Collections of the American West
As you gone through searching for information about your ancestors, there was usually at least ancestor who choose to leave the eastern section of America and head to the western territories for a new life.
Through the collection titled ‘Edward D. Graff‘ with the Newberry Library Collection there is now available a massive collection of photos, documents, pamphlets, books, newspapers, letters, journals, posters, notices, maps, etc covering all the territories and later states west of the Mississippi River. There are some 130,000 items now made digital for you to view. 
The search box at the top can help locate a specific person, a surname, a town, a county, any events, etc. Some of the material dates to the turn of the 1800s. Of special interest of the journals and letters where individual wrote of what the travel west was like and the life they made for themselves out west.
Just scroll down the numerous topics and you will be amazed of the items in this collection. You can click on any item and it appears enlarged and if many pages such as a book each page can turn. Any item can be downloaded to your computer also.
Even if you do not have any ancestors who went west, scan over the selection, quite fascinating the collection and variety of items.
Photos: Collection of photo albums-some labeled, some not; the Thomas Mather diary – 1825 to 1886; and the book “Conquering the wilderness, or, New pictorial history of the life and times of the pioneer heroes and heroines of America” written in 1883.
Related FamilyTree Blogs:
Western States Marriage Records
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