Letters of Delegates to Congress

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About This Collection

This multi-volume collection contains documents written by delegates to the First and Second Continental Congresses,1774-1789. This work builds on an earlier eight-volume edition of Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, edited by Edmund C. Burnett.

In this collection, approximately 20,000 entries gathered from institutions throughout the world span 25 volumes of text, accompanied by a cumulative index. The volumes are in chronological order, with each volume covering a specific date range. Although most of the entries are letters from delegates, materials within Letters of Delegates of Congress include many diaries, public papers, essays, and other documents. Together with the Journals of the Continental Congress, the volumes allow researchers to undertake a comprehensive, in-depth examination of the operations of the Continental Congresses during the critical years after the nation's founding.

Browsing Letters of Delegates to Congress

The Law Library is in the middle of a project to make the letters and materials included in these volumes viewable in individual files. While that project is pending, researchers can explore the full volumes of these records in PDF or navigate through a gallery presentation of these items.

For researchers unfamiliar with this collection, a good starting point is the cumulative index. For example, someone who is interested in reading letters to Abigail Adams can locate entries under her name in the cumulative index and then use the volumes and pages identified in each entry to find specific items. For instance, to locate the source of an index entry that reads, “plans trip to Europe, 21: 518-19,” a researcher would select volume 21 and then use the site's navigation features to open page 518, where that letter can be found.

Search Functions in Letters of Delegates to Congress

Additionally, researchers can search the full text of this collection by entering keywords in the search bar at the upper-right corner of this page. For example, a search for “Benjamin Franklin” (with quotation marks included in the search) will retrieve several results from across the Century of Lawmaking collections, including Letters of Delegates to Congress.

To view the results this collection, scroll down to the results from Letters of Delegates to Congress and select the drop-down menu next to “Resources.” This drop-down menu will display three options for each volume, as described below:

1. The first option will list the number of pages where the search term was found in each volume. After clicking on this option, the researcher will be directed to a gallery displaying only those pages containing their search term. To read the full text and locate search terms, select an image from the results list. Here is an example of the results retrieved when searching for “Benjamin Franklin” in Letters of Delegates to Congress, volume 6.
2. The second option reads “Images with Text.” Selecting this choice will present the researcher with a two-panel display of the volume's first page. The right-hand panel will display a scan of the page from the relevant volume and the text on that page will be visible on the left-hand panel. Researchers can use the navigation buttons at the top of the screen to jump to different pages. Here is an example of how volume 6 of Letters of Delegates to Congress appears when this option is selected.
3. Selecting the third option, “PDF,” will take the researcher to a searchable PDF of the full volume. Researchers can look for specific words or phrases within the volume by selecting the magnifying glass at the upper-left corner of the screen. To view volume 6 of Letters of Delegates to Congress in PDF, click here.

Further Assistance

If you have a question about navigating Letters of Delegates to Congress, please contact the Law Library of Congress through our Ask A Librarian service.