Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Series
  3. Cambridge Library Collection - North American History

This series includes accounts of historical events and movements by eye-witnesses and contemporaries, as well as landmark studies that assembled significant source materials or developed new historiographical methods. The works range from the writings of early U.S. presidents to journals of poor European settlers, from travellers' descriptions of bustling cities and vast landscapes to critiques of racial inequality and descriptions of Native American culture under threat of annihilation. The commercial, political and social aspirations and rivalries of the 'new world' are reflected in these fascinating eighteenth- and nineteenth-century publications.

Refine search

Refine search

Content type:
Publication date:
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

163 results in Cambridge Library Collection - North American History

Page 1 of 9

The Prairie Traveller
  • A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions
  • Randolph B. Marcy
  • Edited by Richard Francis Burton
  • Published online:
    05 January 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
  • This work by Randolph B. Marcy (1812–87), who retired from the US Army as a brigadier general in 1881, was first published in 1859. Reissued here is the 1863 edition, edited with notes by the British explorer Sir Richard Burton (1821–90). The subtitle of the original edition describes it as A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions, with Maps, Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific, and it was hugely influential, as an official US Government publication, in encouraging the great overland migrations which took European settlers to the American west. The book, based on Marcy's own experience of western travel, covers the routes to Oregon and California, the equipment needed, the treatment of animals, and the possibility of encounters with Native American tribes. This is a fascinating account of the practical steps necessary to enable emigrants to be self-reliant and to survive.

Life amongst the Indians
  • A Book for Youth
  • George Catlin
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • The American artist George Catlin (1796–1872) was fascinated by the indigenous peoples of North and South America. Spending many years travelling and living among different tribes, he felt compelled by a desire to rescue from destruction 'the looks and customs of the vanishing races of native man in America'. Famed for his paintings of Native Americans, he also wrote a number of books. In the present work, first published in 1861, Catlin recounts his childhood in Pennsylvania, where he witnessed hostilities between settlers and the indigenous people. He also covers his later travels through the Americas and his time in Europe, where he introduced visiting Native Americans to English and French royalty. Although intended for children, his illustrated stories make lively and compelling reading for all ages. Catlin's 1868 follow-up, Last Rambles Amongst the Indians of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes, is also reissued in this series.

Catlin's Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe
  • With his North American Indian Collection
  • Volume 1
  • George Catlin
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • The American artist George Catlin (1796–1872) was fascinated by the indigenous people of his homeland and spent many years living among them, painting them, and collecting their artefacts. In 1839 he took his vast collection to Europe to exhibit it, and he also toured with groups of visiting Native Americans. This illustrated two-volume account of his experiences was published in 1848. Volume 1 begins with Catlin's voyage to England across the Atlantic, for which he embarked with eight tons of freight. He goes on to discuss such events as introducing a group of Native Americans to Queen Victoria. He also includes, in the appendices, press reviews of the exhibition and a catalogue of his collection. Catlin's earlier account, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians (1841), is also reissued in this series, along with two later books for children about life among various tribes.

Catlin's Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe
  • With his North American Indian Collection
  • Volume 2
  • George Catlin
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • The American artist George Catlin (1796–1872) was fascinated by the indigenous people of his homeland and spent many years living among them, painting them, and collecting their artefacts. In 1839 he took his vast collection to Europe to exhibit it, and he also toured with groups of visiting Native Americans. This illustrated two-volume account of his experiences was published in 1848. In Volume 2, Catlin discusses his travels with visiting Native Americans to Dublin, and later Paris, where he staged another exhibition and met King Louis Philippe. The final chapter recounts Catlin's attempt to sell his entire collection to the United States government to preserve 'all the records of this dying race'. His earlier account, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians (1841), is also reissued in this series, along with two later books for children about life among various tribes.

The Faithful Mohawks
  • John Wolfe Lydekker
  • Published online:
    07 September 2010
    Print publication:
    27 May 2010
    First published in:
    1938
  • The Mohawks were the largest group in the Iroquois confederacy of Native American tribes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Living in what is now upstate New York and along the Canadian border, they held political control over north-eastern America before the colonial period, and were one of the first native American groups to have contact with European explorers. First published in 1938, this work contains a history of the Mohawks and the Iroquois confederacy from the period 1704 to 1807 taken from the archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, founded in 1704 and at first active mainly in North America. J. W. Lydekker provides a detailed history of the Mohawks' co-operation and alliance with the British colonists during the wars of the mid-eighteenth century and during the Revolutionary War, seen from the perspective of the missionaries from the Society.

Modern Industry in Relation to the Family, Health, Education, Morality
  • Florence Kelley
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    07 July 2011
    First published in:
    1914
  • Florence Kelley (1859–1932) was a committed socialist and political reformer who campaigned against child labour in the United States. In 1899 she became the leader of the National Consumers' League, an anti-sweatshop and pro-minimum wage pressure group which she supported until her death. This volume, first published in 1914, describes her views on the problems facing American society due to the expansion of industry. Kelley discusses the negative effects of rapid industrialisation on the American urban working class, in terms of the effects on the family, on the health of workers, on the education of the working class; and discusses the economic 'morality' of controlling the means of production. She also suggests possible legislation to mitigate these problems, some of which later passed into federal law. This volume provides a vivid description of the lives of America's urban working class and illustrates the extent of contemporary industrialisation in America.

Autobiography
  • Memories and Experiences of Moncure Daniel Conway
  • Volume 1
  • Moncure Daniel Conway
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1904
  • Published in 1904, three years before his death, Conway's Autobiography is a peaceful and introspective account of a compelling life. Born to a slave-owning Methodist family in Virginia, Conway (1832–1907) turned away from his roots to become a proponent of anti-slavery, free religion, reform and women's suffrage. Observing and becoming involved in the developments of late nineteenth-century religious, political, scientific, literary and artistic thought, he formed friendships with central figures of the age, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Carlyle, which feature in the work alongside his devoted family life. Volume 1 describes his childhood and education; antebellum Virginia and Maryland; Concord and Harvard with Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau; and Washington and Cincinnati on the eve of civil war. It also covers his arrival in England in 1863 and his first encounters at London's South Place Chapel and in the circles of social, legal and religious reform.

Autobiography
  • Memories and Experiences of Moncure Daniel Conway
  • Volume 2
  • Moncure Daniel Conway
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1904
  • Published in 1904, three years before his death, Conway's Autobiography is a peaceful and introspective account of a compelling life. Born to a slave-owning Methodist family in Virginia, Conway (1832–1907) turned away from his roots to become a proponent of anti-slavery, free religion, reform and women's suffrage. Observing and becoming involved in the developments of late nineteenth-century religious, political, scientific, literary and artistic thought, he formed friendships with central figures of the age, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Carlyle, which feature in the work alongside his devoted family life. Volume 2 covers his time in Europe, witnessing and reporting on the unifications of Italy and Germany, the Franco-Prussian War, and the birth of the Third Republic. The death of his wife and his own declining years in Paris close the work, which also tracks his ardent anti-war stance and the sad rejection of his long-standing faith in progress.

New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest
  • The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson, 1799–1814
  • Volume 1, The Red River of the North
  • Alexander Henry, David Thompson
  • Edited by Elliott Coues
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    02 April 2015
    First published in:
    1897
  • During the 1890s Elliott Coues (1842–1899), one of America's greatest ornithologists, edited several exploration narratives about the American Northwest, including Lewis and Clark's Travels. Coues tracked down the manuscript journals of two of Lewis and Clark's contemporaries, fur trader Alexander Henry (1765–1814) and geographer David Thompson (1770–1857), employees of the Northwest Company. Coues' abridged and edited version of Henry's text, accompanied by notes that draw heavily on Thompson's scientific records, appeared in 1897 in three volumes; in this reissue the index volume is included in Volume 2. Despite the deep prejudice evident in Henry's writing, Coues judged it a reliable account of his unscrupulous business dealings, and of the harsh realities he observed among many different First Nations peoples. Volume 1 covers the period from 1799 to 1808, when Henry travelled along the Red River and set up the Pembina River trading post.

New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest
  • The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson, 1799–1814
  • Volume 2
  • Alexander Henry, David Thompson
  • Edited by Elliott Coues
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    02 April 2015
    First published in:
    1897
  • During the 1890s Elliott Coues (1842–1899), one of America's greatest ornithologists, edited several exploration narratives about the American Northwest, including Lewis and Clark's Travels. Coues tracked down the manuscript journals of two of Lewis and Clark's contemporaries, fur trader Alexander Henry (1765–1814) and geographer David Thompson (1770–1857), employees of the Northwest Company. Coues' abridged and edited version of Henry's text, accompanied by notes that draw heavily on Thompson's scientific records, appeared in 1897 in three volumes. Despite the deep prejudice evident in Henry's writing, Coues judged it a reliable account of his unscrupulous business dealings, and of the harsh realities he observed among many different First Nations peoples. Volume 2 covers 1808–14, when Henry travelled in Saskatchewan and Alberta, crossed the Great Divide, and traded along the Columbia River. This volume also contains Coues' original Volume 3, a comprehensive index of people and places.

With Thackeray in America
  • Eyre Crowe
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    28 January 2010
    First published in:
    1893
  • The British painter Eyre Crowe chronicled, through words and pictures, his six-month American tour with William Makepeace Thackeray. Crowe accompanied Thackeray in the unfamiliar role of his secretary during the latter's lecture tour round the United States in 1852–3, and his illustrated account was published in 1893 – thirty years after the writer's death – under the title, With Thackeray In America. Crowe relates that the renowned humourist asked him to accompany him for the simple reason that 'Six months tumbling about the world will do you no harm.' A lasting and memorable partnership was formed, and the details of the adventure were preserved in Crowe's amusing running commentary as well as in his art.

History of the United States of America (1801–1817)
  • During the Second Administration of James Madison 3
  • Volume 9
  • Henry Adams
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    22 September 2011
    First published in:
    1892
  • Henry Adams (1838–1918), journalist, novelist, and historian, was the great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, both presidents of the United States. A professor of medieval history at Harvard whose areas of research were wide-ranging, he was deeply interested in the evolution of democracy in the United States. While Adams is best remembered for his autobiography The Education of Henry Adams (1907), for which he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize, his nine-volume history of the United States during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison (1801–17), which was published 1889–91, has been hailed as one of the greatest historical works in English. Adams was an advocate of scientific history, and this monumental work adheres to its principles, considering social trends and circumstances rather than focusing on particular events. Volume 9, on Madison's second administration (1813–17), also includes an index to all volumes.

History of the United States of America (1801–1817)
  • During the Second Administration of James Madison 1
  • Volume 7
  • Henry Adams
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    22 September 2011
    First published in:
    1892
  • Henry Adams (1838–1918), journalist, novelist, and historian, was the great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, both presidents of the United States. A professor of medieval history at Harvard whose areas of research were wide-ranging, he was deeply interested in the evolution of democracy in the United States. While Adams is best remembered for his autobiography The Education of Henry Adams (1907), for which he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize, his nine-volume history of the United States during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison (1801–17), which was published 1889–91, has been hailed as one of the greatest historical works in English. Adams was an advocate of scientific history, and this monumental work adheres to its principles, considering social trends and circumstances rather than focusing on particular events. Volume 7 describes the second administration of James Madison (1813–17).

The Life of Thomas Paine
  • With a History of his Literary, Political and Religious Career in America, France, and England
  • Volume 1
  • Moncure Daniel Conway
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1892
  • Moncure Daniel Conway (1832–1907), the son of a Virginian plantation-owner, became a Unitarian minister, but his anti-slavery views made him controversial. He later became a freethinker, and following the outbreak of the Civil War, which deeply divided his own family, he left the United States for England in 1863. This two-volume biography of Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was published in 1892, and was followed by a four-volume edition of his works, which did much to inspire a reassessment of Paine's importance in the 'age of revolutions'. Conway clearly identified with Paine's radicalism as well as his activities on both sides of the Atlantic. Volume 1 covers his early life, his arrival in America in 1774 and involvement with the cause of American independence, and the subsequent war. In 1787 he returned to Europe, where he witnessed the fall of the Bastille, and published Rights of Man.

History of the United States of America (1801–1817)
  • During the Second Administration of James Madison 2
  • Volume 8
  • Henry Adams
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    22 September 2011
    First published in:
    1892
  • Henry Adams (1838–1918), journalist, novelist, and historian, was the great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, both presidents of the United States. A professor of medieval history at Harvard whose areas of research were wide-ranging, he was deeply interested in the evolution of democracy in the United States. While Adams is best remembered for his autobiography The Education of Henry Adams (1907), for which he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize, his nine-volume history of the United States during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison (1801–17), which was published 1889–91, has been hailed as one of the greatest historical works in English. Adams was an advocate of scientific history, and this monumental work adheres to its principles, considering social trends and circumstances rather than focusing on particular events. Volume 8 continues the account of the second administration of James Madison.

The Life of Thomas Paine
  • With a History of his Literary, Political and Religious Career in America, France, and England
  • Volume 2
  • Moncure Daniel Conway
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1892
  • Moncure Daniel Conway (1832–1907), the son of a Virginian plantation-owner, became a Unitarian minister, but his anti-slavery views made him controversial. He later became a freethinker, and following the outbreak of the Civil War, which deeply divided his own family, he left the United States for England in 1863. This two-volume biography of Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was published in 1892, and was followed by a four-volume edition of his works, which did much to inspire a reassessment of Paine's importance in the 'age of revolutions'. Conway clearly identified with Paine's radicalism as well as his activities on both sides of the Atlantic. Volume 2 begins with the execution of Louis XVI, which Paine had opposed in the French Convention. Paine's subsequent career in Britain and America is then traced until his death in 1809, and Conway also considers his impact on his contemporaries, and his legacy.

Across the Plains
  • With other Memories and Essays
  • Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1892
  • The celebrated Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson arranged for his friend the art historian Sidney Colvin to select and organise the essays in this volume, many of which had originally appeared in 1888, though some date back to the early 1880s. It was published in 1892, two years before Stevenson's untimely death. Colvin obtained many of the pieces from their original publishers, including magazines such as Fraser's, Longman's, The Magazine of Art and Scribner's. What is particularly noteworthy about this collection is that although Stevenson had settled in the South Seas well before it appeared, all the items included were written prior to his journey there. Colvin mentions that the concluding pieces in particular were written during a period of considerable gloom and sickness for Stevenson, who himself claimed to 'recover peace of body and mind' after moving to the Pacific in 1890.

History of the United States of America (1801–1817)
  • During the First Administration of James Madison 1
  • Volume 5
  • Henry Adams
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    22 September 2011
    First published in:
    1891
  • Henry Adams (1838–1918), journalist, novelist, and historian, was the great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, both presidents of the United States. A professor of medieval history at Harvard whose areas of research were wide-ranging, he was deeply interested in the evolution of democracy in the United States. While Adams is best remembered for his autobiography The Education of Henry Adams (1907), for which he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize, his nine-volume history of the United States during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison (1801–17), which was published 1889–91, has been hailed as one of the greatest historical works in English. Adams was an advocate of scientific history, and this monumental work adheres to its principles, considering social trends and circumstances rather than focusing on particular events. Volume 5 describes the first administration of James Madison (1809–13).

History of the United States of America (1801–1817)
  • During the First Administration of Thomas Jefferson 2
  • Volume 2
  • Henry Adams
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    22 September 2011
    First published in:
    1891
  • Henry Adams (1838–1918), journalist, novelist, and historian, was the great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, both presidents of the United States. A professor of medieval history at Harvard whose areas of research were wide-ranging, he was deeply interested in the evolution of democracy in the United States. While Adams is best remembered for his autobiography The Education of Henry Adams (1907), for which he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize, his nine-volume history of the United States during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison (1801–17), which was published 1889–91, has been hailed as one of the greatest historical works in English. Adams was an advocate of scientific history, and this monumental work adheres to its principles, considering social trends and circumstances rather than focusing on particular events. Volume 2 continues the account of the first administration of Thomas Jefferson (1801–5).

History of the United States of America (1801–1817)
  • During the Second Administration of Thomas Jefferson 2
  • Volume 4
  • Henry Adams
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    22 September 2011
    First published in:
    1891
  • Henry Adams (1838–1918), journalist, novelist, and historian, was the great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, both presidents of the United States. A professor of medieval history at Harvard whose areas of research were wide-ranging, he was deeply interested in the evolution of democracy in the United States. While Adams is best remembered for his autobiography The Education of Henry Adams (1907), for which he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize, his nine-volume history of the United States during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison (1801–17), which was published 1889–91, has been hailed as one of the greatest historical works in English. Adams was an advocate of scientific history, and this monumental work adheres to its principles, considering social trends and circumstances rather than focusing on particular events. Volume 4 continues the account of the second administration of Thomas Jefferson (1805–9).

Page 1 of 9