David Library of the American Revolution

Independence Day: A Bibliography Compiled by Summer Intern Erin Weinman  

Erin Weinman of Somerville, NJ is a senior history major at Rutgers  University.  She is interning at the David Library this summer.



Erin Weinman

         The Fourth of July is just around the corner, and the nation is preparing once again to celebrate our founding history. The David Library is home to an extensive collection on the Declaration of Independence, some of the signers and the events that surrounded America's declaration of independence from England. Why not pick up a little summer reading to get you in the spirit (of '76)?  The following books are available at the David Library (call numbers are the David Library's), but you are likely to find some of these at your local public library or bookseller as well. 

 

Allen, Danielle.  Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality.  New York:  W. W. Norton and Company, 2014.  Call number 7510.

 

Casey, Robert E. The Declaration of Independence: Illustrated Story of its Adoption. New York: Illustrated Publishers, 1914. Call number 1481.

 

Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Alfred K. Knopf, 1997. Call number 4494.

 

Fowler, William M. The Baron of Beacon Hill: A Biography of John Hancock. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979. Call number 569.

 

Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography; Poor Richard; Letters. New York: D. Appleton and   Company, 1899. Call number 7048.

 

Hawken, Henry A. Trumpets of Glory: Fourth of July Orations 1786-1861. Granby, CT.: Salmon Brook Historical Society, 1976. Call number 1388.

 

Hogeland, William. Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became  Independent. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Call number 7198.

 

Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1997. Call number 4477.

 

McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. Call number 5808.

 

Miller, Marla R. Betsy Ross and the Making of America. New York: Henry Holt, 2010.   Call number 7177.

 

Rakove, Jack N. The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. Call number  7184.

 

Travers, Len. Celebrating the Fourth: Independence Day and the Rites of Nationalism in the Early Republic. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1997. Call number 4539.

 

Additionally, there's a good article in the July/August 2010 issue of American Spirit, the magazine of the Daughters of the American Revolution by Anthony, Lena, “Cannons and Camaraderie: The Earliest Fourth of July Traditions.” We have a copy at the David Library.  If you live close enough, drop in at the David Library sometime between now and July 3 (the Library will be closed on July 4) to read it.  Understanding the origins of our traditional Fourth of July celebrations may enhance the holiday for you this year.