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The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials related to Benjamin Banneker. Provided below is a link to the home page for each relevant digital collection along with selected highlights.
The collection presents a panoramic and eclectic review of African-American history and culture, spanning almost one hundred years from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, with the bulk of the material published between 1875 and 1900. Search the collection to locate six items that mention Benjamin Banneker.
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 comprises 28,000 primary source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompassing key events and eras in American history. Benjamin Banneker is included in the circular "An Old Story Made New. Negro Makers of History by Carter Godwin Woodson."
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress consists 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 Papers.
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.
The monthly portals highlights the Library's own collections and events, they also represent a collaboration with other federal cultural heritage institutions to feature relevant materials from their institutions. Partners in the past have included the National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Find Library of Congress lesson plans and more that meet Common Core standards, state content standards, and the standards of national organizations.
Today in History is a Library of Congress presentation of historic events illuminated by items from the Library’s Digital Collections. Each essay offers search tips and links selected to encourage users to dive more deeply into the Library’s growing digital collections.
