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Jamestown and Roanoke Colonies: A Resource Guide

Primary Sources

Most of the following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Although the Library of Congress holds many of the earliest editions of these works and makes them available to researchers in its Rare Book & Special Collections Reading Room, this selected list is generally limited to electronic versions of the originals and/or modern editions that are available in the Library's Main Reading Room and in many other libraries also. A few titles also document how the Jamestown site was experienced and its history memorialized in later centuries.

SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SOURCES

LATER PRIMARY SOURCES

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

The Library of Congress holds an outstanding collection of early maps depicting what are now eastern Virginia and North Carolina, and makes them available to researchers in its Geography & Map Reading Room. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog, and also to online electronic versions. To find additional map titles, see the section on "Finding Additional Primary Sources," below, and use subject headings that include the word "maps." Please keep in mind that for some time after the name "Carolina" was invented in 1629, the English and other Europeans continued to call the entire region Virginia.

The titles on this page link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog or the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. Wherever possible, Prints & Photographs titles include electronic versions that can be viewed and downloaded online.

DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS, AND ENGRAVINGS

To find additional reproductions of the John White images, search on the phrase "White, John, active 1585-1593" (with quotation marks) in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.

Additional Digitized Reproductions of the John White Drawings and/or Theodor de Bry Engravings

A number of other websites have made available at least some of the Theodor de Bry engravings of the John White watercolor drawings; and, in a few cases, some of the drawings themselves. Here are some examples.

PHOTOGRAPHS

There are of course no photographs from sixteenth-century Roanoke or seventeenth-century Jamestown. The photographs linked below document the few historical structures that have survived from that time; or the commemorations and celebrations with which later Americans have memorialized and mythologized the colonies' history, most fully on significant anniversaries; or the reconstructed buildings and ships and costumed interpreters that recreate history onsite for modern visitors. To find more such images, search the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog on phrases and text strings such as the following: "Fort Raleigh" ... Roanoke colony ... "Roanoke Island" ... commemorating Jamestown ... church Jamestown Va. ... old church Jamestown ... Highsmith Jamestown Virginia ... Jamestown architectural photo ... Jamestown exposition ... Jamestown park Virginia.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog or the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. Links to electronic versions online are included when available.

NOTE ON HABS/HAER/HALS ITEMS: The list below includes a sampling of the numerous relevant surveys from HABS/HAER/HALS (Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey) in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division. Each survey comprises multiple data types documenting archaeological and architectural discovery and analysis, such as photographs, architectural drawings, written data, and background and summary reports. To find additional surveys, go to the HABS/HAER/HALS home page in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, and enter the text string Jamestown "James City" Virginia survey in the search box. Click on any title to see the survey material.

The Library of Congress holds archival film footage recording how the earliest English colonies in North America have been remembered and celebrated by later generations. The titles on this page link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog and, wherever possible, to electronic versions that can be viewed and downloaded online.

NEWSPAPERS AS PRIMARY SOURCES FOR THE JAMESTOWN AND ROANOKE LEGACIES

There were no newspapers in the Roanoke or Jamestown colonies, but later newspapers document the life of their times in both places -- and also, notably, how the histories of these colonies were remembered and commemorated throughout the United States. The Library of Congress Chronicling America project makes hundreds of thousands of historical American newspaper pages available online. Search on phrases such as "Roanoke Island" or "lost colony" or "Jamestown Island" or "Jamestown Exposition"; or on text strings such as Pocahontas "John Smith"; to find articles, illustrations, and advertisements documenting the Roanoke and Jamestown colonies' complex legacies.

FINDING ADDITIONAL PRIMARY SOURCES

To find additional Library of Congress items documenting the history of the Jamestown and Roanoke colonies and how they have been remembered and commemorated, use the Library of Congress catalog to search on relevant subject headings:

  • Go to the catalog and select the Browse option.
  • From the pull-down menu, select “SUBJECTS beginning with.”
  • Then enter a subject heading in the search box (see below).
  • You will get a list of subject headings beginning with those words. Click on any subject heading to see a list of works on that subject; then click on any title to access its catalog record.
  • Please note that works published before 1927 may have links in their records to freely accessible online electronic versions.

The following subject headings may be particularly useful, depending on what type(s) of primary source(s) you wish to find.

America--Discovery and exploration--British--Early works to 1800.
America--Discovery and exploration--British--Sources.
America--Discovery and exploration--Sources.
America--Early accounts to 1600.
British--America--History--16th century.
Explorers--Great Britain.
Hakluyt, Richard, 1552?-1616.
Indians of North America--Virginia.
Indians of North America--Virginia--Early works to 1800.
Jamestown (Va.)--Anniversaries, etc.
Jamestown (Va.)--Centennial celebrations, etc.
Jamestown (Va.)--History.
Jamestown (Va.)--History--17th century--Sources.
Jamestown (Va.)--History--Sources.
Law--Virginia.
North Carolina--Maps--Early works to 1800.
Pocahontas, -1617.
Powhatan Indians.
Roanoke Colony.
Roanoke Colony--Anniversaries, etc.
Roanoke Colony--Maps--Early works to 1800.
Sandys, George, 1578-1644.
Smith, John, 1580-1631.
South Atlantic States--Maps--Early works to 1800.
Virginia Company of London.
Virginia--Description and travel--Early works to 1800.
Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.
Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--Sources.
Virginia--Maps--Early works to 1800.
Virginia--Maps--Early works to 1800--Facsimiles.
Virginia--Politics and government--To 1775--Sources.
Voyages and travels--Early works to 1800.