To locate books written during that time, start with the UW Libraries Catalog. Below are a few examples (all available from the UW Tacoma Library):

• The Federalist Papers
• Selected Writings and Speeches of Alexander Hamilton
• Documents of American Constitutional and Legal History
• The Papers of George Washington Presidential Series

Or you can browse through magazines & documents that were published at the time of our country's founding via our online historical databases:

• "American Periodicals Series Online" (1740-1900) includes full-page images of 18th and 19th Century American magazines.
• "Early American Imprints" (1639-1800) is a database of full-page images of more than 30,000 works published in America between 1639 and 1800. This database documents a broad spectrum of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, including literature, music, religion, foreign affairs, diplomacy, and much more.

Or, check out some American history Web sites put together by the Library of Congress and other educational institutions:

• American Memory: Historical collections for the National Digital Library
• American History to 1865

And don't forget our founding mothers:

• Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000. More than 70 topical document collections covering everything from women's activism during the American Revolution to the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

Tip of the Month:  

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of published primary sources dealing with American history. These include books written during the period, books written by participants (e.g. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography), published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs, and reprints of collections of primary source material. Most books are printed, some are microfilmed, and a few are available full-text online.

Use the following strategies in the UW Libraries Catalog to find books that can be considered primary sources:

• Search for books written by key participants and organizations.
• Do a keyword search and limit your search by publication date.
• Do a keyword search for your subject and add special terms that designate primary sources such as diaries, journals or letters.

Carole Svensson is the assistant director of the UW Tacoma Library. Got an idea for a book to feature in Book Dirt? E-mail Carole at svensson@u.washington.edu.