PERSONAL PAPERS COLLECTIONS

PERSONAL PAPERS COLLECTIONS

Many  Founders have personal papers that have been published online, in  print, or both. Some of them are costly, some of them relatively cheap,  all of them invaluable.  These papers provide researchers insight into  the personal thoughts and intimate private moments of many Founders. Any  research of the American Revolution should include a review of the  personal papers of key figures related to the event you are covering  whenever possible. Alphabetically below:

The Letters of Abigail Adams. Remember the ladies! The American Revolution Online is committed to making sure we work to provide you with as diverse a group of primary sources as we can. While the era was certainly dominated by select figures, if you look hard enough you can find sources outside the typical group. Abigail Adams is an obvious bit of low hanging Liberty Tree fruit in that regard, but the material she provides to researchers is as valuable as it is well written. Several options exist for her beautifully written and eloquent letters. The Massachusetts Historical Society offers her letters as part of the Adams Family Papers collection online and Founders Online also produces over a thousand letters for Abigail Adams via an easy selection. Various published sources also offer the letters if you would like to own them in print format.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t77s83t39&view=1up&seq=1

https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/letter/

https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%20Author%3A%22Adams%2C%20Abigail%22&s=1111211111&r=1

The Papers of Nathanael  Greene are available in print format only at this time. Thirteen full volumes  spanning the life of Nathanael Greene are expertly edited and annotated  by Dennis M. Conrad.  These papers provide  an excellent look at the  military aspects of the Revolution, particularly the all important work  of Greene in the southern theater of the war. Copies are available on  typical website such as Amazon in new and used formats. These papers are  highly recommended by The American Revolution Online staff for anyone  covering the war.

The Correspondence and Personal Papers of John Jay.  The personal papers of Jon Jay provide researchers a look at over half a century's worth of correspondence and papers of a prominent Founder that was involved with the decision to go to war, the negotiation for peace, and the government that formed when it was all over.  The collection has been evolving and expanding over the past few decades. Four volumes were originally published in the 1890s and the collection has continually expanded since. It has also been keeping up with technology and several outlets are digitizing the collection, including some of it with scans of the original documents for review. Jay's Papers are a voluminous look into the Revolution. 

https://oll.libertyfund.org//title/johnston-the-correspondence-and-public-papers-of-john-jay-4-vols

https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/rbml/units/jayprint.html

https://founders.archives.gov/about/Jay

https://founders.archives.gov/content/volumes#Jay

The Writings of Thomas Paine.  Thomas Paine yielded the pen of the Revolution and fortunately for researchers much of what he wrote has survived for us to still use today. Paine has several volumes of collected works linked below and various collections of his writings can also be purchased through online book sellers or organizations such as the Library of America.

https://cnu.libguides.com/c.php?g=23248&p=138063

https://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/p#a91

The Papers of Arthur St. Clair.   Arthur St. Clair served as a General in the Continental Army, with a  prominent role in the Southern campaigns, and was actively politically  as well. He would later serve as the President of the Continental  Congress and serve politically well after the war was over. His personal  papers were published in 1882  in two volumes, available affordably in  print through various outlets and for free on Goggle Books, link below.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_St_Clair_Papers/sXIOAAAAIAAJ?hl=en

The Papers of George Washington are extensive and available in several ways. Most of the information is available via Founders Online. Many of the volumes of this collection are available in print via  multiple outlets but are costly in some cases. They also encase nearly  300 volumes and growing, so a purchase of the complete set is a  significant cost in print. Individual volumes are affordable if you are  researching a particular time frame that you can narrow down. The  Rotunda Website project linked below also sells digital copies and  subscriptions to the Washington Papers and many others. 

https://washingtonpapers.org/

https://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/GEWN.html

The works of James Wilson.  James Wilson may not be a Founder you have heard of but he might be the most important one you have never been told anything about. He is one of only a few men to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Wilson was a Scottish immigrant who came to America before the Revolution and immediately took to his new country, becoming one of the top legal minds of the Founding generation and attending the major events of the Revolution from the Continental Congress to the Constitutional Convention, and then serving as a Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.  His two volume personal papers provide insight to the legal and political side of the American Revolution. They are available for purchase in print in two very nice volumes or they are available in several location for free digitally. 

https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/hall-collected-works-of-james-wilson-vol-1

https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/garrison-collected-works-of-james-wilson-vol-2