The United States at 250

The Newberry features many collecting areas relevant to early American history, from founding documents to Native American history, the westward expansion of the United States, the Civil War and Reconstruction, African American history, and American literature. Our collection materials include over 700 American Revolutionary pamphlets, and Thomas Jefferson’s annotated copy of The Federalist.

*A short narrative of the horrid massacre in Boston: perpetrated in the evening of the fifth day of March 1770. London: W. Bingley, 1770. Case 4A 1151.

Boston, December 17, 1773 : at a meeting of the people of Boston, and the neighboring towns at the Old South Meeting House in Boston… Boston: Edes and Gill, 1773. Vault Ruggles 35.

This very rare broadside gives an account of the dramatic events directly leading to the Boston Tea Party.

This is a reprint of the earlier editions of this narrative, printed in Boston (which the Newberry also holds; see Case E215.4 .B75 1770 and Case F 8441 .097, as well as the newspaper report in Wing broadside ZP 783 .E231). This edition is notable for its large folding frontispiece, derived from the famous Paul Revere image of the “Massacre.”

Journal of the proceedings of the Congress, held at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. Philadelphia: William and Thomas Bradford, 1774. Vault Ruggles 345.

The first edition of the proceedings of the first Continental Congress, the body coordinating the colonies’ response to the “intolerable acts” imposed by the British in response to the Boston Tea Party.

A declaration by the representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, now met in general congress at Philadelphia: setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms. Philadelphia: William and Thomas Bradford, 1775. Vault Ruggles 346 and Vault Ruggles 347.

The less famous declaration from July 6, 1775, written by John Dickinson after a draft by Thomas Jefferson in the aftermath of the Battle of Bunker Hill. It stops short of declaring independence but insists on the resolve of the colonists to defend their rights.

*Benjamin Stevens, Ticonderoga journal. February 19-May 26, 1776. Vault Case MS 5A 9.

A manuscript journal kept by a Connecticut soldier in the Continental Army defending Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York, including experiences as a prisoner of war captured by the British and their Indigenous allies.

*In Congress, July 4, 1776. A declaration by the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled…. Newport, RI: Samuel Southwick, July 13, 1776. Case broadside E221 .U57 1776.

Rhode Island broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence, printed just nine days after the 4th. It includes a notorious typo indicating that it was printed on June 13 rather than July 13. These printings of the Declaration predate the engrossed, signed copy that is now thought of as the “original” handwritten document on display in D.C.

Oath of allegiance of the Micmac tribe. 1778. Vault box Ayer MS 3134.

A contemporary manuscript copy of an oath of allegiance to King George III, taken by forty-one representatives of the Micmac or Mi’kmaq people at Mengouèche near Fort Howe (now Saint John, New Brunswick). One of many manuscript documents at the Newberry illustrating the importance of Indigenous people as allies on both sides of the conflict as well as strategic actors for their own interests.

The American Military Pocket Atlas, London: R. Sayer and J. Bennett, 1776, Vault Ruggles 9.

The famous “holster atlas,” designed for use in the field by British military officers and to be carried in pocket (or holster).

Sir Henry Clinton, atlas of battle plans. 1776-1783 (assembled ca 1783). Map4F 3701.S3 (various) and Map 7C 5.

A unique made-to-order atlas of 29 maps and plans for battles during the American Revolution, assembled for British General Henry Clinton.

Arent Schuyler De Peyster, Miscellanies. Dumfries, Scotland: C. Munro, 1813. folio Graff 1057.

This book by a British officer in charge of Forts Detroit and Michilimackinac during the Revolutionary War contains, in a footnote to a poem, the first published reference to Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. The Newberry also holds a letter by De Peyster instructing subordinates to travel to the Illinois country to investigate American sympathizers in 1778; in 1779, DuSable was arrested on suspicion of these charges. (Read a blog post on this item here.)

*Items denoted with an asterisk will be on view in the exhibition, Free and Independent, from April 9 through July 18. They will be unavailable to patrons through the reading rooms until late 2026.

Free and Independent: The Declaration of Independence and the Words that Made the United States

Hanson Gallery

April 9 – July 18

Curator: Eric Slauter, University of Chicago

Conceived in Liberty: Cartoons, Caricatures, and Illustrations in the Wartime United States, 1812 to 1918

Trienens Gallery

June 11 – September 19

Curator: Margaret Storey, DePaul University

Public Programs

Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States
Author Michelle McDonald in conversation with Eric Slauter
Thursday, May 7, 6pm

Annual Colonial History Program: The Declaration of Independence
Featuring scholar/author Danielle Allen and Scott Stephenson, in partnership with Society of Colonial Wars
Saturday, June 6, 2pm

A Statewide and National Reading of the Declaration of Independence
A live, simultaneous public reading of the Declaration of Independence with one and all in Chicago and across the country.
Wednesday, July 8, 5pm

NewberryFest: 250 Years of the United States
Come face-to-face with extraordinary items from our collection that are related to the Revolutionary period and its echoes over the past 250 years.
Saturday, July 18, 11am-3pm

Teacher Programs

The French Revolution: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity
Thursday, January 29, 9:30am-12:30pm

Teaching the American Revolution at 250
Thursday, February 19, 9:30am-12:30pm

Teaching Reconstruction with *Freedom Was in Sight!*
Thursday, February 26, 9:30am-12:30pm

Teaching the American Revolution at 250
Friday, March 20, 9:30am-12:30pm

250 Years of Teaching with Maps
July 13 through 31, 2026

Adult Education

America’s Birth Certificate: The Declaration of Independence
Weekly on Wednesdays, April 22 through May 13, 5:30-7:30pm

Digital Collections for the Classroom

US History topics include:

• New Lessons for a New Empire
• Literature of the American Civil War
• Nineteenth-Century Currency
• US Imperialism in the Philippines
• Black Labor and the Great Migration
• Indigenous Chicago
  
  

Research Guides

The Newberry is an especially rich resource for the study of early American history, including perspectives of Indigenous and enslaved people as well as colonists, settlers, and citizens.

The Newberry maintains a list of scholarly and other publications about the library’s collections in American History.