Primary Source Collections
Scene from “The Last of the Mohicans,” Cora Kneeling at the Feet of Tamenund by Thomas Cole (1827)
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American Visions - Primary Source ListList of primary sources used in the American Visions project made accessible via the Internet Archive.
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American VisionsAccess to the full "American Visions" website
Travelogues
Map showing the locations of Ed Ayers' "American Journey" series, 2022-2023
Access links to key parts of Ed Ayers' travelogue series below, including a link to the full series of online articles.
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#7. Time for a Revolution (November 8, 2022)Description of Lockport, NY
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#9. No Better Soil (January 23, 2023)Description of locations across Upstate New York.
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#10. Sacred Places (February 27, 2023)Description of Palmyra, NY
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#12. Lost Prophets and Forgotten Heroes (September 6, 2023)Description of Lake Erie, NY
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American Journey - Full List of Travelogue EntriesHosted on Bunk History
Maps
Map of the United States, exhibiting the post-roads, the situations, connections & distances of the post-offices, stage roads, counties, ports of entry and delivery for foreign vessels, and the principal rivers by Abraham Bradley, William Harrison, and W. Barker (1796)
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Erie Canal - Bunk HistoryMap from Bunk History showing the location of the Erie Canal, along with additional articles and travelogues.
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Places - Bunk HistoryMap that showcases six key historic locations: the Natural Bridge in Virginia; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Cooperstown, New York; Pittsfield, Massachusetts; the Hudson River in New York; and Catskill, New York. Presented through Bunk History
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Canals: 1820-1890In the final sentence of his study of nineteenth‐century canals, Ronald E. Shaw points to the limitations of most canal maps: “The long lines of canals now drawn on our maps ... are but the skeletal remains of a once vital dimension of American life.” Hoping to produce a map that conveys more of the "vitality" of canals as engines of trade, economic development, and travel in antebellum America, this map not only shows the spaces that canals connected but information about the goods they carried. Created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond.
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Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United StatesHere you will find one of the greatest historical atlases: Charles O. Paullin and John K. Wright's Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, first published in 1932. This digital edition reproduces all of the atlas's nearly 700 maps. Many of these beautiful maps are enhanced here in ways impossible in print, animated to show change over time or made clickable to view the underlying data—remarkable maps produced eight decades ago with the functionality of the twenty-first century. From the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond.
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*Revolutionary Crossroads - AtlasesCollection of maps detailing various locations throughout the Revolutionary Crossroads experience. Collected by Chris Bunin.
Lesson Plans/Activities
Image from "The Revolutions: The Future of America's Past" lesson plan
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The Revolutions: The Future of America's PastFive-part lesson plan series for middle and high school students, framed around the question "What does 'freedom' mean to those outside the halls of power - and what did it mean during the American Revolution?" Hosted through New American History.
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Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription ProjectThe National Park Service and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are collaborating on a special project to transcribe the pension records of more than 80,000 of America’s first veterans and their widows. You can access a registration link to become a National Archives volunteer through this website.
Videos
Informational
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"Native American Roles in the War for Independence"Review essay by Thomas J. Lappas published in "Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies" in the July 2010 issue.
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The New York State 250th Commemoration Field GuideThis guide provides information for local/regional leaders for how to best acknowledge and celebrate the history of New York State in conjunction with the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. The guide was created with members of the Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) and the Office of State History at the New York State Museum.
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"The Mid-Atlantic and the American Revolution"Article by Wayne Bodle published in "Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies" on December 17, 2021.
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Treasured Landscapes - Hudson River SchoolExplanation of the Hudson River School and its impact on American art. From the National Parks Services.