Collection
Archive gallery
Each tile pairs an archival record with a literary excerpt. Hover to surface the catalog number; open an entry for the full juxtaposition.
- Bradstreet Household, Cluster AImageESSEX-QUARTERLY-BRADSTREET-1660
1662–1666 · Manuscript poem; court record; legal archive
Anne Bradstreet, ‘Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House’ — close reading in relation to court records of William Young, as discussed by Christy Pottroff. A domestic lyric of loss and spiritual reflection is read alongside a court record documenting the punishment and disappearance of an indentured servant in the Bradstreet household, revealing contrasting archival traces of desire, discipline, and power.
Literary pairing
Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House · Anne Bradstreetfrom The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, 1678
“And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took…”
Open entry
- Letter from William Craft to Theodore Parker, Cluster APDF facsimileMHS-CRAFT-PARKER-1851
January 24, 1851 · Ink on paper (handwritten letter; digitized microfilm scan)
William Craft letter — close reading in relation to Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom. A private letter becomes a site of political argument: gratitude, refusal, and moral clarity converge as Craft thanks Theodore Parker while rejecting the purchase of his family’s freedom.
Literary pairing
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom · William and Ellen CraftPublished 1860
“A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs… he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything but what must belong to his master.”
Open entry
- Apology Resolution, Cluster BPDF facsimileUSCR-APOLOGY-2009
2009 · Printed Congressional resolution; legislative text
United States Congressional Apology to Native Peoples — close reading in relation to Whereas. A formal apology unfolds through dense legal language, acknowledging “official depredations” while embedding disclaimers that limit accountability and foreclose reparative action.
Literary pairing
Whereas · Layli Long SoldierGraywolf Press, 2017
“I read a document / not to understand it / but to feel it / as language.”
Open entry
- Black Prince Logbook, Cluster CImageBP-LOG-1762-63
1762–1763 · Handwritten ship log; maritime record
Logbook of the Black Prince — close reading in relation to Wake. A ship captain’s log records the daily operations of a slave voyage, reducing violence, resistance, and death to routine entries within the language of trade and discipline.
Literary pairing
Wake · Rebecca HallSimon & Schuster, 2021
Begins from archival fragments like the Black Prince logbook to imagine lives and resistance the official record cannot fully preserve.
Open entry
- Silence and Survival, Cluster DSO-LORDE-1977
1977 · Essay; published speech
“Poetry Is Not a Luxury” — close reading in relation to archival absence and the limits of official record. Lorde reframes poetry as a vital mode of knowledge-making, arguing that language is necessary for survival, especially for those whose lives are not fully recorded in official archives.
Literary pairing
Poetry Is Not a Luxury · Audre Lordefrom Sister Outsider, 1984
“The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live…”
Open entry