| GENERAL
INFORMATION  The
American History collections have been an integral part of
the Stanford University Library since its founding in 1891,
with particular strengths in California history, the history
of American railroads, and U.S. Government Documents.
Important
early accessions include Timothy Hopkins' donation of over
2,000 items from his personal railroad library, which in expanded
form became the Hopkins Transportation Library. Hopkins also
donated a set of mammoth-plate albums of photographs taken
by prominent San Francisco photographer Carleton Watkins.
Leland Stanford's personal papers contain correspondence,
speeches, and journals integral to the study of 19th century
California politics.
In 1895,
Stanford was designated an official depository of publications
by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The first respectable
collections of early government documents were secured for
the University by Leland Stanford, then a U.S. Senator for
California. Stanford's collections in American history were
further bolstered by San Francisco Judge Elmer E. Robinson's
1939 donation of his collection containing books, newspapers,
manuscripts, and photographs dealing with American history
from the American revolution to the Civil War. In the later
20th century, the library's holdings in American history have
been bolstered by the acquisition of important manuscript
collections dealing with African-American history (Dr. Huey
P. Newton Foundation Collection) and Asian-American history
(Emory M. Lee Papers).
If you
are visiting this site for a quick orientation in historical
research, the Research
Quick Start Guide is a good place to begin. To conduct
research in more specific areas, the U.S.
Collections page provides a breakdown of critical primary
and secondary resources by subject
and by type.
CONTACT
INFORMATION
Benjamin
Stone,
Curator
Green Library — HASRC, McDermott Suite
Stanford, CA 94305-6066
voice: (650) 725-1180
fax: (650) 725-1068
email: bstone@stanford.edu
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