The antebellum period was a time of intensive American cultural production during which a genuine American national and cultural identity was produced. The American Revolution was the 'natural' starting point for this process of cultural re-imagination. This book investigates the contribution of images about the American Revolution to the formation of an American historical and cultural memory. Visual Representations of American Revolutionary figures and events in popular history paintings, lithographs, pictorial histories, and illustrated magazines from the 1830s to the 1850s have created a visual archive that was seminal in the Americans' establishment of a "usable past." As sites of memory, these visuals helped to define the American nation, often stabilizing larger unifying national narratives, but sometimes also contesting historical and cultural memories within the storehouse of visual commemoration.

How conflicting memories of the nation's origins shaped the political culture of the early American republic

Our Documents is a collection of 100 documents that the staff of the National Archives has judged most important to the development of the United States. The entry for each document includes a short introduction, a facsimile, and a transcript of the document. Backmatter includes further reading, credits, and index. The book is part of the much larger Our Documents initiative sponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), National History Day, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the USA Freedom Corps.

Throughout its history, the American West symbolized a place of hope and new beginnings, where anything was possible, especially for men. However, the history written until the 1970s and 1980s excluded women. Sigrid Schönfelder illustrates how the American West served as a catalytic gold mine for many transformations for women. It draws on the life narratives of three healthcare providers whose devotion within the social reform movements of the long nineteenth century contributed significantly to shaping healthcare policies. Their stories show how women contributed to place-making in the West and served as role models for other women to enter the field of medicine.