Tracts
Tracts
are usually small, pamphlet-type publications produced by an
organization in order to disseminate information about that organization's
interests, doctrines, or creeds. This collection consists of numbered
tracts produced by a variety of tract societies such as the New England
Tract Society, the Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, the American Reform
Tract and Book Society, The Worcester Temperance League, the American
Woman Suffrage Association, the American Peace Society and the
Universalist Tract Society. Many of the organizations were national in
scope, and some were very local, such as the Universalist Tract Society.
Topics of the tracts varied, and included writings on religion,
temperance, spiritualism, peace, women's suffrage, slavery, missions and
conduct of life, among others.
The collection contains over 2,200 numbered tracts published in
the United States between 1810 and 1883. For the most part, all numbered
tracts published by a particular tract society or organization have been
fully cataloged online. Exceptions to this include "adult" tracts
published by the American Tract Society, the American Sunday School Union,
and the American Unitarian Association which date after 1840, as well as
tracts
for children which were produced by any organization or tract society. The
latter have been fully cataloged online in the American Childrens' Book
collection.
Unnumbered tracts for adults that date through 1840 may be found
in many other cataloged collections, including Dated Pamphlets, Dated
Books, Pamphlets and the National and Local Institutions collections.
Many tract societies were short-lived. Religious societies were among the
most durable of tract societies, and one, the American Tract
Society, which traces its
origins to the New England Religious Tract Society, founded in 1814, still
publishes and distributes religious tracts today.
A series
of tables useful in dating American Tract Society publications through
1876 has been compiled by AAS staff member S.J. Wolfe.
- by S.J. Wolfe, Senior Cataloger
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A series
of tables useful in dating American Tract Society publications through
1876 has been compiled by AAS staff member S.J. Wolfe.
For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
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