Digital Collections

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials associated with the American Revolution era (1763-1783), including manuscripts, broadsides, government documents, books, images, and maps. Provided below is a link to the home page for each relevant digital collection along with selected highlights.

Alexander Hamilton Papers

Alexander Hamilton Papers
The papers of Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1757-1804), first treasury secretary of the United States, consist of his personal and public correspondence, including his experience as a Revolutionary War officer and aide-de-camp to General George Washington.

A selection of highlights includes:

Alexander Hamilton Papers: Miscellany, 1711-1820; Military papers; By period; American Revolution, 1775-1783; New York Artillery Company pay book, includes notes by Hamilton on a variety of subjects, 1776, Aug.-1777, May.
Letter, Alexander Hamilton to Marquis de Lafayette, October 15, 1781 .
Hamilton's letter reports on the joint French and American attack on British forces at Yorktown, Virginia, including a list of the killed and wounded. [Founders Online Transcription]

Benjamin Franklin Papers

Benjamin 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.

A selection of highlights includes:

George Washington Papers

George Washington Papers
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 include correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries, journals, financial account books, military records, reports, and notes accumulated by Washington from 1741 through 1799. The collection includes a timeline of Washington's service during the American Revolution.

A selection of highlights includes:

Continental Congress to George Washington, June 19, 1775, Commission as Commander in Chief.
George Washington, July 10, 1776, General Orders.
Washington's orders announcing the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Army in New York.
United States and Great Britain, November 30, 1782, Provisional Articles to Treaty.

James Madison Papers

James Madison Papers, 1723 to 1859
The Madison Papers 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 includes a timeline that examines Madison's career during the American Revolution.

A selection of highlights includes:

Thomas Jefferson Papers

Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606 to 1827
Jefferson's papers consist of approximately 27,000 documents ranging in date from 1606 to 1827. Correspondence, memoranda, notes, and drafts of documents make up two-thirds of the collection. Jefferson's activities as a delegate to the second Continental Congress, his drafting of the Declaration of Independence in June-July 1776, and his service as governor of Virginia, 1779-81, are well documented. The collection includes a timeline of Jefferson's activities during the years 1774 to 1783.

A selection of highlights includes:

American Notes: Travels in America, 1750 to 1920

American Notes: Travels in America, 1750 to 1920
This collection comprises 253 published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places, and society from about 1750 to 1920.

A selection of highlights includes:

Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600 to 1925

Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600 to 1925
This collection comprises 139 books selected from the Library of Congress's General Collections and two books from its Rare Book and Special Collections Division. It includes first-person narratives, early histories, historical biographies, promotional brochures, and books of photographs.

A selection of highlights includes:

Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera

Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
The Printed Ephemera Collection at the Library of Congress is a rich repository of Americana. In total, the collection comprises 28,000 primary source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompassing key events and eras in U.S. history, including the American Revolution.

A selection of highlights includes:

No stamped paper to be had. [Philadelphia : Printed by Hall & Franklin, 1765].
An account of a late military massacre at Boston, or the consequences of quartering troops in a populous town, March 12, 1770. New York, John Holt, 1770.
An account of the Boston Massacre.
The following is the Act of Parliament, assented to by His Majesty, on the 30th of March, 1774.
A copy of the Boston Port Act as passed by the British Parliament in March 1774, which closed Boston Harbor.

Rare Book Selections

Rare Book Selections
The collections housed in The Rare Book and Special Collections Division amount to nearly 800,000 books, encompassing nearly all eras and subjects maintained in well over 100 separate collections. All of these collections offer scholarly documentation about the western and American traditions of life and learning.

A selection of highlights includes:

A summary view of the rights of British America : set forth in some resolutions intended for the inspection of the present delegates of the people of Virginia, now in convention.
Regulations for the order and discipline of the troops of the United States. Part I.
Compiled by Baron de Steuben, inspector general of the Continental Army, and assisted by François-Louis Teissèydre. Illustrations drawn by Pierre L'Enfant.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
This collection contains the records of Congress from 1774 to 1875, including journals, debates, bills, and laws. The Journals of the Continental Congress and Letters of Delegates to Congress can be researched to examine the role of the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.

A selection of highlights includes:

George Washington's speech accepting the position of commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on June 15, 1775.
The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Treaty of Alliance with France dated February 6, 1778
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States, recognized American independence and established borders for the new nation.

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789
This collection contains 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the Declaration of Independence and the preliminary articles of peace ending the Revolutionary War.

A selection of highlights includes:

American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789

American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789
The maps and charts in this collection number well over two thousand different items, with easily as many or more unnumbered duplicates, many with distinct colorations and annotations. Almost six hundred maps are original manuscript drawings.

Rochambeau Map Collection

Rochambeau Map Collection
Contains cartographic items used by Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725-1807), when he was commander-in-chief of the French expeditionary army (1780-82) during the American Revolution. The maps cover much of eastern North America and date from 1717 to 1795.

American Revolution: A Resource Guide

History, Humanities & Social Sciences: Ask a Librarian

Digital Collections

Alexander Hamilton Papers

A selection of highlights includes:

Benjamin Franklin Papers

A selection of highlights includes:

George Washington Papers

A selection of highlights includes:

James Madison Papers

A selection of highlights includes:

Thomas Jefferson Papers

A selection of highlights includes:

American Notes: Travels in America, 1750 to 1920

A selection of highlights includes:

Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600 to 1925

A selection of highlights includes:

Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera

A selection of highlights includes:

Rare Book Selections

A selection of highlights includes:

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875

A selection of highlights includes:

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789

A selection of highlights includes:

American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789

Rochambeau Map Collection