Primary Resources

Go West Young Man (and Woman!)



Courtesy of the Andover Historical Society

Letters from Sylvester Boardman in St. Louis, MO, 1842
Boardman writes his mother to tell her about his experiences in St. Louis. In the first letter, Boardman talks about the prices of crops, the explosion of several steamboats on the Mississippi (a common event), and the depressed economy. He also notes that “I am a member of a Native American rifle company, all native born Americans. The Dutch and Irish are as thick as flees as saucy as free negroes but they must be kept from this country or they will give us some trouble soon.” In the second letter he comments that a wife is “little more trouble than they are worth.” Patriotic images adorn these envelopes from the Civil War.

Map of Stanford, KY
This is a handwritten map of Stanford Kentucky. What buildings exist? What is important to note on the map?

Courtesy of the Beverly Historical Society

Trask, Sarah. “Diaries for 1849 and 1851.” Beverly Historical Society. Trask’s diary shows the many ways in which the migration west affected those who stayed home. Trask writes often of the ships leaving Beverly and Salem for California in 1849 and comments that many of her friends have left. In 1851, Trask gets news that her “friend” (likely a fiancé) was lost at sea on a trip to Valpraiso from California. She becomes despondent and wishes for her own death because so many of her friends have been taken.
Sarah Trask Diary, 1849
Sarah Trask Diary, 1851

Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Iowa Territory Property Deed, Andrew Thayer (West Medway, MA), 1858

Thomas Macintosh Diary—An Account of my Travels to California, 1849
Macintosh details his trip to California. He goes by way of New Orleans and Texas and succinctly details the journey (including cholera epidemics).Memorial Hall Subscriptions, 1871

New England Emigrant Aid Society Collection (various document and letters relating to Lawrence, Kansas and other areas of settlement)
From the first pages of the documents: “I leave for you…this number of letters received by my Father during the years just before the Civil War, relating to the condition of affairs in Kansas at that time. He was the secretary of the Emigrant Aid Society, and was in charge of the shipments of rifles to Kansas with which the settlers might defend themselves against the border ruffians [sent from the south to influence the popular sovereignty vote in favor of the south]. In consequence of the technical infringement of the laws in such transactions, most of the letters were destroyed…Perhaps the most interesting document, however, is a small book in my Father’s hand writing in which he has a list of persons who contributed to the fund for supplying these rifles with the amounts of contribution against their names.”

Oregon Territory Papers (misc. government correspondence and letters), 1865
This letter discusses the possibility of aiding the migration “surplus population of females” in New England to the Oregon Territory.

Links

The West
This is the companion website to the Ken Burns documentary of the same title. The “Resources” section allows users to access an archive of documents that were used as research for the documentary. The archives are organized chronologically and then by subject. The website also includes lesson plans for teachers

NativeWeb
This comprehensive resource for the study of indigenous people around the world has a wealth of information. While it may appear hard to search, users can quickly access the region/people they are looking for by clicking on the “Nations Index” or “Geographic Region Index” of the “Resources” tab.

American West
This website bills itself as “A Presentation of the History and Development of the American West”. It includes information on a diverse category of subjects including cowboys, critters, emigration, “Indians”, outlaws and pioneers, to name just a few. The unique information on this website makes it worth a visit. For example, they have a whole section of “cowboy poetry”!

WestWeb – City University of New York
From the website: “WestWeb is a topically-organized website about the study of the American West created and maintained by a born-and-bred Westerner, Catherine Lavender, of the Department of History, College of Staten Island, The City University of New York. Under each topic heading, you will find collections of primary and secondary documents, biographical and bibliographical resources, lists of hot links to other sites of interest, and images.” This scholarly website offers interesting links and resources such as western photographs and art
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