into six series dating from 1723 to 1836.

William Alexander Marshall PapersWilliam Alexander Marshall Papers
The papers of U.S. naval officer William Alexander Marshall (1849-1926) span the years 1870-1926, with the bulk of the material dated 1904. The collection chronicles the Battle of Chemulpo near present day Inch'on, Korea, on February 9, 1904, at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. Marshall commanded the gunboat USS Vicksburg, which was deployed to Chemulpo to protect American interests in Korea as tensions in the region escalated between Japan and Russia. The collection, consisting of 367 images, includes correspondence, reports, a personal log, photographs, and printed matter documenting events surrounding the naval battle and the opening phases of the war as witnessed from the Korean peninsula. Other collection items include orders to duty and correspondence from Marshall's naval career and an obituary.

Matthew Fontaine Maury MauryMatthew Fontaine Maury Papers
The papers of naval officer and oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873) consist of 14,650 items (22,151 images) scanned from original materials. Spanning the years 1825-1960, with the bulk concentrated in the period 1830-1880, the collection is composed mainly of correspondence, letterbooks, diaries, journals, speeches, writings, articles, notebooks, an electrical experiment book, charts, printed matter, and other papers pertaining chiefly to Maury�s naval career, scientific activities and interests, his service to the Confederacy during the Civil War, and to the Maury family.

Betty Herndon Maury MauryBetty Herndon Maury Maury Diary
The papers of diarist Betty Herndon Maury Maury (1835-1903) consist of a diary kept by Maury from June 3, 1861, to February 18, 1863. Maury wrote the diary primarily in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and it contains detailed comments on the progress of the American Civil War, especially in the local area; contributions by women to the Confederate war effort; hardships suffered by Confederate soldiers; and military activities of Betty Maury's father, naval officer and oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), her cousin, Dabney Herndon Maury (1822-1900), and other members of the Maury family.

George Brinton McClellanGeorge Brinton McClellan Papers
The papers of U.S. Army officer and governor of New Jersey George Brinton McClellan (1826-1885) consist of 33,000 items (59,477 images). Spanning the years 1783-1898, with the bulk dating from 1850 to 1885, the collection contains correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, diaries, writings, notes, military papers, McClellan family papers, scrapbooks, printed copies of speeches, articles and books, and other papers relating primarily to General George B. McClellan's Civil War service, particularly in the 1862 Peninsular Campaign in Virginia and battle of Antietam in Maryland.

McCully journal

George McCully Journal
Manuscript copy of a journal (45 pages) kept by McCully pertaining to his journey (1783 June-July) from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Detroit, Mich., on an expedition headed by Ephraim Douglass to inform the Indians of that region that the Treaty of Paris would soon be signed. McCully documents meetings at "Delaware Town," a Delaware Indian settlement on the Sandusky River, Ohio, with Delaware chief Captain Pipe (also known as Hopocan or Kageshquanohel) as well as with members of the Shawnee and Wyandot tribes, captives living among the Indians, and Indian traders.

McCully journal

William McKinley Papers
The papers of army officer, U.S. representative, and governor of Ohio William McKinley (1843-1901), who became the twenty-fifth president of the United States, consist of 131,000 items (121,435 images). Spanning the years circa 1847 to 1935, with the bulk dating from 1897 to 1901, the collection contains correspondence, speeches, messages, scrapbooks, printed matter, and other papers pertaining primarily to McKinley�s presidential administration. Subjects include Ohio state politics, presidential elections of 1896 and 1900, the gold standard, the McKinley tariff, progressivism, the Spanish-American War (1898), the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), territorial expansion, and McKinley�s assassination.

Margaret Mead papers

Margaret Mead Papers
This selection of fieldwork materials (212 folders containing approximately 9,450 items) from the papers of noted American anthropologist and writer Margaret Mead (1901�1978) spans the years 1925-1978, with the bulk dating 1925-1933. Part of the �Fieldwork: South Pacific Ethnographic Archives� series in a much larger Mead collection, these documents relate principally to her early field expeditions between 1925 and 1933 studying life among peoples in American Samoa, present-day Papua New Guinea, and the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, with a scattering of folders relating to more recent trips to New Guinea in the early 1970s. The content was originally selected and digitized in 2016-2017, under a third party digitization agreement with the Library of Congress, by Alexander Street Press for its �Anthropological Fieldwork Online� collection. Additional documents relating to Mead�s fieldwork and other professional and personal activities during this time period and later are available for research use in the Manuscript Reading Room.

Meeting of Frontiers Meeting of Frontiers
Meeting of Frontiers
is 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.


Montgomery C. MeigsMontgomery C. Meigs Papers
The papers of army officer, engineer, architect, and scientist Montgomery C. Meigs (1816-1892) consist of 11,000 items (39,635 images). Spanning the years 1799 to 1971, with the bulk concentrated in the period 1849 to 1892, the collection is composed mainly of correspondence, diaries, journals, notebooks, military papers, family papers, scrapbooks, drawings, maps, plans, sketches and studies, photographs, and other papers. Collection materials relate primarily to Meigs�s work in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, his service as quartermaster general during and after the Civil War, and family matters.

Eugene MeyerEugene Meyer Papers
The subject files, 1929-1959, of investment banker, financier, public official, and newspaperman Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) relating to his tenure as fifth chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, 1930-1933, consist of correspondence, memoranda, minutes of meetings, copies of congressional legislation, printed material, and other papers (2,134 items; 4,269 images).  They represent a part of a larger collection of Meyer's papers available to researchers in the Manuscript Division Reading Room at the Library of Congress.

Patsy T. Mink Papers
In 2007, the Manuscript Division celebrated the completion of a 3½-year project to process the rich and voluminous papers of former Hawaii representative and Title IX advocate Patsy T. Mink (1927-2002), which had been donated to the Library in 2003 by Mink’s husband and daughter. Congresswoman Mink was a vigorous and tireless champion of women's rights, an early and vocal opponent to the Vietnam War, and a leader on issues involving education, the environment, welfare, and civil rights. With her election in 1964, Mink became the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman to serve in Congress.

The James Monroe Papers
The James Monroe Papers at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress consist of approximately 5,200 items dating from 1758 to 1839. Monroe (1758–1831) was the fifth president of the United States, and one of 23 presidents whose papers are at the Library of Congress. Monroe's papers document his presidency and also his prior careers as secretary of state, secretary of war, delegate to the United States Continental Congress, diplomat, and governor of Virginia.

Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of CongressSamuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress
This online presentation comprises about 6,500 items, or approximately 50,000 images, that document Morse's invention of the electromagnetic telegraph, his participation in the development of telegraph systems in the United States and abroad, his career as a painter, his family life, his travels, and his interest in early photography, religion, and the nativist movement. Included in the collection are correspondence, letterbooks, diaries, scrapbooks, printed matter, maps, drawings, and other miscellaneous materials. The collection includes the original paper tape containing the first telegraph message, "What hath God wrought?," sent on May 24, 1844.

Daniel P. Moynihan PapersThe Daniel P. Moynihan Papers at the Library of Congess
An overview of the papers of educator, politician, sociologist and diplomat Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003). Moynihan is best known as a U.S. senator from the state of New York; he began his senatorial career in 1977 and served as a Democratic Party leader in Congress until he left Capitol Hill in January 2001. At well over a million items, the Moynihan collection in the Manuscript Division is one of the largest manuscript collections of personal papers at the Library of Congress.

NAWSANational American Woman Suffrage Association Records
The records of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) span the years from 1839 to 1961 but are most numerous for the period 1890 to 1930. The collection consists of approximately 26,700 items (52,078 images), most of which were digitized from 73 microfilm reels. These records reflect NAWSA's multifaceted history, including the activities of precursor organizations involved in the abolition and women's rights movements, state and federal campaigns for women's suffrage, the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and international women's suffrage organizing.

John G. NicolayJohn G. Nicolay Papers
The papers of presidential secretary and biographer John G. Nicolay (1832-1901) consist of 5,500 items (14,555 images) scanned from original materials. Spanning the years 1811 to 1943, with the bulk concentrated in the period 1860-1901, the collection particularly reflects Nicolay’s tenure as private secretary to Abraham Lincoln and documents his numerous literary activities. A limited amount of material relates to the literary activities of his daughter, Helen Nicolay (1866-1954). The collection is composed mainly of correspondence and research material, supplemented by notebooks, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous material.

Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz CorrespondenceGeorgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz Correspondence
This collection of Georgia O�Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz Correspondence and Related Material (157 items; 618 images) consists mostly of letters, 1929-1947, written by painter Georgia O�Keeffe (1887-1986) and her husband, Photo-Secession movement founder, gallery director, editor, and photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), to their mutual friend, filmmaker, cameraman, screenwriter and director Henwar Rodakiewicz (1902-1976). Also included are a few items of print miscellany related to exhibitions or gallery publications.

Olmsted AssociatesOlmsted Associates Records
The digitized portion of the Olmsted Associates Records consist of approximately 149,000 items (366,518 images), scanned from 532 reels of microfilm reproducing the two largest series in the collection, the Letterbooks, 1884-1899, and Job Files, 1863-1971, which document the work of the Brookline, Massachusetts, landscape architectural firm and its widespread projects and commissions undertaken for private and public clients in the United States and Canada.  The Olmsted Associates Records overlap with, and continue beyond, materials in the closely related Frederick Law Olmsted Papers in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress.

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted Papers
The papers of farmer, writer, reformer, landscape architect, urban and suburban planner, and conservationist Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) consist of approximately 24,000 items (roughly 47,300 images), most of which were digitized from 60 reels of previously produced microfilm. The collection, spanning from 1777 to 1952, with the bulk dating 1838-1903, contains materials on both Olmsted's private and professional life

Rosa Parks PapersRosa Parks Papers
The papers of Rosa Parks (1913-2005) span the years 1866-2006, with the bulk of the material dating from 1955 to 2000.  The collection contains approximately 7,500 items in the Manuscript Division, as well as 2,500 photographs in the Prints and Photographs Division. The collection documents many aspects of Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans

George S. Patton PapersGeorge S. Patton Papers: Diaries
The diaries of U.S. army officer George S. Patton (1885-1945) are part of a larger collection of Patton papers available for research use onsite in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress. The entire collection spans the years 1807-1979, with the bulk of the papers concentrated from 1904 to 1945. The diaries, 1910-1945, digitized for this online presentation, illustrate Patton's activities during the Mexican Punitive Expedition, World War I, and World War II. The volumes, particularly from 1942 to 1945, document Patton's daily activities and observations and reveal his candor about himself, personally and professionally.

John J. Pershing PapersJohn J. Pershing Papers
The diaries, notebooks, and address books of John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948), U.S. army officer and commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, are part of a larger collection of Pershing papers available for research use onsite in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress. The entire collection spans the years 1882-1971, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1904-1948. It consists of correspondence, diaries, notebooks, speeches, statements, writings, orders, maps, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, picture albums, posters, photographs, printed matter, and memorabilia.

Phillips/MatheePhillips/Mathée Collection
The Phillips/Mathée Collection spans the years 1913-2014, but only one item is dated later than 1972. The collection is a companion to the Warren G. Harding-Carrie Fulton Phillips Correspondence, also held by the Manuscript Division. The papers center on Isabelle Phillips Mathée, daughter of Carrie Fulton Phillips, the paramour of Warren G. Harding, and Isabelle's husband, William Helmuth Mathée. Included are photographs of Isabelle and her mother, Carrie, letters from President Harding to William Helmuth Mathée, and correspondence, legal papers, and news clippings concerning the discovery in 1964 of Harding's correspondence with Carrie Phillips and the subsequent legal proceedings. The final folder contains a statement from the four grandsons of Isabelle and William Mathée conveying their thoughts about these papers and the Warren G. Harding-Carrie Fulton Phillips Correspondence.

Franklin PierceFranklin Pierce Papers
The papers of Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), army officer, representative and senator from New Hampshire, and fourteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 2,350 items dating from 1820 to 1869. They include correspondence, a photostatic copy of a diary kept by Pierce while serving in the Mexican War, drafts of Pierce’s messages to Congress, and an engraved portrait. Pierce’s correspondence relates chiefly to his service in the Mexican War, public affairs, and national politics.

James K. PolkJames K. Polk Papers
The papers of James K. Polk (1795-1849), governor of Tennessee, representative from Tennessee, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and eleventh president of the United States, contain approximately 20,500 items dating from 1775 to 1891, with the bulk falling in the period 1830-1849. The collection includes correspondence, presidential letterbooks, diaries, speeches and messages, account and memorandum books, family papers, financial and legal records, printed matter, portraits, and other papers relating chiefly to Polk’s political career in Tennessee and on the national level.

Polish Declarations of Admiration and FriendshipPolish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States
A presentation of the collection of 111 volumes compiled in Poland in 1926 and delivered to President Calvin Coolidge at the White House to honor the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Richly illustrated with original works by prominent Polish graphic artists, the collection includes the greetings and signatures of national, provincial, and local government officials, representatives of religious, social, business, academic, and military institutions, and approximately 5 ½ million school children. This searchable online presentation is a complete facsimile of the six oversized presentation volumes and the seven volumes of secondary school signatures.

By Popular Demand: Jackie RobinsonBy Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s
2007 marks the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's rookie season for the Brooklyn Dodgers. When he stepped onto Ebbets field on April 15th, 1947, Robinson became the first African American in the twentieth century to play baseball in the major leagues -- breaking the "color line," a segregation practice dating to the nineteenth century. Jackie Robinson was an extremely talented multi-sport athlete and a courageous man who played an active role in civil rights. This presentation was created to commemorate his achievements and describe some aspects of the color line's development and the Negro Leagues. Materials that tell his story, and the history of baseball in general, are located throughout the Library of Congress.

Born in Slavery: WPA Slave NarrativesBorn in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938
Contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. This online collection is a joint presentation of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions of theLibrary of Congress and includes more than 200 photographs from the Prints and Photographs Division that are now made available to the public for the first time.

Charles Wellington ReedCharles Wellington Reed Papers, 1776-1926
The papers of Civil War soldier and artist Charles Wellington Reed (1841-1926) span the years 1776-1926, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1862-1865, when he served with the Ninth Independent Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery. The collection includes approximately seven hundred sketches previously bound in two volumes and correspondence relating primarily to the Civil War. Other items consist of articles, citations and military papers, clippings, a diary, maps, Reed’s Medals of Honor, photographs, and printed matter. The material is arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Civil War Soldier in the Wild Cat Regiment: Tilton C. Reynolds A Civil War Soldier in the Wild Cat Regiment: Selections from the Tilton C. Reynolds Papers
Documents the Civil War experience of Captain Tilton C. Reynolds, a member of the 105th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. Comprising 164 library items, or 359 digital images, this online presentation includes correspondence, photographs, and other materials dating between 1861 and 1865. The letters feature details of the regiment's movements, accounts of military engagements, and descriptions of the daily life of soldiers and their views of the war. Forty-six of the letters are also made available in transcription.

Branch RickeyBranch Rickey Papers
The approximately 1,750 baseball scouting reports from the 1950s and 1960s presented here are part of the papers of Branch Rickey (1881-1965), best known as the executive who broke Major League Baseball's color line by signing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers roster in 1947. The scouting reports, which are located in a series of baseball files in the Rickey collection, were compiled between 1951 and 1964. They are mostly concentrated in the years 1951-1956 and 1962-1963, while Rickey was associated, respectively, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt Papers
The papers of Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), public official, author, decorated veteran of the Spanish-American War, governor of New York, and president of the United States (1901-1909), consist of approximately 276,000 documents (roughly 461,000 images), most of which were digitized from 485 reels of previously reproduced microfilm. Held in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, these papers constitute the largest collection of original Roosevelt documents in the world. The collection contains personal, family, and official correspondence, diaries, book drafts, articles, speeches, and scrapbooks, dating from 1759 to 1993 with the bulk of material from the period between 1878 and 1919.

Philip SheridanPhilip Henry Sheridan Papers
The papers of army officer Philip Henry Sheridan (1831-1888) span the years 1853-1896, with the bulk of the material originating between 1862 and 1887. They consist of approximately 18,000 items digitally reproduced from 104 microfilm reels. Relating chiefly to the Civil War, Reconstruction, Mexican border disputes, Indian wars, and military administration, the collection includes correspondence, reports, orders, memorabilia, scrapbooks, commissions, financial records, and speeches.

William T. ShermanWilliam T. Sherman Papers
The papers of General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) span the years 1810-1897, with the bulk of the material originating between 1848 and 1891. They consist of approximately 18,000 items, most digitally scanned from 51 microfilm reels, although some correspondence and other materials in the Addition series which had never been microfilmed were digitized from the originals. The collection consists of correspondence, a volume of recollections during and after the Mexican War, military documents, printed matter, memorabilia, and manuscripts of Sherman’s Memoirs.

Shippen Family Shippen Family Papers
The papers of the Shippen family, a wealthy and powerful group of Philadelphians connected by blood and marriage who reached the height of their influence in the mid-eighteenth century, span the years 1671-1936, but date mainly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The collection consists of 6,500 items digitized from 15 reels of previously produced microfilm.

Margaret Bayard SmithMargaret Bayard Smith Papers
The papers of Margaret Bayard Smith (1778-1844), author and leader in Washington, D.C., social and political circles during the first decades of the nineteenth century, span the years 1789-1874, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1796-1840. They include family and general correspondence, diaries, journals, and commonplace books. Most of the papers consist of family correspondence between Smith and her sisters Jane Bayard Kirkpatrick and Maria Bayard Boyd, and her husband, Samuel Harrison Smith (1772-1845), editor of the Jeffersonian National Intelligencer, a banker, and Treasury Department official. 

William Speiden JournalsWilliam Speiden Journals
As purser’s clerk aboard the U.S. steam frigate Mississippi, William Speiden, Jr., (1835-1920) created a two-volume journal dating from 1852 to 1855 documenting the U.S. Naval Expedition to the China Seas and Japan under the command of Commodore Matthew C. Perry. The journals give account of shipboard life, diplomacy, and travel as well as ports of call in a myriad of international locations during the global journey of the Mississippi, and are richly illustrated.

Edward McMasters StantonEdward McMasters Stanton Papers
The papers of lawyer and Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton (1814-1869) span the years 1818-1921, with the bulk of the material originating between 1862 and 1870. They consist of approximately 7,650 items, most digitally scanned from 14 microfilm reels. The papers focus chiefly on Stanton's tenure as secretary of war under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson and stress his role in the Union victory over the Confederacy and the first phase of Reconstruction. The collection consists of correspondence, letterbooks, a draft of the annual report of the secretary of war for 1863, and the March 1862 proceedings of the War Board. Interspersed among the bound correspondence, which makes up most of the collection, are battle maps, reports, charts, and printed matter. The papers are arranged in six series.

Elizabeth Cady StantonElizabeth Cady Stanton Papers
The papers of suffragist, reformer, and feminist theorist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) cover the years 1814 to 1946, with most of the material concentrated between 1840 and 1902. Consisting of approximately 1,000 items (4,164 images), reproduced on five reels of recently digitized microfilm, the collection contains correspondence, speeches, articles, drafts of books, scrapbooks, and printed matter relating to Stanton and the woman's rights movement. Documented are her efforts on behalf of women's legal status and women's suffrage, the abolition of slavery, rights for African Americans following the Civil War, temperance, and other nineteenth-century social reform movements.

Alexander Hamilton Stephens PapersAlexander Hamilton Stephens Papers
The papers of Alexander Hamilton Stephens (1812-1883), lawyer, journalist, governor of Georgia, member of both houses of the United States Congress, and vice president of the Confederate States of America, span the years 1784-1886, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1850-1883.  The collection consists primarily of correspondence, supplemented by an autobiography and journal and miscellaneous memoranda, legal documents, and clippings.  The papers are organized in three series: General Correspondence, Letters from Servants, and Autobiography and Journal.

Thaddeus StevensThaddeus Stevens Papers
The papers of lawyer and United States representative from Pennsylvania Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) consist principally of correspondence supplemented by speeches, legal, business, and financial records, biographical material, printed matter, and other papers relating chiefly to Stevens's service in the U.S. Congress and to family and business affairs. The collection materials document the involvement of Thaddeus Stevens in Pennsylvania state politics and national politics, the anti-Masonic movement, and the Whig and Republican Parties. The largest portion of the correspondence centers on issues surrounding the Civil War and its aftermath. 

Washington During the Civil War: Horatio Nelson Taft DiaryWashington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865
Three manuscript volumes, totaling 1,240 digital images, that document daily life in Washington, D. C., through the eyes of Horatio Nelson Taft (1806-1888), an examiner for the U. S. Patent Office. Now located in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress, the diary details events in Washington during the Civil War years including Taft's connection with Abraham Lincoln and his family. Of special interest is Taft's description of Lincoln's assassination, based on the accounts of his friends and his son, who was one of the attending physicians at Ford's Theatre the night Lincoln was shot, on April 14, 1865. Transcriptions for all three volumes have been made by Library of Congress staff and are available online along with the digital images.

William H. Taft PapersWilliam H. Taft Papers
The papers of William Howard Taft (1857-1930), twenty-seventh president of the United States and tenth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, consist of approximately 676,000 documents (785,977 images). These papers constitute the largest collection of original Taft documents in the world. The collection contains family papers, personal and official correspondence, presidential and judicial files, speeches and addresses, legal files and notebooks, business and estate papers, engagement calendars, guest lists, scrapbooks, clippings, printed matter, memorabilia, and photographs dating from 1784 to 1973, with the bulk of the material dated 1880-1930.

Zachary Taylor PapersZachary Taylor Papers
The Zachary Taylor Papers, one of twenty-three presidential collections in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, contains approximately 650 items dating from 1814 to 1931, with the bulk from 1840 to 1861. The collection is made up primarily of general correspondence and family papers of Taylor (1784-1850), with some autobiographical material, business and military records, printed documents, engraved printed portraits, and other miscellany relating chiefly to his presidency (1849-1850); his service as a U.S. Army officer, especially in the 2nd Seminole Indian War; management of his plantations; and settlement of his estate.

Mary Church TerrellMary Church Terrell Papers
The papers of educator, lecturer, suffragist, and civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) consist of approximately 13,000 documents, comprising 25,323 images, all of which were digitized from 34 reels of previously produced microfilm. Spanning the years 1851 to 1962, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1886-1954, the collection contains diaries, correspondence, printed matter, clippings, and speeches and writings, primarily focusing on Terrell's career as an advocate of women's rights and equal treatment of African Americans.

Gilbert Thompson journalGilbert Thompson Journal
Journal (1861-1864) of Thompson's Civil War experiences in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., while serving as a topographical engineer in the Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army of the Potomac. Includes later reminiscences; description of bridges, armaments, and firearms; and sketches and photographs of army officers and battle sites. Includes correspondence, laid in, of Nathaniel Prentiss Banks.


Anna Maria Brodeau ThorntonAnna Maria Brodeau Thornton Papers
The seven volumes of diaries and notebooks, 1793-1861, of Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton (ca.1775-1865) document her position at the center of a Washington, D.C., social circle that included George and Martha Washington, James and Dolley Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Margaret Bayard Smith, and the cabinet members, congressmen, and diplomats who constituted the city's entwined social and political worlds. Thornton was the daughter of Ann Brodeau, who emigrated from England in 1775 with the help of Benjamin Franklin and established a successful school in Philadelphia.

John TylerJohn Tyler Papers
The John Tyler Papers contain more than 1,400 items dating from 1691 to 1918, most of which fall between 1757 and 1918. The collection is made up primarily of correspondence, including letters and copies of letters to or from Tyler (1790-1862), a governor and U.S. representative and senator from Virginia, who served as vice president under William Henry Harrison before becoming the tenth president of the United States upon Harrison’s death in 1841.

Martin Van BurenMartin Van Buren Papers
The Martin Van Buren Papers contain more than 6,000 items dating from 1787 to circa 1910.  The bulk of the material dates from the 1820s, when Van Buren (1782-1862) was a U.S. senator from New York, through his service as secretary of state and vice president in the Andrew Jackson administrations (1829-1837), to his own presidency (1837-1841) and through the decade thereafter when he made unsuccessful bids to return to the presidency with the Democratic and Free Soil parties.

EB WashburneE. B. Washburne Papers
The papers of United States representative from Illinois, diplomat, lawyer, and historian E. B. (Elihu Benjamin) Washburne (1816-1887) consist of 37,000 items in 144 containers. The material spans the years 1829-1915, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1852 to 1882. Bound volumes of letters received by Washburne constitute the largest part of the collection and relate to Washburne's career as a member of Congress (1853-1869) and as U.S. minister to France (1869-1877).

George Washington PapersGeorge Washington Papers at the Library of Congress
The complete George Washington Papers collection from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 65,000 documents. This is the largest collection of original Washington documents in the world. Document types in the collection as a whole include correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries, journals, financial account books, military records, reports, and notes accumulated by Washington from 1741 through 1799. The collection is organized into nine Series.

Gideo WellesGideon Welles Papers
The papers of Gideon Welles (1802-1878), newspaper editor and U.S. secretary of the navy under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, consist of 15,070 items (26,302 images).. Spanning the years 1777-1911, with the bulk dating from 1820 to 1878, the collection includes correspondence, diaries, writings, naval records, scrapbooks, and other papers relating to Welles's work as editor of the Hartford Times; his activities as a member of the Democratic Party, later the Republican Party, in Connecticut state and national politics; his service as U.S. secretary of the navy; and his literary pursuits. Subjects include slavery, Civil War and Reconstruction, role of the U.S. Navy in the war, Lincoln and Johnson presidential administrations, and the limits and uses of federal and state powers.

Walt Whitman Papers (Miscellaneous Manuscript Collection)
This small collection of papers (about 150 items; 1,200 images) of poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) spans the years 1837-1957 with the bulk concentrated in the period 1840-1891. Included are examples of the poet’s original correspondence and literary manuscripts, photocopies and transcripts of similar Whitman material, and printed matter and miscellaneous items relating to Whitman. It includes some of Whitman's earliest known correspondence, written to Abraham P. Leech, and a printed copy of Whitman's poem O Captain! My Captain! containing the poet's handwritten corrections.

Walt Whitman Feinberg CollectionWalt Whitman Papers in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection
The papers of poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection consist of approximately 28,000 items spanning from 1763 to 1985. The bulk of the items date from the 1840s through Whitman's death in 1892, and into the twentieth century. The collection of correspondence, literary manuscripts, books, proofs, and associated items represent periods of Whitman's life from his early time living in New York, middle-age in Washington, D.C., and the last phase of his life in Camden, New Jersey.

Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson Papers
The papers of Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), scholar, president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey, and president of the United States (1913-1921), consist of approximately 280,000 documents, comprising approximately 620,000 images, most of which were digitized from 540 reels of previously produced microfilm. Held in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, these papers constitute the largest collection of original Wilson documents in the world. The collection contains personal, family, and official correspondence, White House executive office files, drafts and proofs of books, articles, speeches, academic lectures, scrapbooks, shorthand notes, and memorabilia dating from 1786 to 1957 with the bulk of material falling in the period between 1876 and 1924.

Women of Protest: National Woman's Party PhotographsWomen of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party
The National Woman’s Party, representing the militant wing of the suffrage movement, utilized open public demonstrations to gain popular attention for the right of women to vote in the United States. Their picketing, pageants, parades, and demonstrations—as well as their subsequent arrests, imprisonment, and hunger strikes—were successful in spurring public discussion and winning publicity for the suffrage cause. These photographs include both images that depict this broad range of tactics as well as individual portraits of organization leaders and members. They document the National Woman’s Party’s push for ratification of the 19th Amendment as well as its later campaign for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Words and Deeds in American HistoryWords and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division's First 100 Years
In honor of the Manuscript Division's centennial, its staff has selected for online display approximately ninety representative documents spanning from the fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Included are the papers of presidents, cabinet ministers, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, military officers and diplomats, reformers and political activists, artists and writers, scientists and inventors, and other prominent Americans whose lives reflect our country's evolution. Most of the selected items fall within one of eight major themes or categories which reflect the division's strengths. Each of these themes is the focus of a separate essay containing links to digital reproductions of selected documents.

Wilbur and Orville Wright PapersThe Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress
The online presentation of The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress, comprising about 10,121 library items or approximately 49,084 digital images, documents the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright and highlights their pioneering work which led to the world's first powered, controlled and sustained flight. Included in the collection are correspondence, diaries and notebooks, scrapbooks, drawings, printed matter, and other documents, as well as the Wrights' collection of glass-plate photographic negatives. This online presentation includes the famous glass-plate negative of the "First Flight" at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, as well as diaries and letters in which Wilbur and Orville Wright recount their work that led to that day.

Yudin Collection of Russian-American Company RecordsYudin Collection of Russian-American Company Records, 1783 to 1946
The Russian-American Company records, once part of the personal library of Gennadii Vasil'evich Yudin (1840-1912), date from 1783 to 1830 and include 166 items (1,369 images), ranging in length from one to more than one hundred pages. Yudin was a wealthy merchant and distiller from Krasnoiarsk, Siberia. He was also an amateur bibliographer who built a library numbering approximately 80,000 volumes documenting every aspect of Russian history and culture with a particular focus on Siberia. In 1906, Yudin sold his collection to the Library of Congress. Alexis Babine (1866-1930), the Library�s specialist in Slavic literature, met with Yudin in Krasnoiarsk and arranged for the purchase of the collection and its shipment to the Library of Congress. When the Yudin Collection arrived at the Library of Congress it was housed in the Slavic Section. Today it is spread across many divisions of the Library. The records of the Russian-American Company, 1783-1830, the focus of this website, are in the Manuscript Division.

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  March 2, 2023
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