Resources
Tips on how to use this site
> This online resource is designed to serve as a virtual archive as well as an opportunity for researchers to view and search transcriptions of the Grant-Burr Family Papers
> The "browsing of the collection" feature preserves the original archival order the letters appear in the AAS manuscript collection. Interested scholars can visit AAS and view the collection in this specific box/folder arrangement.
> In the transcribed letters a marker appears between individual letters which denotes the beginning/ending of a letter. It looks like:
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
> Every effort was taken to during the transcription process to remain true to the original. That said, some of the transcription markings may need clarification:
Key to the transcription markings
[...]= Text missing and not conjecturable
[] = Number or part of a number missing or illegible
[Roman font] = Conjectural reading for missing or illegible matter. A question mark follows when the reading is doubtful; the word "sic" was not used
[Italic font] = Editorial comment inserted in the text
<Italic font> = Matter crossed out of the manuscript
Words hyphenated at the ends of lines (e.g. fam-ily) have had hyphens removed. In cases where the hyphen might have stood in if the word was not split between lines (e.g. street-car) the usage from the original was preserved.
Ampersands (&) were retained in the transcriptions.
The spelling, capitalization, underlining, punctuation and paragraph structure of the originals was retained.
When it was unclear whether a word began with an upper or lowercase letter, it was transcribed according to modern usage.
Bibliography
> Bibliography
Scholars interested in researching the Grant, Burr, or Cowles families may find this bibliography useful in their initial survey of the field. The letters provide a window into a variety of aspects of nineteenth-century life: utopian reform, women's education in New England, education in the West, homesteading, the California gold rush, and the early efforts to minister to African-Americans following emancipation. This bibliography is only an entry point into various fields of study, and each resource was chosen with the letters and family in mind. Other researchers interested in compiling a family history bibliography will find the family history section particularly relevant to their work, as the bibliography is a virtually complete resource on the Grant family for the time period covered by the letters in the online collection.
PDF files of the transcribed letters
> For research and teaching and printing purposes, click here to see available PDF files
Suggested sites
> Five College Archives Digital Access Project of the Zilpah P. Grant Banister Papers
Coming Soon
> Teacher lesson plans: using primary documents in a classroom