Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Art and Identity in British North American Colonies
Consider the English identity of American colonists by examining the sorts of imported goods and decorative arts Americans chose to purchase and display.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Ellis Island: Colonial and Early American New York 1609 1890
Provides an overview of the history of New York and of how the United States government came to acquire Ellis Island. Fort Gibson was built there prior to the War of 1812 to serve as a strategic post in case of attack.
Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Museum of History and Culture: Early Images of Virginia Indians
A collection of images of early Virginia Indians that includes information on interpreting the images and shows fanciful images that were not historically accurate.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Failed Colonies, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Three European accounts of the disappointments, challenges, and outright failures to establish early successful colonial outposts in North America.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: American and Puritan Literature: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a sermon written by British Colonial Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards, preached to his own congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts to an unknown effect, and again on July 8, 1741, in...
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate in Early Colonial America
Several examples of pots for coffee, tea, and chocolate from the colonial period. Learn how Americans adopted the practice of drinking coffee and tea, and how this practice affected society, daily life, and the decorative art created by...
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: George Washington: Surveyor and Mapmaker
Most Americans know George Washington as the brilliant military and political leader; but as a young man, he was a surveyor by trade. Follow his career through this easy-to-read narrative complete with his early maps and surveys.
Black Past
Black Past: Phillis Wheatley
This on-line encyclopedia article gives information about Phillis Wheatley, the Boston slave who surprised colonial America with her poetry. She was the first African-American woman to have her work published.
Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: Anne Bradstreet (1612 1672)
This resource presents a detailed biography of Anne Bradstreet, an important early American poet. Includes links to the full text of many of her poems and an audio of the poem "To My Dear and Loving Husband".
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Hardships, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Three English, a French, and a Spanish primary account of the staggering losses, misery, and deprivation that characterized early European settlement as well as the resilience needed to overcome those challenges.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Go Ahead, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
A Spanish, an English, and a French account of the enormous challenges in maintaining a colonial presence in North America and of the potential national loss-of pride, wealth, and possibility for expansion-if nations abandoned these...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Anne Hutchinson (Spanish)
A review of the events in the life of Anne Hutchinson, a brave, early American settler. Learn how Anne Hutchinson felt about religion and the way people should worship God. (In Spanish)
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Archiving Early America: Mercy Warren
This resource provides a brief biography of Mercy Warren (1728-1814 CE), a famous author who lived during colonial times.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Thomas Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence
This site discusses the The Declaration of Independence, and includes information on Thomas Jefferson's role in its creation.