American West

Sources from the Everett D. Graff Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library, Chicago

CHOICE MAGAZINE 'OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE' JANUARY 2010

The story of the American West has exerted a powerful influence over the psyche of the modern world, helping to fashion senses of national identity as well as permeating literary and cinematic culture.

Tales of frontier life, of Native Americans and of vigilantes and outlaws are of constant interest, and are matched by more recent interest in the growth of urban centres, the environmental impact of westward expansion and of life in the borderlands.

The Graff Collection is a unique resource which will allow scholars to explore all of these areas and more. Through a mixture of original manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material and rare printed sources, this collection will act as a dynamic teaching and research resource.

Papers of early pioneers, explorers and hunters are well represented, including items such as the original manuscript journal and papers of James Audubon.

Canada and the Pacific Northwest are well documented including accounts of the Gold Rush and of the landscape.

The evolution of Western towns can be seen through materials such as prospectuses and city directories.

The growth of railway and road networks can be explored through maps and through records of key railroad companies.

Emigrants guides, manuscript travel journals, store catalogues, illustrations and maps enable scholars to understand the phenomenon of Westward expansion.

Accounts of ranches and of the prairie lands document the agricultural transformation of the West.

There are rich resources for the study of Texas, Mexico and the South.

Literary and historical works – as well as contemporary newspapers and posters - enable a better understanding of the real and mythic West – with first hand accounts of the lives of vigilantes and outlaws.

Native American history and culture is also very well documented.

This source will be welcomed by scholars working in Western American history, Southern History, the History of the Pacific Northwest, Western Literature, Film and Cultural Studies.

American West

Sources from the Everett D Graff Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library, Chicago

Editorial Board:

Carl Abbott (Portland State University)
Kathy Brosnan (University of Houston)
Ned Blackhawk (Yale University)
Richard Slatta (North Carolina State University)

Source Libraries:

The Newberry Library, Chicago

Nature of the Material:

Original manuscripts, ephemeral material (trade cards, wanted posters, photos, claim certificates, news-sheets etc), maps, and rare printed works.

All of the material has been catalogued in detail and the rare printed sources have been double-keyed.

The majority of the material is unique. All of the rare printed material has been screened against other collections such as Sabin to avoid unnecessary overlap.

Scope of the Collection:

The Graff Collection at the Newberry Library is widely regarded as one of the finest collections of Western Americana in existence. Described by Ray Allen Billington as ‘a monument to the American Past’ it brings together a wide variety of materials including:

Over 300 manuscripts – ranging from the original manuscript journal and papers of James Audubon, and a twelve page letter of General Custer, to the logbook of a cattle trail driver and the Hinman papers describing the overland trail to California and the Gold Rush.
Broadsides – a host of extremely rare or unique ephemeral material including advertisements, claim certificates, cheques, photos, wanted notices and news-sheets – all of which are superb visual resources.
Maps – an important and underutilised resource for teaching the American West – partly due to their size and unwieldy nature – partly due to their rarity.
Rare printed works – the Graff collection includes many unique or extremely rare items – ranging from extra-illustrated volumes and association copies to city directories and pamphlets and leaflets.

This digital edition includes nearly all of the manuscripts and broadsides, over 120 fully-zoomable maps, much of the ephemeral and unique printed material and contextual material suggested by scholars.

The main themes covered by the project are:

Native Americans
Pioneers, Hunters and Explorers
Mining and the Gold Rush
The Mormon Exodus
Homesteaders, Overland Travel and Early Settlements
Cattle Ranchers
The Railroads, Transportation and Urban History
Outlaws, Vigilantes and the Law
Agricultural Development and the Environment
The Imagined West: Wild West Shows and Fiction
Borderlands: Canada and the Pacific Northwest
Borderlands: Texas, Mexico and the South

The material continues right up to the 1930s. Particular sub-groups of material featured include captivity narratives, emigrants’ guides, travel journals, records of entertainments, brand books, store catalogs, city directories, town histories, pulp fiction and early journals and newspapers.

Given the size of the project and the unique character of much of the material, this project will provide a secure base for researchers working in this field. Equally, it will be an ideal resource for anyone teaching in this area, who will welcome the wealth of visual material, the ease of making links to individual pages and items, and the spectacular maps.

Features & Highlights

The material ranges from 1722 to 1939, but the heaviest concentration is from 1830 to 1939.
Much of the material is unique and we have tried to avoid duplication with other published projects.
All printed material is full text searchable and can be viewed as transcripts or facsimiles.
Most maps are in colour and have increased zooming functionality.
There are wonderful resources for urban history, including directories for many leading settlements that show how they developed over time.
Environmental issues looked at include the decline of buffalo herds, the planting of the prairies, water management and the impact of roads and railroads.

There are multiple methods of access, including:

Both simple and advanced search facilities.
Browsing through thematic lists.
Geographic searching through interactive maps.
A browseable list in Graff numeric order.
Following links from the essays or as prepared by the course instructor.

"The American West remains the most imagined region of the United States. Its history, for many, embodies the nation's. As this important and exciting resource reveals, there are many ways to access and enjoy American history".

Professor Ned Blackhawk, Yale University