Digital Library

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Digital Library provides access to a unique set of resources devoted to early American history and Virginia’s eighteenth-century capital. The Foundation’s departments of historical, architectural, and archaeological research, and a special collections unit in the library have employed researchers in several kindred historical fields for many years. Through the combined efforts of these departments, the Foundation has compiled a vast collection of manuscripts, maps, research reports, books, architectural drawings, and electronic databases. The online archive is focused on four main categories of digital materials:

Manuscripts

The online manuscripts include transcripts and images of selected historical documents from seven of the Foundation’s collections: the Blathwayt Papers; the Governor’s Palace Land Papers; the Humphrey Harwood Account Book; the Francis Nicholson Papers; the Prentis Papers; the Peyton Randolph Papers; and the Spotswood Papers.

Research Report Series

The Research Report series consists of historical, archaeological, and architectural reports documenting the study of the eighteenth-century town since the establishment of the Foundation. The reports can be searched using a standard list format or through a map interface allowing users to click directly on specific properties.

Virginia Gazette

The Virginia Gazette, first published in 1736, served as a critical source of news for the colonists. Publication continued on a weekly basis in Williamsburg until 1780 when operations were moved to the new capital in Richmond. Not all of the issues printed in Williamsburg have survived to the modern day. The online collection includes images of almost all the known extant issues, which can be searched using the index or browsed by date.

York County Probate Inventories

The online archive of probate inventories includes transcripts of a large selection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century inventories. The collection includes probates from across York County, which in the colonial period encompassed the northern half of the city of Williamsburg as well as Yorktown and the surrounding areas.