Nineteenth Century Life Documents

What made the 19th century an interesting but tumultuous time? What technological, cultural and social changes influenced life then? Explore those issues in this story collection.

This document, one of America's top treasures, is Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address.  The edits are in the President's own handwriting.Th...

This image depicts Abraham Lincoln's original letter (dated May 23, 1860) in which he accepts his party's nomination as candidate for President of the...

When Mary Elizabeth Jenkins - the future Mary Surratt - was twelve years old, her mother sent her to a Catholic boarding school in Alexandria.  I...

The Burning of Holland details eye-witness accounts of the historic fire in Holland Michigan on October 9, 1871. Click on the image for a better view...

The evidence describing President Lincoln's last 24 hours is not always consistent.  What really happened that day, leading up to Lincoln's fatal...

Image of a Harper's Weekly article published on February 9, 1861 called Now ready - American slavery Justified, by Reverend Samuel Seabury, ...

Image of a drawing depicting the destruction of a printing press, from the Anti-Slavery Almanac, 1839.

Antwerp is located in south-central Belgium. It is just north of Brussels, near the Dutch border.  

The governor of Missouri, Thomas Crittenden, was upset that Frank and Jesse James eluded capture.

This advertisement, from The American Stationer, tells us that C.M. Barnes Company was conducting a major sale at the State Street store, in anticipat...

Bass Reeves was one of 200 Deputy U.S. Marshals appointed to help Judge

Bookcover image of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, by James M. McPherson. Amazon provides details about this acclaimed book: Filled with...

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