Directory of 19th Century Resources

Home > Regional > North America > United States > Washington, DC > Society and Culture > History > 19th Century

Washington, DC, history in the 19th century. Excludes Civil War history, which is placed under the category Civil War.

Resources in This Category

• A Belle of the Fifties

  http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/clay/clay.html
  By Virginia Clay-Clopton. Memoirs of Mrs. Virginia Clay, of Alabama, covering social and political life in Washington and the South, 1853-1866. Full text. A volume in Documenting the American South, a series of electronic reprints.

• A Picture of Washington

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC16076617&id=VtfC1aNc2VIC
  By George Watterston. 1840 account of Washington landmarks, government, social life and institutions. Digitized full text (274 pages) of the original 1840 edition from Google Books.

• Behind the Scenes in Washington

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AFJ8728
  By James Dabney McCabe. 1873 guidebook to the city, description of the Federal government, and account of the Credit Mobilier corruption scandal. Full text (518 pages) A volume in the Making of America series of electronic reprints.

• Guide to Washington

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02026820&id=tDG40FSASqQC
  1892 guide to the city, published for the B&O Railroad. Digitized full text (50 pages) of the original 1892 edition from Google Books.

• Guide to Washington and Its Scientific Institutions

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC39334134&id=bWIPAAAAIAAJ
  1891 guide to the city's science-related agencies and institutions, prepared for the International Congress of Geologists. Digitized full text (64 pages) of the original 1891 edition from Google Books.

• Keim's Illustrated Hand-Book: Washington and Its Environs

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC65986231&id=-vCFVQxKFkMC
  1879 description and history of the city. Digitized full text (252 pages) of the original 1879 edition from Google Books.

• Morrison's Strangers' Guide to the City of Washington, and Its Vicinity

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03359741&id=ApQZAAAAMAAJ
  1844 guide to Washington landmarks and institutions. Digitized full text (108 pages) of the 2nd edition, 1844, from Google Books. Illustrated.

• Opinion on a Project for Removing the Obstructions to a Ship Navigation to Georgetown, Col.

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC06713571&id=Xl8q48WBer8C
  1812 deposition and interrogation of Benjamin Latrobe, surveyor of public buildings for the United States, regarding a proposal to build wing dams on the Potomac River in order to deepen the Georgetown harbor. Digitized full text of the original 1812 edition from Google Books.

• Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, Vol. 1

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02455456&id=iWG9SntqoyQC
  By Ben Perley Poore. History, personalities, politics and events in Washington from the presidency of John Quincy Adams to James Buchanan. Digitized full text (544 pages) of the original 1886 edition from Google Books.

• Philp's Washington Described, a Complete View of the American Capital and the District of Columbia

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=0oF8CeVJb2wd3tV3&id=LX8FAAAAQAAJ
  1861 guide to the city, its geography, history, government agencies, institutions and society. Digitized full text (239 pages) of the original 1861 edition from Google Books.

• Picturesque Washington

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02088419&id=7MZ2VtF_Oj0C
  By Joseph West Moore. 1884 account of Washington landmarks, government agencies, history and social life. Digitized full text of the original 1884 edition (308 pages) from Google Books.

• Rand, McNally & Co.'s Handy Guide to Washington and the District of Columbia

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC35904780&id=0T5iijAVWjEC
  1893 guidebook to the city. Digitized full text (184 pages) of the original 1893 edition from Google Books.

• Roose's Companion and Guide to Washington and Vicinity, 1876

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AAV9985
  Visitor's guidebook to the city as it was in 1876. Full text (95 pages) A volume in the Making of America series of electronic reprints.

• Ten years in Washington, 1874

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=ABE2108
  By Mary Clemmer. A tour of Washington sights in the 1870s, with bits of history, city life, anecdotes, and reflections from a long-time Washington resident, author and newspaper columnist. Full text (587 pages) A volume in the Making of America series of electronic reprints.

• The "Snow Riot"

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55082-2005Feb1.html
  Account of racial violence in Washington in August 1835 and its aftermath. From the Washington Post.

• The Black Code of the District of Columbia in Force September 1st, 1848

  http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC43590918&id=GWINAAAAIAAJ
  By Worthington G. Snethen. Description of slavery in the District of Columbia, as published by an anti-slavery society. Digitized full text of the original 1848 edition (61 pages) from Google Books.

• The Sights and Secrets of the National Capital, 1869

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AJA2449
  By John B. Ellis. Description of the city and of the Federal government in 1869. Full text (512 pages) A volume in the Making of America series of electronic reprints.

• Washington and Georgetown Directory, 1853

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/b/bib/bibperm?q1=aFJ8697
  Directory of residents and businesses, including a history of the city and a visitor's guidebook. Full text (384 pages) A volume in the Making of America series of electronic reprints.

• Washington, D.C., Sights Before 1850: A Select List of Images

  http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/181_earl.html
  37 paintings, drawings and photographs of Washington, DC, before 1850, selected from the collections of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Library of Congress Website.

 

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