Title: Selections from Trans-Mississippi West
Description: This collection, assembled in cooperation with the Yale University Library and the Newberry Library, makes available the basic printed sources for the exploration, settlement and development of the Trans-Mississippi West. It spans the years from 1791 to 1944; that is, from the first explorations down to the end of the frontier. Geographically it covers the region from the Spanish borderlands on the south to the Arctic Ocean on the north; from the Mississippi Valley and Hudson's Bay on the east to the Pacific Ocean and Bering Straits on the west. The purpose of the collection is to provide the materials necessary for instruction ranging from specialized graduate seminars to a general undergraduate survey course on frontier history. Among the major topics covered are: exploration, both governmental and private; contacts between Indians and whites, including missions, trade, governmental relations and Indian wars; the fur trade, both by land and sea; Manifest Destiny, as shown in such events as the Oregon question, the Texas Revolution and the Mexican War; the role of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Canadian West; the mining frontier, not only in the California gold rush of '49 but also Fraser River, Pike's Peak, Nevada and the Klondike; the Mormon experience, the coming of the Pacific railroads; the day of the cattleman, and the farmer from homesteader to big businessman.
Subjects: Sources, Frontier and pioneer life
Places: West (U.S.)