There are multiple ways to use this guide. Use the Index on the left to jump to a particular microform. (Please note that non-presidential personal papers are listed under 'Personal Papers,' while presidential papers are listed seperately by last name.) Clicking on the call number will open a link to the full catalog record in UMD's online catalog. Clicking on the 'Full Description' will expand the text for an overview of that collection. Print and online indexes and finding aids, as well as digitized versions of the collections, are listed under other sources when avalible. (Some of these are outside links not maintained by the University. To report broken links, please click on the 'comment' link at the top of the page or contact the author of the Guide.)
Series 1: 18th Century, The American Periodical Series: 18th Century.
Call Number: Microfilm CAM35APS (33 Reels)
Series 2: 1800-1850, The American Periodical Series: 1800-1850.
Call Number: Microfilm CAM35APS2 (1966 Reels)
Series 3: 1850-1900, The American Periodical Series: 1850-1900, Civil War and Reconstruction.
Call Number: Microfilm CAM35APS3 (771 Reels)
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Series 1: 18th Century. This series includes all issues of American periodicals (91 titles) which could be located for the years 1741-1800. The titles are arranged in rough alphabetical order on the microfilm. Access to the individual titles is through the indexes.
Series 2: 1800-1850. This series includes approximately 900 titles published in America between 1800 and 1850. The subjects include literature, the arts, slavery, agriculture, science, technology, and medicine, as well as ethnic juvenile publications.
Series 3: 1850-1900. This series includes approximately 120 selected American periodicals dealing with literature, the arts, and the sciences.
For 1800-1850 and 1850-1900 most titles have been filmed in a continuous run, but some may share a reel with other titles.
The online catalog provides the call numbers and reel numbers for the microfilm. The reel numbers may not be sequential for titles with long runs. Information on the boxes of microfilm varies within each series. All the boxes are marked with the call numbers and reel numbers. Many boxes also indicate the title, volume and year of the journals on the reel. The year of the microfilming (APS 2, year 15) and an identification number (APS 771, which is of no use for retrieval purposes) are also occasionally included. The title and volume/year are often on the box rather than on the label.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Location Code & Call Number: MCK-PER M-CARD
The collection contains primarily American anti-slavery propaganda published before January 1, 1863, the date of the Emancipation Proclamation. The collection also includes a small amount of pro-slavery propaganda and British anti-slavery literature. The collection covers various aspects of the anti-slavery campaign including religious, economic, anti-colonial and abolitionist material; slave narratives; poetry; songs and traveler's observations of slavery. Also included are annual reports, proceedings, constitutions, platforms and addresses of anti-slavery societies.
Individual items in this collection are catalogued separately by main entry. The microcards are interfiled in the microcard collection in the Periodicals/Microforms Room by main entry.
The collection includes approximately 2,5000 pamphlets.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Location Code & Call Number: MCK-PER M-PRINT (270 Boxes)
This collection reproduces in full approximately 50,000 books, pamphlets and broadsides printed in the United States between 1801-1819.
This microprint collection is arranged by Shaw numbers in chronological order. To locate a title and to note corrections, it is necessary to consult the Shaw bibliography.
This collection supplements the microprint edition of items listed in American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets, and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from the Genesis of Printing in 1639 down to and including the Year 1820 by Charles Evans.
There are no information cards for individual authors included in this series in the public catalog.
Volume twenty of the Shaw bibliography contains an addendum of 1768 items (1801-1819). Volume twenty-one lists the works in this collection by title. Volume twenty-two consists of a cumulated author index and a list of corrections.
The final volume lists printers, publishers and booksellers and includes a geographical index.
See also: A Checklist of American Imprints (1820- ) (Ref Z 1215. S5) by various authors for a listing of works published after 1819.
See also: Early American Imprints, 1639-1800.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Location Code & Call Number: MCK-PER MICROFILM BL 51 (8 Reels)
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The Lee Family Papers document the commercial, political, diplomatic and personal actiyities of Richard Henry, Arthur and William Lee. They consist of commercial bills and accounts, financial records, and business, political and personal correspondence.
The Papers are arranged chronologically, The Guide offers descriptions of the topics and documents included on each reel.
A list of pseudonyms is provided in the Guide for aliases used by Edmund Jennings, Arthur Lee and William Lee in their correspondence.
The Guide also provides a chronology and description of the provenance of the papers.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfiche ND237.P27A2 (449 sheets)
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Letters and documents sent by or to the Peale family members through the third generation in America. Charles Willson Peale was a portrait artist, political activist, inventor and progenitor of a family which included many distinguished artists and scientists. He was also founder of one of the first science museums in America as well as co-founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Arrangement is by series number, corresponding to material by and about individual family members.
The index must be used with this collection. It includes a history of the Peale papers, a family chronology, a selected bibliography and a list of lending institutions. Items are listed by series. An alphabetical index to the main entries is appended.
Under each personal name in the index, correspondence is grouped first as sender, then as recipient and finally as mentioned individual. Reference is made to series, subseries, fiche number, row letter and frame number [on the fiche]:
Jefferson, Thomas
To Charles Willson Peale,
1801, July 29 IIA/24 F 5-6
A list of items received late appears at the end of the index.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: MCKPER M-FILM J82.B6 1959 (7 Reels)
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The collection includes correspondence (1820-1869), a diary (1847), and drafts of Pierce's messages to Congress that reflect Pierce's participation in the Mexican War, public affairs, and politics (1853-1856). Some photocopies of items in the Henry E. Huntington Library and in the New Hampshire Historical Society are included.
The Pierce Papers are divided into five series, arranged either alphabetically or chronologically depending on the contents.
The Index to the Franklin Pierce Papers lists documents in the collection by proper name, date and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in the front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series, date of other information can be found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
Most of the Pierce Papers were destroyed.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm J82.A7J26 1961 (78 Reels)
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The papers include correspondence (1775-1885), military papers (1781-lS32), a letterbook (1829-l831), orders, messages and speeches (1829-1836), and related materials. The collection consists of papers relating primarily to Jackson's Presidency.
The Jackson Papers are divided into eleven series. The series are arranged alphabetically or chronologically depending on the contents.
The Index to the Andrew Jackson Papers list documents in the collection by proper name, date and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in the front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series, date, or other information can be found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
The collection contains 22,500 manuscripts.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm J82.B9 1960 (55 Reels)
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These papers include letters received, copies of presidential replies, messages and speeches, courtmartial and amnesty records, diaries of William G. Moore, business records and records of Johnson's activities as the Military Governor of Tennessee.
The Johnson Papers are divided into twenty series, arranged chronologically or alphabetically.
The Index to the Andrew Johnson Papers lists documents in the collection by proper name, date and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in the front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series, date, or other information can be found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
The collection includes about 40,000 manuscripts.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm HB 1125 .G3 (2 Reels)
This record of marriages and deaths from 1784 to 1829 includes more than 40,000 entries in some sixty-five newspapers. The United States and Canada are covered as well as New York State.
The microfilm reproduces a card file of death notices alphabetically by last name, followed by a card file of marriage notices.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: MCKPER M-FILM J82.B3 1964 (67 Reels)
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This collection includes correspondence (1775-1891), a diaries (1845-1849), messages and speeches (1833-1849), letter press copy books (1845-1849), and additional material relating primarily to Polk's administration.
The Polk Papers are divided into eleven series arranged chronologically.
The Index to the James K. Polk Papers lists documents in the collection by proper name, date and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in the front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series, date of other information can be found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
The Polk Papers is one of the most complete nineteenth-century Presidential Collections in the Library of Congress.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm J82.A4 1965 (28 Reels)
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This collection includes Madison's correspondence (1723-1859), his autobiography (1751-1829), and material relating to the debates of the Continental Congress (1776-1788).
The Madison Papers are divided into six series, the bulk of which are arranged chronologically.
The Index to the James Madison Papers lists documents in the collection by proper name, date and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in the front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series, date, or other information can be found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: MCK-PER J 82.A5 1960 (11 Reels)
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The collection includes correspondence (1750-1539), a large part of which relates to the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, the Monroe-Pickney Treaty, the War of 1812, the Florida Purchase, South American Independence and Virginia Politics. Also included are account books containing memoranda, and official and personal accounts (1794-1802).
The Monroe Papers are divided into four series and arranged cilronologically.
The Index to the James Monroe Papers lists documents in the collcction by proper name, date, and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in the front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series and date, or other information are found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
The collection includes about 5,033 manuscripts.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm Z 6956 .E5M6 (13 Reels)
The Newspaper Press Directory was a complete alphabetical index to newspapers, magazines, reviews and periodicals published in the United Kingdom and the British Isles. The directories published between 1846 and 1907 reflect the development of this period.
The directories are filmed chronologically. Each one contains a table of contents which describes its general arrangement. Each also contains an index.
No volumes were issued for the years 1848-50, 1852-53 and 1855.
McKeldin Library has the Newspaper Press Directory (Z 6956 .E5 M6 Folio) in hard copy for the years 1951, 1953, 1956-1976. It ceased publication under this title in 1976 and continued as Benn's Press Directory, 1978- (Ref Z 6956 .E5M61 Folio).
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call number: Microfilm F786.B3 (12 Reels)
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Papers (1848-1877) include correspondence, loose items, official dispatches, official and personal journals and newspaper releases.
The papers are arranged as follows:
In 1850 John Russell Bartlett was appointed Commissioner for drawing the boundary between Mexico and the United States. The documents resulting from the mission record his trip through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico and California.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: MCK-PER M-FILM HG2463.B5A2 (46 Reels)
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Correspondence, genealogical materials, financial papers, speeches, letterbooks and related materials comprise this collection. The bulk of the papers date from between 1775 and 1846. The letterbooks are dated from 1823 to 1843.
The papers are arranged in chronological order. Letterbooks, dated materials and undated matter were filmed separately. There are lists of correspondents, with pagination indicated, in Biddle's handwriting, at the beginning of each letterbook.
Nicholas Biddle entered the University of Pennsylvania at ten years of age, then studied at [Princeton]. He was a litterateur, scholar, statesman and financier. He edited Lewis and Clark's account of their Louisiana expedition as well as Port Folio, America's leading literary periodical. He was also president of the Bank of the United States and of Girard College.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm Z6616.B9K51 (27 Reels)
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The Papers consist of correspondence, the records of Burr's public career, business records, orderly books, journals and legal case files. They docllment transactions of Burr's law practice following his arrest for treason as well as his mercurial political and military careers.
The Guide provides detailed access to the three series which consist of:
Over half of the collection concerns Burr's law practice. The user should carefully consult the guide to use these files.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfiche E449.C534153 (97 Microfiches)
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The collection contains 2,604 letters, most of which are addressed to and concern contemporaries of Child. Child wrote 2,228 of the letters herself. Letters of the abolition movement figure strongly as do those of personalities in the arts and letters.
Letters are arranged in chronological order.
Child was a civil rights advocate who worked for women, blacks and native Americans in particular. The publication of two popular novels afforded Child entrance into Boston literary circles in addition to those of political activists. Child served on the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society and edited the National Anti-Slavery Standard. She also had a weekly column which ran in the Boston Courier about New York City and the problems of urban environments.
Among the correspondents represented in this collection are John Brown, William Cullen Bryant, Frederick Douglass, Margaret Fuller, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimke, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone and Charles Sumner.
The index includes illustrations as well as a chronology, a biography and a bibliography of Child. It also contains a name and subject index to the microfiche collection. References include fiche card number and letter (correspondence) number, e.g., 22/629. At the bottom of the index a chronological key to the letters appears.
Among the sources for the primary material are the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College, the Cornell University Library, the Houghton Library at Harvard University, the Clements Library at the University of Michigan, the New York Public Library, the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts Historical Society.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Location Code & Call Number: MCK-PER MICROFILM E340.E9 E95 1967b (6 Reels)
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The Microfilm Edition of the Thomas Ewing Papers contains correspondence, memoranda, writings, legal documents, law papers, letterbooks, financial papers and clippings, which document the career of Ewing as an Ohio Senator, lawyer, and Presidential Cabinet member and advisor.
Detailed reel descriptions of the collection, as well as a list of correspondents, is provided in the Guide. The papers are divided into series, including correspondence, law practice papers, material relating to Ewing's tenure as Secretary of the Interior, financial papers, and clippings.
The editors of the collection have included Ewing's papers deposited at the Library of Congress, the Ohio Historical Society, and relevant sections of the Philemon B. Ewing and William Tecumseh Sherman Papers at the University of Notre Dame.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm BP38t (10 Reels)
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The microfilm publication of the Penn Papers comprises the bulk of the letters to and from Penn in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
The Papers are in two series: The first three rolls contain the letter books of Thomas Penn. The second series is chiefly letters to Penn originally collected in the Penn Papers or added from other collections in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Within each series, the letters are chronologically arranged, and each of the letter books also provides its own index of correspondents.
An alphabetical index for reels 4-10 is included on roll 10.
Reel one of the microfilm offers a detailed description of the collection as well as the inclusive dates of correspondence found on each reel.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm F213.R43
This collection consists of selected primary source material drawn from the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina, the Maryland Historical Society, and the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, Louisiana State University Libraries.
The South Carolina collection consists of two parts: Part 1: the Papers of James Henry Hammond, and Part 2, Miscellaneous Collections of Personal and Family Papers.
The Louisiana collection has three parts: Part 1: Louisiana Sugar Plantations; Part 2: Louisiana and Other Cotton Plantations, and Part 3: The Natchez Area.
Selections from the Maryland Historical Society include papers of the following individuals and families: Jacob Franklin, William Patterson, Hollyday Family, Thomas Wood Family, Oden Family, Roger Johnson, Thomas Jones, Michael Family, Poseys, James Crawford Neilson, Richard Dorsey, John Eager Howard, Charles Coleman, Gustav Lurman, Susanna Warfield, and Martha Forman.
The guides to this collection must be used to access it. There is no subject index.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm JK2353.R3
These records report the daily proceeding of the Republican National Conventions, includeing lists of delegates, order of business, addresses, resolutions, voting results, appointments and nominations.
The film follows the chronological order of Convention business.
The first three conventions (1856, 1860 and 1864) are covered by Horace Greeley's daily and mail report to the New York Tribune. The library retains proceedings of the Republican Convention in both paper and microfilm format. The card catalog and Serials List should be consulted for complete Library holdings.
Location Code & Call Number: McK Microfilm JK9671.S8 (19 Reels)
This collection contains journals, messages, acts and proclamations of the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The documents were critical to the states' decision whether or not to secede from the Union.
The documents were filmed alphabetically by state, then, for the most part, chronologically under the entry for each state. The items listed in the guide are annotated. There is no reel guide; however, the names of the states are listed on the appropriate reel boxes.
The original manuscripts are held by the Library of Congress and the Boston Anthenaem.
The following source provides more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: Microfilm J82.A3 1974 (65 Reels)
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The largest portion of the papers is general correspondence (1651-1826). 0ther papers include copies of letters made by Jefferson from General HoratioGates' Revolutionary War Letterbook (1730-1731), Jefferson's correspondence with the District of Columbia Commissioners (1790-1808), account books (1767-1782), Randolph Family Manuscripts (1790-1889); and writings on weather, Virginia history, law, and plantation matters
The papers are divided into nine series, usually arranged chronololgically.
The Index to the Thomas Jefrerson Papers lists documents in the collection by proper name, date and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in tile front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series, date, or other information can be found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
Call Number: MCK-PER M-FILM J82.B1 1958 (3 Reels)
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The collection includes correspondence and military papers (1796-1841), a letter book (1812-1813) about the War of 1812 in the West, and correspondence concerning Harrison's unsuccessful campalgn for the Presidency in 1836. Few papers deal with the 1840 campaign or Harrison's short period in office. The collection includes a few posthumous family papers and letters, with a chronology of Harrison's life by Freeman Cleaves.
The Harrison Papers are divided into four series, arranged chronologically within each series.
The Index to the William Henry Harrison Papers lists documents in the collection by proper name, date and series. The Index arranges items primarily by correspondent and then chronologically if a name is repeated. Some subject entries are used. The Reel List in the front of the Index indicates on which reel a particular series, date, or other information can be found. In order to retrieve material, one should consult the Index first and then the Reel List for the appropriate reel number.
Most of Harrison's papers were destroyed in a fire. Nearly 1000 manuscripts are included in the collection.
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection: