Founders Online
Founders Online is a research website providing free access to a digitized collection representing the collected papers of seven of the most influential figures in the founding of the United States. Among the 185,000 documents available through the website's searchable database are the papers of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. The database also includes correspondence between these Founding Fathers of [the United States|Founders] and hundreds of other figures. The website is a cooperative venture between the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the grant-making arm of the National Archives, and The University of Virginia Press.
Collected papers of Founding Fathers
The Founders Online website, launched on June 13, 2013, enables students, researchers, scholars, and the general public to read what the Founders wrote and debated in the years leading up to and following the nation's formation. The subjects they discussed between themselves and others ranged from public policies and democratic principles to slavery and the Constitution. The works available also provide insight into the Founders' friendships and personal lives.The website's collection is the result of a 50-year effort by scholars to locate, transcribe, annotate, and digitize 18th and 19th century documents held by archives worldwide. From these works, hundreds of individual volumes have been published that can also be accessed.
The collection is derived from the letterpress editions of the Founders' original papers, which were drawn from the following sources:
- John Adams ― Massachusetts Historical Society and Harvard University Press
- Benjamin Franklin ― Yale University Press
- Alexander Hamilton ― Columbia University Press
- Thomas Jefferson ― Princeton University Press
- John Jay, James Madison, and George Washington ― University of Virginia Press