Historical research can be quite tricky at times â especially so if you are not a professionally trained historian, if you do not have access to libraries and achieves and the likes. Many great resources are behind paywalls and I therefor though I compile a list with resources (with links this time), mostly relating to the Marquis de La Fayette, that might come in handy and are easy and free to access.
Founders Online is a databank with letter from and by Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, including their respected correspondences with La Fayette. For starters, here are the correspondences between
La Fayette and George Washington,
La Fayette and Alexander Hamilton
La Fayette and Thomas Jefferson
La Fayette is sometimes listed under different names (or different spellings of his name) so keep that in mind.
The Papers of James Monroe is a project to catalogue the letter of, you have guessed it, James Monroe. Included in this project are also parts of the correspondences between Monroe and La Fayette.
Next up, there are a few online exhibitions and collections that I can recommend:
âLa Fayette: Citizen of Two Worldsâ by the Cornell University
âLafayette and Slaveryâ by the Lafayette College (here is a second, slightly different version)
âThe Prisoner of OlmĂŒtzâ by the Lafayette College
âMarquis de Lafayette in Prints Collectionâ by the Lafayette College
Archive of the âGazette of the American Friends of Lafayetteâ by the Lafayette College
âMarquis de Lafayette Collectionsâ by the Lafayette College
âThe Marquis de Lafayette Collectionâ by the Cleveland State University
The Library of Congress has a number of handwritten original letters that were exchanged between La Fayette and George Washington
The Internet Archive is a pure treasure chest of resources. They have collected a great deal of photos, videos, audio recordings, books and lose documents from libraries, collections and different archives. They also have a huge stock of curated websites. All of their resources are free, although some require a user account (which is free as well, but you have to sign up with your E-Mail Address). They have just so many great resources, from old texts to modern books - they truly have something for everyone. Here are a few links to contemporary books (memoirs and books by La Fayette and his family). All of that is just a very, very shallow peek into what the Internet Archives have to offer
Memoirs, Correspondences and Manuscripts of General Lafayette, Volume I, by the Marquis de Lafayette
Memoirs, Correspondences and Manuscripts of General Lafayette, Volume II, by the Marquis de Lafayette
Memoirs, Correspondences and Manuscripts of General Lafayette, Volume III, by the Marquis de Lafayette
(The Memoirs are also available in French and in the French version they are divided into eight (?) volumes.)
Life of Madame de Lafayette by Mme de Lasteyrie
Recollections of the Private Life of General Lafayette by M. Jules Cloquet
Lafayette in America, Volume I, by Auguste Levasseur
Lafayette in America Volume II, by Auguste Levasseur
All the books mentioned can also be obtained for free via Google Books.
To conclude this post, here are some non-La Fayette resources:
The Georgian Papers Program has digitalized a multitude of letters relating to Georg I, George II, George III, George IV and William IV, their families and governments. Most of the documents are not transcribed and so I will give you a fair warning; some of the handwritings will severely test your patience. The process of transcribing some of the papers is underway, you can join the project here.
Elephind lets you search more than 200 Million historic newspapers.
The Old Bailey Online lets you access all the court proceedings from the Old Bailey from 1674 up until 1913 and gives a great insight into English law and its evolution.
The Friedrich Schiller Archive is dedicated to the German poet Friedrich Schiller and has transcripts and analyses of all of his works as well as transcripts of the majority of his correspondences.
Here you can find all the issues of Jean-Paul Maratâs LâAmi du Peuple.
The National Archive in England, the National Archive and Records Administrations in America and the Archives Nationales in France offer a well of information (although they are sometime a bit troublesome to navigate).
Many museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Louvre have digitalized their collections and everybody can search items therein.
I am sure I have forgotten something but right know these are all the resources I can think of. I wish you all a happy researching!
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