An announcement from the
Newberry Library in Chicago:
Now anyone with an Internet connection can access over 200,000 high-resolution images from a range of primary sources—maps, manuscripts, books, pamphlets, photographs, and artwork—documenting Europeans’ evolving conception of the Americas, early contact between colonial forces and Indigenous peoples, the expanding boundaries of the United States, and the imaginary construction of “the West.”
These images come from the Edward E. Ayer Collection, one of the strongest collections regarding American Indian history and culture in the world; and the Everett D. Graff Collection, a substantial aggregation of Western Americana that ranks among the most extensive in the country.
Of special interest to business historians is the large number of business directories, trade cards, receipts, account books, and merchant advertisements one can find among the items in the Graff Collection. The Ayer Collection holds fascinating items such as voyageur contracts, Indian deeds, ledgers, promissory notes, and fur trade company documents.
