North American Print Culture in a Revolutionary Age

In 2026, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the events of 1776, when Anglo-American colonists sought independence from Great Britain. This selection of items from the Rare Book & Special Collections Division represents a cross-section of materials published, printed, written, or distributed in the early American colonies and new nation. These books, pamphlets, and broadsides cover topics as varied as religion, politics, economics, culture, music, education, and everything in between. Some documents explore the experiences of enslaved peoples as they sought freedom alongside allies in the anti-slavery and abolitionist movements. Others delve into the revolutions in France and Haiti to illuminate the rapidly changing geo-political atmosphere of the 18th-century Atlantic world, of which the new Americans were part.