Above left, from top: Details from 2. Alexandre O. Exquemelin, De Americaensche zee-roovers, 1678. (A 1678 .E97)  4. Good newes from Virginia, [1624] (A 1624 .G66)  6. Samuel de Champlain, Les voyages du sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois, 1613. (A 1613 .C34)  8. Charles III, King of Spain, Royal patent granted to Bernardo de Gálvez, 1783. (MSS 6163)

Above right, from top: Details from 3. At the Town-House in Boston: April 18th. 1689, 1689. (Broadside 1689 .M28)  5. An authentic narrative of the Seminole War, 1836. (A 1836 .A87)  7. Jonathan Carver, A Treatise on the Culture of the Tobacco Plant, 1779. (A 1779 .C374)  9. George Washington, Letter to Robert Dinwiddie, 18 July 1755. (MSS 2027)

Collecting American Histories

The exhibition features a range of items selected for the diversity of stories they tell about our nation’s past. Some are famous rarities, while others are less well known and have yet to receive the scholarly attention they deserve. Some form part of the original library formed by Tracy McGregor and given to the University of Virginia in 1938, while others have been acquired as recently as 2013. Some offer welcome insights into the past, while others are uncomfortable reminders of American history’s more challenging aspects. The stories told range from the early settlement of Virginia to the Mather family of Puritan ministers; to the clash of Britain, France, and Spain over the North American continent; to the diaspora of Native Americans from their ancestral lands; to the servants and slaves on whose backs the American economy depended; to the boundaries of social order and disorder; and to the impressions of America recorded by visitors from abroad.