David
Library of the American Revolution
PO Box 748
Washington Crossing, PA 18977
215-493-6776; Fax:
215-493-9276
General Information E-Mail: dlar@dlar.org
Research E-Mail: research@dlar.org
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The David Library of the
American Revolution is a nonprofit foundation devoted to the study of American
history circa 1750 to 1800. The library's mission is the collection and
dissemination of information on the period and the support of related programs.
It was founded by Sol Feinstone (1888-1980), a businessman, philanthropist, and
collector of Americana who emigrated from Lithuania in 1902 at age fourteen.
The library was established in 1959 and opened on its present location in 1974. For years, Feinstone had been passionately interested in educating the American public about the early history of their country. He contemplated several options for displaying his collection of books and original eighteenth-century manuscripts on the Revolutionary period that he had amassed over five decades. While in his early eighties, Feinstone conceived and brought to fruition an idea to construct on his farm in Washington Crossing a library devoted to the study of the American Revolution.
The nucleus of books and manuscripts initially donated by Feinstone has now grown to include 40,000 printed materials in bound volumes and microcards, as well as 10,000 reels of microfilm containing original American, British, Loyalist, French and German records. The collections also hold a wealth of material on women, families, African Americans, and Indians. Facilities include the research library, a conference center, and a residence facility for visiting fellows.
The David Library, a specialized research institution, is
open to the public upon completion of a simple registration form. Admission is
free. The Library is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 am to 5 pm. It is
closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays.
The Library’s street address is 1201 River Road, Washington Crossing,
PA.
2008 Holiday Closing Schedule
Martin Luther King's Birthday Saturday, January 19, 2008
Presidents' Day Saturday, February 16, 2008
Memorial Day Saturday, May 24, 2008
Independence Day Recess Friday-Saturday, July 4-5, 2008
Labor Day Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thanksgiving Recess Thursday-Saturday, November 27-29, 2008
Winter Recess Thursday-Saturday, December 25-27, 2008
Please note that we will be OPEN on Monday, November 24, Monday, December 1, and Monday, December 29, 2008.
We will close at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, December 24 and Wednesday December 31.
The library will also close when weather limits access or causes power outages. We encourage you to call to confirm that we are open before traveling a great distance following a snow storm.
From New York, New Jersey, and north:
New Jersey Turnpike to Exit 7A
After paying toll, follow signs to Interstate 195 West
Take I-195 to I-295 North
Follow I-295 (I-295 North becomes I-95 South)
Follow I-95 South to first exit in Pennsylvania (New Hope, Exit 51)
Proceed on Taylorsville Rd. North four miles to second traffic light
Make right at second light onto Route 532
Go one mile and make left onto Route 32 (River Rd.)
(Disregard “Road Closed”
sign. The road is open at least as
far as the Library.)
Go 1.3 miles to the David Library sign on left
Turn into lane and continue up the drive to the library buildings
From Philadelphia and south:
Take Interstate 95 North to last exit in Pennsylvania (New Hope, Exit 51)
Make left at stop sign at end of ramp onto Taylorsville Rd. North
Continue four miles to second traffic light
Make right at second light onto Route 532
Go one mile and make left onto Route 32 (River Rd.)
(Disregard “Road Closed” sign. The road is open at least as far as the Library.)
Go 1.3 miles to the David Library sign on the left.
Turn into lane and continue up the drive to the library buildings.
From points west:
Pennsylvania Turnpike to Exit 351 (Philadelphia)
Take U.S. 1 North to Interstate 95 North
Follow directions "From Philadelphia and south"
The nearest railroad stations are in Trenton, New Jersey (Amtrak, SEPTA, and New Jersey Transit provide links to Philadelphia and New York) and in Yardley, PA (SEPTA R3 from Philadelphia). Though these stations are the closest in proximity to the David Library, they are still a number of miles away.
If you are planning to stay in the area for more than a day and require accommodations, the Bucks County Visitor's Guide has a list of local establishments that would be happy to host you for the duration of your visit.
Description of Collections
Collections are non-circulating and not available through interlibrary loan.
Reader-printers capable of copying microform documents, a CD-ROM computer and
printer, and photocopying facilities are available. To insure the availability
of a microform reader, an appointment is recommended.
The library is particularly strong in materials from British sources, some of which are not available elsewhere in this country. It has underwritten the microfilming of collections that are relatively inaccessible. Significant collections from Britain include: American Loyalist Claims; Sir Jeffrey Amherst Papers; Lord Cornwallis Papers; Sir Frederick Haldimand Papers; Sir Guy Carleton (British Headquarters) Papers; Admiralty Secretary's Letters; Colonial Office Correspondence; Annual Army Lists; War Office Papers; Foreign Office Papers; and Home Office Papers. In addition to the complete Loyalist claims series, the library also has other materials from Canada and Britain on Americans who opposed the Revolution such as American Loyalist Muster Rolls; Ward Chipman Papers; and Documents Relating to Refugees. Information on German troops may be found in British records and Hessian Documents of the American Revolution.
The David Library also has an extensive collection of American government records on the state and national levels from the U.S. National Archives, the Library of Congress, and other repositories. Notable among these microforms are: Records of the States of the United States (executive, legislative, and constitutional records); Papers of the Continental Congress; Records of Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Governments; Treasury records; the 1790 and the 1800 Censuses; and assorted financial and diplomatic materials. Letters of Delegates to Congress is available for patron use on CD- ROM.
Another strength is military service records. The library has the entire Revolutionary War Pension Application and Bounty Land Warrant Files; Compiled Service Records; Early American Orderly Books; Naval Records Collection; Quartermasters' Returns; Forbes Headquarters Papers; New Jersey Revolutionary War Service Records; and U.S. Numbered Record Books Concerning Military Operations.
A wealth of documentation on frontier and Indian history may be found in the Draper Manuscript Collection; Amherst Papers; U.S. Ratified Indian Treaties; Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan Papers; and Winthrop Sargent Papers. Other material on the frontier and missionary activity can be found in records of the Moravian Church and the Anglican Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
Important personal and official papers include those of Aaron Burr; Benjamin Franklin; James Grant; Nathanael Greene; the Hancock Family; Henry Knox; Henry Laurens; the Lee Family; Gouverneur Morris; Robert Morris; Timothy Pickering; Joseph Reed; Arthur St. Clair; Baron von Steuben; Jonathan Trumbull Jr.; George Washington; and Oliver Wolcott Jr. In addition, the collection has a large number of letters, diaries, account books, and journals of other prominent and lesser-known people.
We are implementing our goal of acquiring every American newspaper available on microfilm that relates to our period of specialization. Currently, the library has over 140 newspapers that span most of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries from Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. Some major titles are Connecticut Courant, Boston Gazette, Rivington's Gazette, Pennsylvania Packet, and Gazette of the United States. The Pennsylvania Gazette is available in CD-ROM format.
Many doctoral dissertations from American and British universities are on file. Also available are the Early American Imprints of Charles Evans' American Bibliography, which contain over 36,000 books, broadsides, and pamphlets. Supplementing this collection is the American Periodical Series I, 1741-1800. Finally, the Library's own Sol Feinstone manuscript collection of approximately 2500 original items, which are significant in content, contains information pertinent to many research projects. A comprehensive indexed guide to the Feinstone Collection is available (see Publications).
Online Guides to
Microfilm and Searchable CD-ROM Holdings
2008 WINTER/SPRING LECTURE SCHEDULE
Five Views of the Revolutionary War
America’s Revolutionary War was a big, complex event, with many actors from nearly every part of North America and Great Britain. This winter and spring we offer five lectures that focus on five distinct groups of participants in the Revolution.
Thursday, February 7, 2008 -- 7:30 PM
In observation of Black History Month: Christopher L. Brown, Ph. D., Professor of History, Columbia University, “The British Are Coming: The Politics of Black Loyalism in the American Revolution and After” -- Swept up in war, often but not always unwillingly, were America’s African slaves, whom most white Americans would not allow to fight or leave their place of bondage. Thousands, both men and women, responded to the war’s disruption by escaping to the British Army wherever possible, especially in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, and declaring their loyalty to the British Crown. At the war’s end, many departed from the United States for various parts of the British Empire, where they formed new and diverse settlements.
Thursday, March 13, 2008 – 7:30 PM
Scott N. Hendrix, Ph. D., Instructor, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio; David Library Fellow, “Upright Men Who Entered for Steady Advancement: The Centrality of Military Honor and Reputation for the Eighteenth-Century British Army Officer” -- Seeing the war as both a duty and a career opportunity, thousands of officers of the British Army ordered their conduct and defined their role in the conflict according to strict rules of honor. This concept of honor largely determined their behavior both in victory and in defeat, from the war’s outset until their departure from America.
Sunday, April 13, 2008 – 3:00 PM
Major Jason Palmer, Assistant Professor of History, United States Military Academy (West Point), “George Washington’s Disillusionment: Learning to Command ‘Such Men,’ 1775-1776” -- When he took command of the Continental Army, George Washington imagined that he could shape and lead his army much as a British general would do. But he quickly discovered that the Yankee farmers and artisans under his command, both officers and common soldiers, would not be led in traditional ways, and in a difficult first year he devised a new system of command, which he carried through the next five years to victory over a quite different British army.
Thursday, May 15, 2008 – 7:30 PM
Holly Mayer, Ph. D., Professor of History, Duquesne University, “Congress’s Own: French Canadian Continentals and Camp Followers” -- In 1775 Congress hoped to bring French Canada into the war on the American side. This largely failed as Britain’s Quebec Act, the determined resistance of the British army, and a smallpox epidemic in America’s invading forces kept most of Canada loyal to the Crown. But by late 1776, Congress had acquired a regiment of soldiers that were uniquely its own: not raised by any rebelling state, but formed entirely of rebellious French Canadian men, accompanied by their families and other civilians, who were willing to march south to fight in America’s war.
Sunday, June 8, 2008 – 3:00 PM
John Rees, Independent Historian, “The Pleasure of Their Number, 1778: Crisis, Conscription, and Revolutionary Soldiers’ Recollections” -- Most Revolutionary War soldiers were volunteers or members of local militias, but not all. In 1778 several states, including New Jersey, instituted a draft, (the first, and last, draft in America before the Civil War). This drastic measure underlines a basic truth about the War for Independence: in both the proportion of the population under arms and the number of casualties, it was, along with the Civil War and World War II, one of the three largest wars in American history.
Lectures are held at the David Library of the American Revolution (1201 River Washington Crossing, PA) in the Feinstone Conference Center adjacent to the Library building. Lectures are free of admission, but seating is limited and reservations are recommended by calling (215)493-6776 ext. 100.
The deadline for application for a 2008-09
fellowship is March 7, 2008
Applicants should submit seven (7) sets of
the following:
1. Title Page:
Title of Project (entirely in caps.)
Applicant’s Full Name
Affiliation
Date Submitted
Length of Fellowship Requested
Permanent Mailing Address
Email Address
Contact Phone Number
2.
Cover Letter: briefly stating their reason for pursuing research at the
Library
3.
Project statement: 3 to 5 pages
4. Detailed curriculum vitae
5.
Writing Sample: 20 to 30 pages (recent work, published or unpublished)
6.
If the grant period requested is more than one month (30 days), a case
statement for the additional support.
Additionally, each application must be
supported by two letters of reference (sent directly by the referees).
The deadline for the submission of all
materials, including references, is March 7, 2008. The Library's Academic
Advisory Council will make all selections by the end of April, 2008.
Application materials and reference letters should be mailed to: Academic
Advisory Council, David Library of the American Revolution, PO Box 748,
Washington Crossing, PA 18977. Do not send applications electronically.
Direct inquiries to mcsweeney@dlar.org, or call (215) 493-6776, x.106.
Past exhibitions include: Making America: George
Washington and the founding of the American Republic; Private Yankee Doodle
Dandy and His Baggage: Material Life of the Continental Soldier; Citizen Yankee
Doodle Comes Home; Life in the Confederation Period; E Pluribus Unum: The
presidency of George Washington; George Washington: Life and Legacy; Women in
the Era of the American Revolution; and “A Radical reformation”:
The Revolution in Pennsylvania; A Half-Century of Collecting: Treasures from
the Sol Feinstone Collection.
Check back for announcements of future David Library exhibitions.
Available from the David Library
Guide to the Feinstone
Collection of the David Library of the American Revolution.
Edited by David J. Fowler
Forward by Whitfield J. Bell, Jr.
Afterword by Ezra Stone
Washington Crossing, Pa., David Library of the American Revolution, 1994.
530 pages. Cloth. Illustrated. ISBN 0-9643693-0-3.
The Feinstone Collection consists of significant manuscripts and documents authored by both prominent and lesser-known individuals during the American Revolution and early national periods. It contains one of the largest privately held collections of original George Washington letters, as well as important groups of letters of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and the marquis de Lafayette. The organization of the guide corresponds to the arrangement of the microfilm edition of the Feinstone Collection, which is available through Scholarly Resources, Wilmington, Delaware. The Guide describes in detail all of the nearly 2500 items in the collection; its usefulness is enhanced by a chronologically arranged appendix and a comprehensive proper name, place, and subject index.
This valuable research tool regularly sells for $45.00 per copy. For a limited time, the Library is offering the Guide for sale at $20.00 per copy.
Send order and payment of $20.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling to:
David Library of the American Revolution
P.O. Box 748
Washington Crossing, PA 18977
Meg McSweeney
Chief Operating Officer
Richard A. Ryerson
Senior Historian
Katherine Ludwig
Librarian
Greg Johnson
Library & Research Assistant
Jack Bolster
Head of Facilities
Barbara Faherty
Treasurer
For questions or comments, please contact