Life During the American Revolution: Resources for Students and Educators: Who Should Use this Guide?

This guide is intended to scaffold student engagement with primary sources by offering research tips and resources for navigating libraries and archives, especially the collections at NYPL. Additionally, this guide aims to help students use research tools like card catalogs, databases, special collections, finding aids, and search engines. The ultimate goal of this guide is to help students independently discover and interpret sources to direct their own research. 

                     NYPL Digital Collections ID: 421059

First things first! Use the online application to apply for a library card. Having a library card gives New York residents access to NYPL digital resources like e-books and online databases, and allows you to make appointments and request materials in the Milstein Division. 

Now you're ready to find materials in the library. The best access point to our collections is the Research Catalog. Search the additional catalogs available through NYPL Digital Collections and  NYPL Archives and Manuscripts.

For help finding relevant materials and planning your visit, schedule a consultation with a research librarian.

If you have identified a list of items you want to view at the library, you can request them in advance using this link.

In order to provide space for growing collections, the NYPL Research Libraries are housing materials at several offsite facilities. Material is identified in the research catalog by the location "OFFSITE – Request in advance"

There are four NYPL Research Libraries in total: The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (SASB); The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; the Science, Industry and Business Library. Material is identified in the research catalog by location, and while this guide mostly discusses resources available at The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the other research libraries may have relevant collections as well. 

For researchers with print disabilities, the Library has resources and services available upon request. The following services are available:

Digitization of Select Research Materials

Researchers who are homebound or have a print disability or visual impairment can explore many of our research collections online and request digitization of specific items of interest. To request the digitization service, email accessibility@nypl.org. Please note that you must be a patron of the Andrew Heiskell Library. This digitization service only includes material belonging to the research collections and does not apply to branch/circulating collections. 

Screen Readers and Enlargers 

Every public PC at all New York Public Library locations is equipped with JAWS screen reading software and MAGic software for enlarging the screen, changing colors and contrast, and screenreading. 

Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library

The Andrew Heiskell Library offers popular reading materials in accessible audio and braille formats, as well as free membership to the Bookshare database of over one million accessible texts. It also offers individual coaching and a large variety of group workshops on topics related to accessible technology. Check the listings on our website, call 212-206-5400, or email talkingbooks@nypl.org for details. It also hosts many networking groups, resource fairs, writing workshops, accessible art workshops, book clubs, and other events. All are listed in the quarterly newsletter, available by email, website (text or audio), or over the phone.

The Shared Collection is a joint initiative that combines the extensive research collections of The New York Public Library, Columbia University, Princeton University, and Harvard University—members of the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP)—in one catalog and allows patrons from all four institutions to search and request materials from these combined holdings for delivery to their home institution.

Through the catalog, users can discover nearly 11 million volumes from NYPL's research collections, plus an additional 8 million volumes from Columbia and Princeton. With the addition of Harvard's collections, users now have access to more than 22 million volumes.

NYPL also provides access to over 800 databases of scholarly and popular journals, which can be sorted by topic, including:

• The American Revolutionary War
• United States History