American Antiquarian Society

The Antiquarian Society houses one of the country's largest collections of early American stereographs. Stereographs, an early form of three-dimensional photograph, were a major vehicle for popular education and entertainment in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Many nineteenth-century photographers now regarded as fine artists produced significant bodies of work in stereograph form; among these were Timothy O'Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, and Eadweard Muybridge.

The bookplate collection is arranged in two segments. One is arranged alphabetically by the last name of the owner; the other collection, institutional plates, is arranged alphabetically by the name of the city in which the institution is located. The collection was started by the Reverend Herbert E. Lombard in 1915, and substantial acquisitions occurred within the following decade. Additions to the collection are made quite frequently. When a book with a new bookplate is acquired, a photocopy is made and inserted into the collection with the provenance of the bookplate.

The graphic arts ephemera collection contains over 1,600 booksellers' and binders' labels. Arranged alphabetically on index cards, these labels have been acquired from collectors and book dealers over the years. In recent years, it has become routine to photocopy any labels or binders' tickets in volumes and add these to the file, along with information on the provenance of the label.

Calling cards were popular in the nineteenth century in middle and upper class society. These small cards (usually about 1.5" x 3") were used as part of the often elaborate visiting and social calling practices of the era. Cards were exchanged between new acquaintances and were used further social connections. The Society has a collection of over 600 calling cards, many homemade in manuscript and watercolor, others engraved or letter-press printed.

The collection of Grant-Burr Family Papers contains over five hundred letters written between 1827 and 1892. Central to the collection is the correspondence between Daniel Grant (1818-1892) and his wife Caroline Burr Grant (1820-1892). The letters of these articulate and well-educated New England families discuss their experiences in westward expansion, early female seminaries, courtship, marriage, childrearing, missionary activity, the California Gold Rush, and the Civil War.

This online resource documents conflicting representations of African-Americans, white Southerners, and reformers during and and immediately after the Civil War. In particular, it looks at the stereotypes popularized in the northern press, and the ways that these depictions were countered--or in some cases, reinforced--in the letters written for northern readers by freedmen's teachers and freedmen themselves.

Black Self-Publishing is an ongoing collaborative research project. It is based on a working list of books that are known to have been or may have been self-published by people of African descent who resided in North America and either were born before 1851 or first published before 1877. Your help, ideas, corrections, insight, and comments are essential to this work of community scholarship.

The American Antiquarian Society has in its collection over 320 hand-lettered, engraved or relief printed certificates of membership dating from 1785 to 1946. Many of the engravings depict allegorical, genre or historic scenes illustrating an institution's founding or mission. These items, which are useful as an ephemeral resource, where intended to be framed and displayed in both domestic and business spaces; they document the birth and growth of voluntary associations in the early nation.