Blog

Report Upon the Colorado River

Prior to the Civil War, much of the American West was still unexplored and undocumented by the United States. In order to determine whether the Colorado River had potential to become a major shippi...

Marquis de Lafayette and the American Revolution

French aristocrat Marquis de Lafayette sailed to the United States in 1777 to volunteer his services to the Continental Army. Lafayette spent the long winter of 1777 with George Washington’s army a...

George Washington and Continental Uniforms

When George Washington became the leader of the nascent Continental army, he wanted his troops to present as a professional military organization. Although none of Washington's uniforms from the Re...

Harper's Weekly's Civil War Reporting

By 1860 the circulation of Harper's Weekly reached 200,000 and it became the nation’s most influential newspaper.

19th Century Broadside Printings of the Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation enjoyed numerous broadside treatments, from simple printings of the text to those with complex illustrations. They presented 19th century illustrators with an opportun...

Four Western Surveys and the Romance of the Wild West

Between 1867 and 1879, Congress authorized and funded four significant surveys of the West, the Powell Survey, the King Survey, the Wheeler Survey, and the Hayden Survey. These published maps, trav...