Archives
January 2007
"All are gone who desire to do so": Robert E. Lee and Slavery
Manuscript letter from Robert E. Lee to George W. C. Lee, 1863
December 2006
Boston Burning: the Fire of 1787
Manuscript map of Boston drawn by Jeremy Belknap, 1787
November 2006
"She had always aspired to something noble": Caroline Dall and Her Extraordinary Diary
Daguerreoptype of Caroline Wells Healey Dall
September 2006
Indian deed for Boston, 19 March 1685
Quitclaim deed for the peninsula of Boston, 19 March 1685
August 2006
Sally Putnam visits the Aquarial Gardens
Sarah Gooll Putnam diary 2, 22-23 February 1862
July 2006
Will Bradley and the Art of the Bicycle
Catalog of the Overman Wheel Co., designed by Will Bradley
June 2006
Orphans of the Revolution: caring for the children of Dr. Joseph Warren
caring for the children of Dr. Joseph Warren
April 2006
The Massachusetts Pine Tree penny
Copper pattern coin designed and engraved by Paul Revere, 1776
March 2006
The last days of the telegram
Telegram from Dean Rusk to Leverett Saltonstall, 24 September 1963.
February 2006
"Boston Harbor a tea-pot tonight"
Tea leaves in glass bottle collected on the shore of Dorchester Neck the morning of 17 December 1773.
January 2006
Benjamin Franklin recalls Boston, the place of his birth
Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Mather, 12 May 1784
December 2005
The Darkest December: George Washington during the crisis of the American Revolution in 1776
Letter from William Tudor to Delia Jarvis, 24 December 1776
October 2005
Ralph Farnham, the Last Survivor of the Battle of Bunker Hill?
Ambrotype of Ralph Farnham, 7 July 1858
September 2005
Harvard in 1726: The First Prospect of an American College
The First Prospect of an American College
August 2005
Slavery, Bleeding Kansas, and a Test of Friendship
A letter from Abraham Lincoln to Joshua Fry Speed
July 2005
"A Covenant with Death and an Agreement with Hell"
Broadside advertising a Fourth of July rally sponsored by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1854.
April 2005
From the desk of Phillis Wheatley
Published in London in 1773, Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religous and Moral, was the first book of poetry by a Black American.
March 2005
Deborah Sampson, soldier in disguise
Paul Revere writes in support of Deborah Sampson Gannett, who served during the American Revolution disguised as a man.
January 2005
The Know-Nothing Party
The American Party (the Know-Nothing Party) comes to power in Massachusetts in 1855
December 2004
Benjamin Franklin's milk punch recipe
Benjamin Franklin sent a recipe "To make Milk Punch" to James Bowdoin, a Boston merchant and the future governor of Massachusetts, on 11 October 1763.
November 2004
Certificate of attendance at Dr. John Warren's course of anatomical lectures
One of two known surviving copies of a certificate of attendance at Dr. John Warren's anatomical lectures and demonstrations, engraved by Paul Revere.
October 2004
GOP campaign mugs
Mugs depicting the heads of the 1960 Republican candidates for President, Richard M. Nixon, and Vice President, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
September 2004
The Selling of Joseph A Memorial
Written by Samuel Sewall in 1700, The Selling of Joseph was the first anti-slavery tract published in New England.
August 2004
Letter from Eleanor "Nora" Saltonstall to her family
Saltonstall wrote this letter to her family while she was serving with the American Red Cross in France during World War I.
July 2004
Letter from Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, 10 July 1804
Hamilton wrote this letter the day before his duel with Aaron Burr.
May 2004
The Columbia and Washington Medal
The Columbia and Washington Medal commemorating "the first American Adventure on the Pacific Ocean."
April 2004
The Boston News-Letter
This is the first issue of the first continuously published newspaper in America.
March 2004
The Tragedy of Zara
"On Saturday next will be perform'd, by a society of ladies and gentlemen, at Faneuil-Hall, the Tragedy of Zara ... "
January 2004
The Mischief at Deerfield
Letter from William Whiting to Fitz-John Winthrop, 4 March 1703/4 [1704]
December 2003
100th Anniversary of First Flight
Letters by Octave Chanute and Godfrey L. Cabot following the Wright brothers' successful flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
November 2003
Atkins Family Photographs
Robert M. Grey, Mr. Brooks, and Thomas Barbour gathering papayas at the Harvard Botanical Garden, Soledad, Cuba
October 2003
View of Boston & Albany passenger train from grounds of Keewaydin
Photograph by Francis Blake, circa 1885
August 2003
Map of Massachusetts Proper
Compiled from actual surveys made by Order of the General Court and under the inspection of Agents of their appointment. by Osgood Carleton; engraved by Joseph Callender and Samuel Hill, 1801.
