The Hanover Historical Texts Collection makes available digital versions of historical texts for use in history and humanities courses. Search by keyword, or browse the listings below.

The faculty and students of the Hanover College History Department initiated the Hanover Historical Texts Project in 1995, at a time when few primary sources were available outside of published anthologies. To make primary texts readily available for classroom use, they selected important documents, scanned print versions that were out of copyright, converted the scans into HTML format, proofread the resulting documents to correct OCR errors, edited them to provide page breaks, page numbers, and bibliographical information, and posted them online. We have since expanded the collection to include transcriptions of manuscript material from the Hanover College archives.

Most of the texts in the Hanover Historical Texts Collection are in public domain. However, the electronic forms of public domain texts that we have created for the Collection are under copyright. We grant permission to copy and use items in the Hanover Historical Texts Collection for educational purposes; we ask that you acknowledge the Hanover Historical Texts Collection. We do not grant permission for commercial uses.

Bibliographical information and acknowledgements for scanning, conversion into html, and proofreading are found at the beginning of each text. Page numbers appear in square brackets [ ] at the point of the page breaks in the original texts.

Ancient Greece and Rome

The Presocratics

Anaxagoras, fragments and commentary

Anaximander, fragments and commentary

Anaximenes, fragments and commentary

Empedocles, fragments and commentary

Melissos, fragments and commentary

Parmenides, fragments and commentary

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, fragments and commentary

Thales, fragments and commentary

Xenophanes, fragments and commentary

Zeno, fragments and commentary

Medieval Europe

Letters of Crusaders

Anselme of Ribemont, Anselme of Ribemont, Letter to Manasses II, Archbishop of Reims (1098)

Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres, Letter to his wife, Adele (1098)

Daimbert, Godfrey and Raymond, Letter to the Pope (1099)

Conrad III, First Letter to Wibald, Abbot of Corvey (1148)

Conrad III, Second Letter to Wibald, Abbot of Corvey (1148)

Aymeric, Patriarch of Antioch, Letter to Louis VII of France (1164)

Letter from the East to Master of Hospitalers (1187)

Frederick I, Letter to Leopold of Austria (1189)

Sibylla, Ex-Queen of Jerusalem, Letter to Frederick I (1189)

The Duke of Lorraine, Letter to the Archbishop of Cologne (1197)

Frederic II, Letter to Henry III of England (1229)

Gerold, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Letter to all the Faithful (1229)



Britain

Holy feast of Pentecost

Early Modern Europe

The Italian Renaissance

Francis Petrarch, Familiar Letters (selections)

Petrus Paulus Vergerius, De Ingenuis Moribus (c. 1404)

Leonardo Bruni, De Studiis et Literis

Battista Guarino, De Ordine Docendi et Studendi

Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, De Liberorum Educatione

Lorenzo Valla, Discourse on the Forgery of the Alleged Donation of Constantine



The Reformation in Germany and Switzerland

Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520) excerpts

The German Mass and Order of Divine Service (1526)

Ordinances For The Regulation of the Churches Dependent Upon the Seigniory of Geneva (1547) excerpts

Complaint of Nicholas de la Fontaine against Servetus (1553) excerpts



The Catholic Reformation

The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent



The Religious Wars

An Account of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day

An Account of the Destruction of Magdeburg



The Witch Hunts

Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum (1486) excerpts

Jean Bodin, De la demonomanie des sorciers (1580) excerpts

Witch Persecutions at Trier

Witch Persecutions at Bonn

Witch Persecutions at Bamberg

Witch Persecutions at Wurzburg

George Gifford, A dialogue concerning witches and witchcraftes (1593) excerpts

Friedrich Spee, Cautio criminalis (1631) excerpts (in progress)

Ralph and Mary Hall and Katherine Harrison, records of witchcraft, 1665-1670

Samuel Willard, A briefe account of . . . Elizabeth Knap of Groton (c.1671)

Increase Mather, Remarkable Providences relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1684) excerpts

George Burroughs, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Abigail Faulkner, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Elizabeth Fosdick and Elizabeth Paine, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Dorcas Good, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Elizabeth Hart, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Abigail Hobbs, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Mary Ireson, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Sarah Osborn, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

John Proctor, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Tituba, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692



The Scientific Revolution

Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration (1620) excerpts

Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (1620) complete text



The Enlightenment

John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1690)

Baron d'Holbach, Good Sense (1772) excerpts

Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary excerpts



France

Cardinal Richelieu, Political Testament excerpts

Royal Edict of 1626 ordering the demolition of the feudal castles in France

Letters patent establishing the French Academy (1635), excerpts

Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Political Treatise, excerpts

Louis XIV, Letter to the Town Officers and People of Marseilles (1664)

Jean Baptiste Colbert, Memoirs

Accounts of Louis XIV

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (October 22, 1685)



Britain

Queen Elizabeth's Proclamation to Forbid Preaching (1558)

The 1559 Injunctions

Elizabeth's Act of Supremacy (1559)

Elizabeth's Act of Uniformity (1559)

The Advertisements (1566)

Selection from the Canons of 1571 (Canon 6. Concerning preachers.)

The Subscription (Thirty-Nine Articles) Act (1571)

Articles Touching Preachers and Other Orders for the Church (1583)

Act Against Jesuits and Seminarists (1585)

The Act Against Puritans (1593)

The Act Against Recusants (1593)

The Millenary Petition (1603)

James' Proclamation for the Use of the Book of Common Prayer (1604)

Directions Concerning Preachers (1622)

The King's Declaration Prefixed to the Articles of Religion (Nov. 1628)

Resolutions on Religion Presented by a Committee of The House of Commons (1629)

The King's Majesty's Declaration to His Subjects Concerning Lawful Sports to be Used (1633)

The Privy Council and the Position of the Communion Table at St. Gregory's (1633)

The Etcaetera Oath (in the Canons of 1640)

The Root and Branch Petition (1640)

Puritan Voices

Charles I, The Declaration of Sport

The Declaration of Right (1689), excerpts

Modern Europe

The French Revolution

Arthur Young, Travels in France (1792) excerpts

Cahiers of 1789: The Clergy of Blois and Romorantin

Cahiers of 1789: The Nobility of Blois

Cahiers of 1789: The Third Estate of Versailles

Cahiers of 1789: The Third Estate of Carcassonne

The Decree Abolishing Feudalism (1789)

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)

The Proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick (1792)

Documents of the National Convention

St. Just, Republican Institute, excerpts

Napoleon, Account of the Situation of the Empire (1804) excerpts



Nineteenth-Century Conservatism

The Carlsbad Decrees (1819), excerpts



Nationalism

Joseph Mazzini, The Duties of Man (1844) excerpts



The Revolutions of 1848

Documents of the Revolution of 1848 in France



National Unification

Otto von Bismarck, Memoirs, excerpts



Labor and Socialist Movements

Karl Marx, "Transformation" (1836-1837)

Karl Marx, letters to Arnold Ruge (1843)

Karl Marx, On the Jewish Question (1844)

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "England's 17th Century Revolution" (1850)

Karl Marx, "Communism, Revolution, and a Free Poland" (1850)

Karl Marx, "The Duchess of Sutherland and Slavery" (1853)

Karl Marx, "Introduction to a Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy," (1857)

Thomas Hill Green, Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract (1861)

Karl Marx, Capital (1867)

Karl Marx, "Poland and the Russian Menace" (1867)

Karl Marx, The Abolition of Landed Property (Memorandum for Robert Applegarth), 1869

R. Landor, interview with Karl Marx, New York World (1871)

Karl Marx, Marginal Notes to the Program of the German Workers Party (1875?)

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Strategy and Tactics of the Class Struggle (1879)

H., interview with Karl Marx, Chicago Tribune (1879)

Karl Marx, The Civil War in France (1891)

Frederick Engels, "The Law of Value and Rate of Profit" (1895)

The Gotha Program (1875)

The Erfurt Program (1891)

Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism (1909)

Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach



The Russian Revolution

Telegram from the American Consulate in Sweden to the U.S. Secretary of State, March 17, 1917 contributed by David Trail

Telegram from the American Consulate in Petrograd to the U.S. Secretary of State, March 20, 1917 contributed by David Trail

Telegram from the American Consulate in Moscow to the U.S. Secretary of State, March 20, 1917 contributed by David Trail

Africa and Asia

Africa

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life (1789) part one

Asia

The Diary of Lady Sarashina (1009-1059)

The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (1889) contributed by Jonathan Dresner, Harvard University

The Constitution of Japan, 1947 contributed by Jonathan Dresner, Harvard University

Anne Bradstreet, A Dialogue Between Old England and New (1630)

John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity (1630)

The Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641)

Samuel Willard, A briefe account of . . . Elizabeth Knap of Groton (c.1671)

Increase Mather, Remarkable Providences relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1684) excerpts

Instructions to Sir Edmund Andros, concerning Rhode Island and Connecticut charters(1686)

Commercial Orders to Governor Andros(1686-1687)

Orders for sending Sir Edmund Andros to England (1689)

George Burroughs, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Abigail Faulkner, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Elizabeth Fosdick and Elizabeth Paine, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Dorcas Good, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Elizabeth Hart, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Abigail Hobbs, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Mary Ireson, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Sarah Osborn, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

John Proctor, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Tituba, witchcraft court records, Salem, 1692

Eighteenth-Century American History

Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1772)





Nineteenth-Century American History

"Steamboat Adventure: Down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with Nicholas and Lydia Roosevelt, 1811-1812" (an anthology of primary sources)

Benedict Family Letters, 1839-1852 (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

Documents about women's education in Madison, Indiana, Madison Courier, 1841.

Jenny Lind's 1851 appearance in Madison, Indiana: program and lyrics; news reports; description from Charles Rosenberg, Jenny Lind in America, 1851; description from Olive Logan, Before the Footlights and Behind the Scenes, 1870

Sarah Butler Hendricks, prose and poetry, c. 1854 (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

Hendricks family letters, 1856-1859 (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

Joseph McHenry Adkinson family letters, 1863-1864 (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

news of Joseph McHenry Adkinson, from D. D. McKee, 1864 (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

Adkinson family papers, 1863-1994?

Julia Eddy letters, 1864-1868 (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

Alfred G. Runner letters, 1864 (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

Cyril Tyler letters, 1861-1862? (manuscript originals in the Hanover College archives)

"An Investigation of the Causes of Those Dark Forebodings Which Make Powerful Man Weak," Madison Courier, 1882

Charles Alling, Jr., student diary, 1883-1884 (manuscript original in the Hanover College archives)

"Great Father Speaks to 189 Tribes of Indians," Madison Courier, 1914

"The Town Wild with Joy: First News of Signing of Armistice Received by the Courier at Three A. M.," Madison Courier, 1918

"Marshall's Key Note at the Indiana Democratic State Convention Today," Madison Courier, 1920

Hanover College Triangle, reports on antiwar protest, 1970

Hanover College and Jefferson County from 1820 to 1850

The Call of Hanover Church to John Finley Crowe, 1823

Portrait of John Finley Crowe

The Bye-Laws and Standing Rules of the Madison Presbytery, 1826

Records of Hanover Academy, 1828-1833 (edited and excerpted)

Minutes of Hanover Academy, 1828-1833

Inaugural Address of President James Blythe, 1833

Portrait of James Blythe

Alexander Kinmont, Discourse Delivered Before the Union Literary, 1836

Documents Related to the Controversy Surrounding President Duncan Macaulay, 1837-1838

Inaugural Address of President Duncan McAuley, 1838 (edited)

Inaugural Address of President Duncan McAuley, 1838

Inaugural Address of President Erasmus D. MacMaster, 1838

Documents about women's education in Madison, Indiana, Madison Courier, 1841.

Crowe, John Finley, "Colonization Society Address," 1845

The Inaugural Address of President Sylvester Scovel, 1847

Hanover College and Jefferson County from 1851 to 1900

Jenny Lind's 1851 appearance in Madison, Indiana: program and lyrics; news reports; description from Charles Rosenberg, Jenny Lind in America, 1851; description from Olive Logan, Before the Footlights and Behind the Scenes, 1870

Sarah Butler Hendricks, prose and poetry, c. 1854

Hendricks family letters, 1856-1859

Crowe, John Finley, "Address to Literary Societies," 1857

Elias Riggs Monfort Collection (Civil War letters from and to a Hanover student fighting in the war)

Address by John H. Holliday to the Philathean Society of Hanover College, 1863

Frederick Douglass's visit to Madison, 1880 (newspaper stories)

March editorials, Hanover Monthly, 1884

Charles Alling, Jr., student diary, 1883-1884

A Tall Youth from Eureka" [J. F. Crowe, Jr.], San Francisco Chronicle, 1891

Hanover College and Jefferson County from 1901 to 1930

Hanover College in the national news, 1903

"Why Triangle" and "An Apology," Hanover College Triangle, 1909

Hanover College Triangle (advertisements for local businesses), 1909

"Keep Busy" and "Student Publicity," Hanover College Triangle, 1909

"Tomorrow's Game," Hanover College Triangle, 1909

"A Collegiate Move on Lynching," Hanover College Triangle, 1916

"Students Decide in Favor of Compulsory Drill," Hanover College Triangle, 1917 (and related articles).

"Twelve Letters Awarded at Football Banquet," Hanover College Triangle, 1917

"The Town Wild with Joy: First News of Signing of Armistice Received by the Courier at Three A. M.," Madison Courier, 1918

"College Ground Near Ballard's Probable Links," Hanover College Triangle, 1927

"Hanover College Is Century Old," Hanover College Triangle, 1927.

"The Administrative Column: Does College Pay?,"; " Are Co-Eds Smarter Than Men," Hanover Triangle, 1930

Hanover College and Jefferson County from 1931 to 1950

"Choosing That Course"; "The College Dream Girl," Hanover College Triangle, 1930.

"Harris Discusses Liquor Situation and Lawlessness," Hanover College Triangle, 1933.

"Parker Gives College Side of Question - Business Men Agree Not To Sell Drink - NO BEER ADS - Statement Given After Interview," Hanover College Triangle, 1933.

Tom Young, "Wilkinson and Perkins Star as Hanover Downs Sycamores 13-7," Hanover College Triangle, 1937

[Charles Kemf?], "Bubbles Hargrave Describes Life In Air Corps at Hawaiian Island," Hanover College Triangle, 1941.

"Cut System Seeks Class Absence Curb," Hanover College Triangle, 1941

"Opportunities Offered By V-1 Navy Training Will Aid in the Fraternity Rushing Program -- Will Make Graduation Likely For Acceptees," Hanover College Triangle, 1942

"Hillis Describes Japan Situation," Hanover College Triangle, 1945

"Manpower Mounting Magically Modes Modified To 'Mergency" Hanover College Triangle, 1945

Bruce, Frances Barnes, graduation speech, 1945

Bobb, Jessie Ruth, senior chapel talk, 1945

Hassler, Jean Elizabeth, valedictory address, 1945

Hanover College and Jefferson County from 1951 to 2000

"Hanover Plan Quick To Be Scrutinized," Hanover College Triangle, 1962

"Beanie-clad Freshmen Represent Our Future," Hanover College Triangle, 1962 (and related articles)

"Jesse Owens to Talk," Hanover College Triangle, 1964

"Chivalry Ends: Equipment Replaces Human Hands" Hanover College Triangle, 1964

Austin, Robert W., "The Threshold of Boredom," 1964

John McDonough, "For Kent State, Cambodia -- Student[s] Express Concern In Letters," Hanover College Triangle, 1970 (and related articles)

News of the 1969 draft lottery, the 1970 shootings at Kent State University, and the 1974 tornado (from the Hanover College Triangle and the Madison (Indiana) Courier

John Horner, "Will Hanover Be Here in 1985?" 1975

Jakoubek, Jane T., Fall Convocation Address, 1999

Luttmer, Frank, "The Devil, History, and Studia Humanitatis," 1999

Hanover College and Jefferson County after 2000

Nichols, Russell L., Fall Convocation Address, 2001

Pence, Mike, commencement address, 2008

Reisser, Jan-Niklas, commencement address, 2014

Hale, J. Joseph, Jr., commencement address, 2014

Lambert, Lake, III, Inaugural Address, 2015

Lambert, Lake, III, "Sojourning for Truth," 2018

Secondary Sources on Hanover College History

Austgen, Suzanne M., "A History of Literary Societies at Hanover College" Hanover Historical Review 2 (1994)

Blake, I. George, excerpt from "The Civil War Came to Campus," 1963

Millis, William A., The History of Hanover College from 1827 to 1927, 1927

Moore, A. Y., History of Hanover College, 1900

Transcriptions of Manuscripts Held in the Hanover College Archives

The following are the results of various student projects in transcribing archival material housed at the Duggan Library. Elias Riggs Monfort and Charles Alling, Jr., are Hanover alumni, but others on this list have more tenuous connections to the college.

Documents from the Duggan Library's Archive are under the copyright of Hanover College. Permission is granted to copy and use the documents for educational purposes, though not for commercial purposes. More information on manuscripts in the Hanover College Archives is available here.

Adkinson family papers, 1863-1994?

Joseph McHenry Adkinson letters, 1863-1864

news of Joseph McHenry Adkinson, from D. D. McKee, 1864

Julia Eddy letters, 1864-1868

Alfred G. Runner letters, 1864

Cyril Tyler letters, 1861-1862?

Charles Alling, Jr., student diary, 1883-1884

Benedict family Letters, 1839-1852

Hendricks family letters, 1856-1859

Sarah Butler Hendricks, prose and poetry, c. 1854

Elias Riggs Monfort Collection (Civil War letters from and to the Monfort and Taylor families)

Rogers family papers, 1917-1918

Last Updated: Oct. 20, 2018