A few months ago I came across an 1862 letter from William Cooper Nell, one of the nation’s earliest Black historians, an educator, and abolitionist. In it he discusses work on a second edition of The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, originally published in 1855. It was something of a revelation since I had…

“A Contradiction” was published in the February 29th issue of Freemen’s Standard, an African American-published newspaper. “The statement,” it reads, “in the papers of Wednesday, 26th inst., in regard to Mary Richards, a mulatto, who was arraigned […] on the charge of disorderly conduct, is entirely false.” An alarming recollection of the abuses of the…

By now most of us no longer passively accept the popularized First Thanksgiving narrative. After all, despite its kernels of truth, the story is infused with a mixture of myth and, well, outright fabrication (as we’ve previously seen). Many elements of the story only emerged in the last century too. In fact, historian James Baker…

One could be excused for thinking that a document certifying a Black man’s freedom in 1811 was a sign of the slow march of racial progress in the United States. Yet, given the elusiveness of true equality, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that looks can be deceiving. In reality, the certificate of freedom shown…

How do we document these unusual times?  We now read often of museums, historical societies, and libraries scrambling to collect materials that speak particularly of the striking events of this year.  It is, fortunately, not a new instinct, as Civil War soldiers shared in it when they collected these unique specimens drawn from a time…

Ordinarily, a postcard from a prehistoric site among the papers of the Osborn family would be curious but somewhat unremarkable. After all, the collection’s main protagonist, Henry Fairfield Osborn, was a well-known paleontologist who by its August 1923 postmark had been at the helm of the American Museum of Natural History for 15 years. Closer…

The census originated with the very birth of the nation, being incorporated into the United States Constitution for the purpose of determining representation in the House of Representatives, levying taxes, and assessing the nation’s prospective war-time mobilization. But while today we can expect that answers are confidential, this was not assumed for much of its…

Cover of the memorial volume for John David Wolfe, 1872. MS 3146, John David Wolfe Memorial Book and Case, New-York Historical Society Mixed up in the notorious Gilded Age dichotomy of incredible displays of wealth and extreme poverty, were extraordinary achievements in design and art, many of which reveal exceptional artisanship. This is especially evidenced…

Engraving showing pastoral Italian landscape entitled “Evening” by William Byrne after Claude Lorrain, 1769. PR 141, Luman Reed Print Collection, New-York Historical Society A fundamental role of the cemetery is to ensure a peaceful final resting place for loved ones. They are also extraordinary living records of our society, in spite of often being overshadowed…