Primary Sources
Many historical commonplace book are available online at high-resolution through archive.org or other special collections websites. Below are a select few that can serve as a starting point for students and teachers just beginning to explore what is out there.
If you have some favorite primary sources that you would like to see included on this site, please send them our way!
About this image: Jonathan Budington, Father and Son (1800)
Link to: Commonplacing homepage | Secondary sources | Teaching Materials
Reading materials: early 19th-century texts in the public domain
We know how challenging it can be to get young readers interested in “old” texts. (Romantic-era teachers and parents struggled with this problem, too!)
1805 Commonplace Book with formulas, recipes, etc., England, , Fales Library & Special Collections, (linked here)
1834 Mary Murdoch Bland Commonplace Book, Liverpool, 1834-1854, 1887, Fales Library & Special Collections (linked here)
1551 Commonplace Book on miscellaneous subjects, chiefly astrology, England (linked here)
Commonplace book, American political theory notes on celebrated acquaintances, quotations of poetry; Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884; Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879; Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852; Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848 (linked here)
1723 Commonplace book, Holograph which treats causes and atoms briefly and theology at length, Smithsonian (linked here)
Anne Wagner album, NYPL Pforzheimer (linked here)
Lady Anne Hamilton commonplace book of poetry, NYPL Pforzheimer (linked here)
Joseph Hawley Papers, NYPL (linked here)
Students can also explore special collections through educational videos:
Collection in Focus: Sir Isaac Newton’s Pocket Memorandum Book, The Morgan Library (linked here)