The collection includes the topics such as
Discovery and exploration of the Americas — accounts from British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Danish explorers and adventurers
Colonization — features both American and European views and firsthand accounts of colonial life
Slavery — memoirs, original speeches, lectures, sermons, discourses, reports to legislatures across America, pamphlets, books, and international essays
Cities and states — the social and political evolution of America's major cities and states
Civil War — a wide array of memoirs, political tracts, published legislative proceedings, and broadsides
Reconstruction — records that describe the reorganization and re-establishment of the seceded states in the Union after the Civil War
American women — education, civil rights, domestic life, and employment
Native Americans — essays, booklets, treaties, land tracts, congressional speeches, journals, and letters that document social attitudes and personal experiences
Immigration — pamphlets, broadsides, speeches, articles, and books
Constitution — pamphlets, letters, speeches, and essays provide detailed information about the early political organization of the American colonies