Shammas                                     REFERENCE WORKS

   Early Am. History                                      and

                                                      PRIMARY SOURCES

 

                                BRITISH AMERICA AND EARLY UNITED STATES

 

 

I  Reference Works [aside from bibliographical guides]

A.    U.S. Bureau of the Census. Historical Census of the United States to 1970 2 vols. Also  available on CD-ROM

B.    John J. McCusker, Money and Exchange in Europe and America 1600-1775

C.    John J. McCusker, How Much is that in Real Money? A Historical Price Index

D.    Lester Cappon et al. The Atlas of Early American History

E.     Evarts B. Greene and Virginia D. Harrington, American Population Before the Federal Census

F.  American National Biography – online USC website

 

I I Manuscripts

A.    British

1.     Colonial Government - Public Record Office,  Colonial Papers; State Papers,Treasury Office papers, etc.[for some groups and years calendars exist]; some repositories like the Huntington have selected microfilms. Consult volumes

mentioned in McCusker for locations

2.     Local government - county record offices

3.     private family papers, firms etc. – Historical Manuscripts Commission, issues reports. These private papers can be found in the British Library, county record offices,  university libraries, and sometimes in private hands. Diaries, account books, letters the most common type of item. Maps can be found here and in

      all archives.

 

B.    Thirteen Colonies and United States – online Archives USA is listing of mss in

Archives throughout the United States and local depositories of public docts. Also

1.     Revolutionary government - Continental Congress, Confederation – Library of

      Congress; Continental Congress Papers microfilmed and at USC

2.     National government - National Archives, all federal govt. records, much on microfilm such as manuscript censuses [which are at Huntington]

3.     colonial/state governments - state archives

4.     local governments - city archives, county record offices or state archives. Frequently used records include deeds, wills, estate inventories, tax lists. Few household censuses exist

5.     private papers – historical societies or private libraries like the Huntington, American Antiquarian Society, Newberry Library, John Carter Brown,

 

C.  Archives elsewhere – consult Carnegie volumes

 

 

III Printed Materials

A.    England

1.     Books - English Short Title Catalog online ESTC at USC with texts in Huntington or on microfilm there

2.     Newspapers - Early English newspapers on microfilm at USC

3.     Periodicals - English Literary Periodical Series on microfilm at USC

 

B.    Thirteen Colonies/Early U.S.

1.     Books - Early American Imprints – Evans thru 1800; Shaw-Shoemaker 1801-20

                                                               Evans at USC, Shaw-Shoemaker at Hunt.

                                                               ESTC at USC online searchable titles of

                                                               English language books including Evans

                                                               And Shaw Shoemaker items.

2.     Newspapers - Clarence Brigham. History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820 with Latham supplement is guide. Huntington has major colonial papers. USC is acquiring Pennsylvania Gazette on searchable CD rom.

3.     Periodicals - American Periodical Series microfilm at USC