For a century after the arrival of the Mayflower, the Puritans who settled in New England controlled virtually all politics and culture there. Puritan institutions which sprang up in the seventeenth century include the Massachusetts General Court (which survives as the state's legislature) and Harvard College. They also established numerous colonies in New England, namely Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony (which both eventually merged together) in present-day Massachusetts; and in present-day Connecticut New Haven Colony, Saybrook Colony, and Connecticut Colony (which absorbed the two former colonies later in the seventeenth century).

This guide lists resources on all aspects of the life, culture, records, and politics of Puritan New England. Most of the items in this guide belong to Library's general collections and can be requested online in the Main Reading Room. However, some are held in other reading rooms throughout the Library of Congress including the Geography and Maps Reading Room, the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, the Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room among others. For further information on these research centers, see the "Using the Library of Congress" section of this guide.