This searchable digital collection (entitled, Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive) presents images of manuscripts and digital transcriptions from the Adams Family Papers including the complete correspondence between John and Abigail Adams, the diary of John Adams, and the autobiography of John Adams.
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The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was the first military unit consisting of black soliders to be raised in the North during the Civil War. Browse online presentations of photographs and broadsides relating to a notable Civil War army regiment.
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This web feature highlights Thomas Nast’s remarkable life and career through a biographical series created specifically for MHS by eight contemporary Boston-area cartoonists. Starting with his arrival as a young German immigrant in NYC, this pictorial biography follows Nast through his successful career as the illustrator of immensely popular images within Harper’s Weekly magazine. Nast was famous for his support of the Union cause in the Civil War and his relentless campaign against New York’s Tammany Hall political machine. The eight biographical cartoons were drawn by members of the Boston Comics Roundtable, a community of comics creators.
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In the years between 1764 and 1776, America truly became a nation. Using letters, diaries, broadsides, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, and engravings, this website brings those tumultuous years to life for students of all ages. The site is organized around fifteen key topics and features more than 150 documents from the Society's collections. Additional resources include primary-source-based lesson plans developed by middle- and high-school educators, study questions, and contextual essays.
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With a fast and comprehensive search tool new in summer 2010, this is the digital edition of the content of the previously printed editions of the Revolutionary-era Adams Papers, a long-standing documentary edition prepared at the Massachusetts Historical Society. This digital edition includes all text of the historical documents, all editorial text, and a single index with consolidated entries for the 16 printed Adams Papers indexes. Another forthcoming digital edition will present the Winthrop Papers, a documentary edition created at the MHS.
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This web exhibition explores how cartoonists have depicted issues relating to voter rights through United States History. Political cartoons have long served to provoke public debate, illustrating opinions of the day and poking fun at those in power. From early in the 19th century, arguments over voting rights—who votes and who counts the votes—have been depicted in cartoons, especially with the rise of illustrated newspapers and magazines with a national circulation before the Civil War.
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