Announcement of the addition of the "Capital and the Bay" to the American Memory online collections

[danna bell-russel]

The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay
Region, 1600-1900 added to American Memory. 

The most recent addition to the American Memory online collections
provides access to first-person accounts, early histories, historical
biographies, and other works reflecting the history and growth of the
Chesapeake Bay region and the capital city of the United States that
lies within it. This distinctive region encompasses portions of Maryland
and Virginia and the whole of the District of Columbia, including cities
and towns such as Annapolis, Baltimore, Alexandria, Norfolk, and
Richmond. The Chesapeake Bay has been a decisive influence in the
development of these and many other important places in the region and
has played a role in the history of the United States during such
turning points as the War of 1812 and the Civil War.  The presence of
the bay influenced the choice of location for the nation's capital, and
the collection documents the growth of Washington, D.C., from a village
to a city of international importance.  The Capital and the Bay:
Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600-1900 can be
found at the following url: <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lhcbhtml/>

The Capital and the Bay contains 141 books selected from the Library of
Congress's General Collections and the Rare Books Division.  The works
it contains are primary sources reflecting the character of the region,
recounting life stories and other personal experiences in first-person
narratives, or providing perspective on important events through the
eyes and writings of contemporary observers. Included in the collection
are the three autobiographies of Fredrick Douglass, the Letters of A
Senator's Wife by Francis Parkinson Keyes, the Travels of John Smith,
and Peter Force's four-volume set Tracts and Other Papers Relating
Principally to the Origin, Settlement and Process of the Colonies of
North America.  Users will also find books that describe such regionally
significant historical events as the Richmond fire of 1811 and the
Baltimore fire of 1904. 

The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay
Region, 1600-1900 is the latest in a series of collections illuminating
local and regional American history through first-person narratives and
other primary sources.  The other collections in the series-"California
as I Saw It," Pioneering the Upper Midwest, and Puerto Rico at the Dawn
of the Modern Age--can also be found on the American Memory Web site. 

Please direct any questions to ndlpcoll at loc.gov