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Historical research can be quite tricky at times – especially so if you are not a professionally trained historian, if you do not have access to libraries and achieves and the likes. Many great resources are behind paywalls and I therefor though I compile a list with resources (with links this time), mostly relating to the Marquis de La Fayette, that might come in handy and are easy and free to access.

Founders Online is a databank with letter from and by Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, including their respected correspondences with La Fayette. For starters, here are the correspondences between

La Fayette and George Washington,

La Fayette and Alexander Hamilton

La Fayette and Thomas Jefferson

La Fayette is sometimes listed under different names (or different spellings of his name) so keep that in mind.

The Papers of James Monroe is a project to catalogue the letter of, you have guessed it, James Monroe. Included in this project are also parts of the correspondences between Monroe and La Fayette.

Next up, there are a few online exhibitions and collections that I can recommend:

“La Fayette: Citizen of Two Worlds” by the Cornell University

“Lafayette and Slavery” by the Lafayette College (here is a second, slightly different version)

“The Prisoner of Olmütz” by the Lafayette College

“Marquis de Lafayette in Prints Collection” by the Lafayette College

Archive of the “Gazette of the American Friends of Lafayette” by the Lafayette College

“Marquis de Lafayette Collections” by the Lafayette College

“The Marquis de Lafayette Collection” by the Cleveland State University

The Library of Congress has a number of handwritten original letters that were exchanged between La Fayette and George Washington

The Internet Archive is a pure treasure chest of resources. They have collected a great deal of photos, videos, audio recordings, books and lose documents from libraries, collections and different archives. They also have a huge stock of curated websites. All of their resources are free, although some require a user account (which is free as well, but you have to sign up with your E-Mail Address). They have just so many great resources, from old texts to modern books - they truly have something for everyone. Here are a few links to contemporary books (memoirs and books by La Fayette and his family). All of that is just a very, very shallow peek into what the Internet Archives have to offer

Memoirs, Correspondences and Manuscripts of General Lafayette, Volume I, by the Marquis de Lafayette

Memoirs, Correspondences and Manuscripts of General Lafayette, Volume II, by the Marquis de Lafayette

Memoirs, Correspondences and Manuscripts of General Lafayette, Volume III, by the Marquis de Lafayette

(The Memoirs are also available in French and in the French version they are divided into eight (?) volumes.)

Life of Madame de Lafayette by Mme de Lasteyrie

Recollections of the Private Life of General Lafayette by M. Jules Cloquet

Lafayette in America, Volume I, by Auguste Levasseur

Lafayette in America Volume II, by Auguste Levasseur

All the books mentioned can also be obtained for free via Google Books.

To conclude this post, here are some non-La Fayette resources:

The Georgian Papers Program has digitalized a multitude of letters relating to Georg I, George II, George III, George IV and William IV, their families and governments. Most of the documents are not transcribed and so I will give you a fair warning; some of the handwritings will severely test your patience. The process of transcribing some of the papers is underway, you can join the project here.

Elephind lets you search more than 200 Million historic newspapers.

The Old Bailey Online lets you access all the court proceedings from the Old Bailey from 1674 up until 1913 and gives a great insight into English law and its evolution.

The Friedrich Schiller Archive is dedicated to the German poet Friedrich Schiller and has transcripts and analyses of all of his works as well as transcripts of the majority of his correspondences.

Here you can find all the issues of Jean-Paul Marat’s L’Ami du Peuple.

The National Archive in England, the National Archive and Records Administrations in America and the Archives Nationales in France offer a well of information (although they are sometime a bit troublesome to navigate).

Many museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Louvre have digitalized their collections and everybody can search items therein.

world war 2: -thinks they’re a lot tougher than they actually are -tend to be really niche about one very, very specific aspect -really sarcastic sense of humour -acts like the war’s still on -very bitter about the 2001 pearl harbor movie -wakes up in a cold sweat to boogie woogie bugle boy & the in the mood intro -their fashion taste is either impeccable or an atrocity to god there is no in-between

world war 1: -weird and quiet -drinks cheap booze even if they can have/afford better -hoarders -would sell soul & firstborn for a pickelhaube -knows lots of really obscure facts -underlying & unexplainable 19th century german history fetish -copes with problems by turning them into memes & shitty jokes -bad puns galore

classics: -come off really sensible & serious but h2g has the most perverted sense of humour out of everyone -probably hiding some dark shit -either really enthusiastic about homoeroticism or ignores it completely -really defensive about their favourite society/period -a lot of tension between the roman buffs & the greek ones??? -latin’s not dead, it just smells funny

cold war/vietnam war: -probably either a communist or has a hard-on for JFK -world war 2 buff’s edgy sibling -usually really into guns or at least knows a fuckload about them. may also be really into guns but know jack shit about them, too -gets into a lot of internet fights -so many conspiracy theories -their jokes make literally no sense to anyone else -has a lot to say about the 2k16 presidential race -really political in general tbh -will wear military surplus uniforms as streetwear -cool taste in sunglasses tho

medieval europe: -goes ham on fantasy or drags it within an inch of its life -gets asked about king henry viii way too much -warped & morbid sense of humour -cheerfully cynical about everything -can slice you in half with their writing -eternal academic 1v1 in the pit w/ each other -holds personal grudges against someone who died like 900 years ago -but also will die in the gutter for someone who died like 900 years ago -complains about rain & cold weather but actually doesn’t mind it

Napoleonic: ▪rude af but only because everyone keeps spouting the same 3 myths about him, also hilarious when they want to be ▪super creative ones that makes beautiful fan art or absolute meme trash ▪talk about Napoleon and his crew as if they all knew him personally ▪if you compare their interest to Hitler you will get dragged to Hell and back ▪usually older students/adults ▪many have a military fashion obsession too. Bring back pants de la gloire ▪often European, not always ▪loves to fight

AmRev/American history: ▪never European ▪either PhD students or meme kings and ship monarchs ▪everyone is gay ▪Hamilton obsession or completely ignores it, everyone in the fandom has an opinion on it whichever side they are on ▪touchy about the slave trade/Constitution and their effects in the modern day ▪the lame ones are patriots, the cool ones just love their history

French Rev: ▪either 12 year old communists or educated adults that know what they’re talking about ▪usually speak French ▪always take their hat off when the Terror is mentioned ▪no hon Enjolras lived in a different time ▪never right wing

Enlightenment and Romantic era: ▪#aesthetic ▪interested in literature usually ▪usually obsessed with their own historic faves and know everything on two or three people in the era ▪period drama is a hot topic ▪some are monarchists

it’s robespierreeee

sincerely,