A-Z Databases

Series 1 presents titles dating from 1693 through 1820.

Series 2 presents over 1000 titles dating from 1821 through 1837. The collection represents over two centuries of print culture, ranging from early works imported by the colonists to later titles published on American soil on the eve of the Revolution and during the early republic.

Series 3 presents over 1,700 titles dating from 1838 through 1852. The themes presented in Series 3 reveal a rapidly growing young nation, where industrialization, the railroads, regional political differences, and life on the western frontier were daily realities. Subjects covered in the collection reach into every facet of American life, including science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion.

Series 4 presents over 1,100 titles dating from 1853 through 1865. While the Civil War is a focal point of the collection, we also find a diverse record of the continuance of daily life for many Americans—both leading up to and during the war. News from the battlefront can be found, in addition to the usual breadth of subject matter found in previous collections that include science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion.

Series 5 presents over 2,500 titles dating from 1866 through 1877. The themes presented in Series 5 reflect a nation that persevered through a most difficult set of circumstances: a bloody civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives; the incorporation of the recently-freed African Americans into American life; a population that rapidly expanded into the Western territories. Broad subject areas covered in the collection reach into every facet of American life, including science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion.