Posts related to

19th Century

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) is recognized as one of the greatest American artists of the 19th century. While receiving little official recognition in his lifetime, he created profound realist works...

Is slavery justified by the Bible? Is slavery an un-Christian institution or a commercial necessity? In early 19th-century America the answer to such questions depended on whom you asked. The initial...

The inside story of a secret society, a firsthand account of a naval pursuit, and a strongly worded argument in international relations—these three items only scratch the surface of the newly...

Before there were blogs, there were pamphlets. From the earliest days of American history, pamphlets provided ordinary citizens with the opportunity to comment on contemporary issues. Their subject...

A Southern eccentric defends slavery as a form of socialism, a Southern abolitionist and her mixed-race nephew fight racism, and a great writer helps a New Hampshire boy win the approval of the South...

“I, sin [have seen] mani things,—and ron mani dangres.” So begins the phonetically-spelled journal of a peripatetic 19th-century seaman. The helpful parenthetical translation—[have seen] for “sin”...

From its first session, Congress concerned itself with the publication of its own proceedings. By 1815, a definite set of publication types along with a schema for numbering volumes and publications...

Before Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel appeared in book form in March 1852, it was published as a serial in The National Era, an abolitionist newspaper printed weekly in the nation’s...

A partnership between Readex and the New-York Historical Society, one of America's pre-eminent cultural institutions, has led to this announcement about the creation of a new online resource: American...

Walt Whitman's poem "America" was first published in The New York Herald on February 11, 1888. This short but significant work appeared on page four in the middle of a column-long article headlined...

Henry Brown was born into slavery, circa 1815, 45 miles outside of Richmond, Virginia. As a young man, he was taken to work in the Richmond tobacco factory of his owner, William Barret. Well-regarded...

War of the Dictionaries By Barbara Shaffer, unofficial historian of Springfield, Massachusetts The Georgian brick building of the Merriam-Webster company on Federal Street in Springfield...

In Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance, Ellen Gruber Garvey, Ph.D. (Professor, English Department, New Jersey City University) includes a section on...

“Report of a committee of the Linnæan Society of New England relative to a large marine animal, supposed to be a serpent, seen near Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August, 1817.” From Early American...

Having successfully located and digitized almost all of the American newspapers published during the 17th and 18th centuries, Readex is now focusing on 19th and 20th century newspapers. Guided by our...

From the Readex digital edition Following the recent news that Readex is now offering institutions access to the complete historical run of the Washington Evening Star, here are comments from two...

By Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Associate Professor of History, University of Delaware, and Director of the Program in African American History, Library Company of Philadelphia In 2013, people across the...

Newspaper Archives for Academic Research and Training: A Series of Three Regionally Focused Webinars American newspapers—with their eyewitness reporting, editorials, advertisements, obituaries and...

The digital edition of one of the world's preeminent collections for African American studies is now available for institutional trial. Created from the Library Company of Philadephia’s acclaimed Afro...

Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling book and film, The Help, brought to life a familiar caricature of African American women, the American “mammy.” Depicted as good humored, overweight, middle-aged...

What activities might make up the archetypal life of a 19th-century American man? Items on such a checklist could include: Samuel Clemens checked off many of these items: He was a sailor, if on the...

“It was downright indecent. I saw women go out after the creatures had begun what they call their dance. I did not stay it through. I just couldn’t.” (1) (A woman’s indignant account of her visit to...

Dr. James McCune Smith. Source: New-York Historical Society In 2010 descendents of Dr. James McCune Smith, a prominent abolitionist leader and prolific author, discovered and dedicated his unmarked...

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth. America’s Historical Newspapers contains hundreds of contemporaneous articles about this genius of English literature, as well as...