American History: Primary Sources

From the catalog record at the New-York Historical Society "The papers of the American Fur Company consist of 138 bound volumes of letter books and business accounts, and 48 boxes of letters and business papers. The letters date from April 2, 1831 to February 15, 1849 with most of the material in the years from 1834 to 1847. The papers include original letters received from factors, foreign and domestic agents, mainly to Ramsey Crooks, president of the Company; copies of letters sent by the Company; records of furs received from the Indians, and orders for goods to be shipped to the factors in exchange for furs." (Gale)

"The wide range of material included in American Indian Histories and Cultures presents a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid- to late-twentieth century. This resource contains material from the Newberry Library’s extensive Edward E. Ayer Collection; one of the strongest archival collections on American Indian history in the world."

"The Ayer collection is truly vast, containing 130,000 volumes, over one million manuscript pages, 2,000 maps, 500 atlases, 11,000 photographs, and 3,500 drawings and paintings. The collection covers not only American Indian history, but archaeology, voyages, exploration and accounts of early America, the development of cartography, Philippine and Hawaiian history, and Central and South American history (Adam Matthew)."

"Module I: Early Settlement, Expansion and Rivalries (2015): The first module of Colonial America documents the early history of the colonies, and includes founding charters, material on the effects of 1688’s Glorious Revolution in North America, records of piracy and seaborne rivalry with the French and Spanish, and copious military material from the French and Indian War of 1756-63.

Module II: Towards Revolution (2016): This module focuses on the 1760s and 1770s and the social and political protest that led to the Declaration of Independence, including legal materials covering the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party. It is also particularly rich in material relating to military affairs and Native Americans.

Module III: The American Revolution (2017): This module charts the upheavals of the 1770s and 1780s which saw the throwing off of British rule in the Thirteen Colonies. Contents include volumes of intercepted letters between colonists, the military correspondence of the British commanders in the field and material produced by the Ordnance Office and the office of the Secretary at War, as well as two copies of the ‘Dunlap’ edition of the Declaration of Independence printed on the night of the 4th-5th July 1776.

Module IV: Legislation and Politics in the Colonies (2018): This module traces the colonies' legal and political evolution between 1636-1782. Copies of council and assembly minutes record debates on international politics, including Britain’s war with Spain, expeditions against the French in Canada, and trade regulations. Court journals also trace legal cases and trials heard in the colonies, whilst series of official correspondence and revisions of acts reveal attempts to increase jurisdiction of British officials in the colonies, expand settlement, and improve public facilities and trade. The extensive revisions and annotations of these documents also expose the internal (and often personal) political agendas of their creators.

Module V: Growth, Trade and Development: The preponderant part of the final module consists of correspondence with the Board of Trade. There are also details of land grants, shipping returns and financial accounts, as well as George Vancouver’s despatches to London from his 1791 expedition to the Pacific Northwest. The shipping returns reveal a trade network focusing on internal trade within the American colonies and the Caribbean, and with frequent connections across Europe (Adam Matthew)."

"The Confidential Print series, issued by the British Government between c. 1820 and 1970, is a fundamental building block for political, social and economic research. The series originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. These range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties. All items marked ‘Confidential Print’ were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad (Adam Matthew)."

Collections include:
- American Art-Union, 1839-1851: The Rise of American Art Literacy
- D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation
- FBI File: Hollywood and J. Edgar Hoover: Communists in the Motion Picture Industry
- FBI File: Hollywood and J. Edgar Hoover: Investigations of Actors and Directors
- German Folklore and Popular Culture: Das Kloster. Scheible
- Hollywood, Censorship, and the Motion Picture Production Code, 1927-1968
- Literature, Culture and Society in Depression Era America: Archives of the Federal Writers' Project
- Robert Winslow Gordon and American Folk Music
- Society, Culture & Politics in Canada: Canadiana Pamphlets from McMaster University, 1818-1929
- The Southern Literary Messenger: Literature of the Old South
- Through the Camera Lens: The Moving Picture World and the Silent Cinema Era, 1907-1927

"Gale Primary Sources is a universal research experience that combines Gale's acclaimed digital archives in a single cross-search interface. Gale Primary Sources greatly enhances the research experience for students and researchers by broadening their discovery of primary source documents through the use of multiple search options and powerful research tools. By building a seamless research environment for multiple collections, Gale is creating the largest digital humanities and social sciences resource in the world (Gale)."

"Documents include 1999-0393-F: Records of Memcons and Telcons between President Bush and Helmut Kohl concerning the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Reunification of Germany; and FOIA 2001-1166-F: Records on the Fall of the Berlin Wall and German Unification (Gale)."

Module I: The Century of Immigration "concentrates on the period 1800 to 1924 and covers all aspects of the migration experience, from motives and departures to arrival and permanent settlement. To supplement this, the collection includes early material such as the first emigration ‘round robin’ from 1621 and letters from late eighteenth-century merchants and travellers in the United States. Some later material is also available, including ocean liner and immigration depot photographs from the mid-twentieth century. The collection presents a unique insight into the personal stories of migrants during this period. Letter collections, travel journals, diaries and oral histories provide a wealth of first-hand accounts for research into emigration experiences and the hardship of settlement. These are supplemented by scrapbooks, government papers, hand-drawn maps, watercolours, objects, emigration pamphlets, shipping papers and rare printed material which provide significant context to government legislation, commercial interests and living conditions for migrants during this period (Adam Matthew)."
Module II: The Modern Era "begins with the activities of the New Zealand Company during the 1840s and presents thousands of unique original sources focusing on the growth of colonisation companies during the nineteenth century, the activities of immigration and welfare societies, and the plight of refugees and displaced persons throughout the twentieth century as migrants fled their homelands to escape global conflict. This later chapter of the migration story is brought to life through organisational papers, providing detailed insight into the daily running of services for new immigrants (particularly in the United States); government correspondence and pamphlets encouraging immigration to Australia, New Zealand and Canada; oral histories, objects and accounts documenting key personal reflections on European migration experiences and correspondence, scrapbooks and journals outlining colonisation schemes in New Zealand and the United States (Adam Matthew)."

Fondren's access includes the Series II update, the 2021 edition and the 2022 edition.