Historic Pittsburgh Book Collection

What's online?

The Historic Pittsburgh Book Collection contains publications from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that document Pittsburgh-area history and culture. This “collection” is comprised of texts selected from the collections of several of our partner institutions. It is an attempt at providing a unique overview to local Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania history by exploring social issues, personalities, communities, religions, industries and landmarks that make up the history and the culture of the Pittsburgh region from the Colonial Period through World War II

About the Historic Pittsburgh Books

Most of the materials in Historic Pittsburgh Book Collection were published or produced before the early 1920s and are out of print or not readily accessible. These materials cover the growth and development of Pittsburgh and the surrounding Western Pennsylvania area from the period of exploration and settlement through the industrial revolution to the Great Depression. Read more...

Items that offer information thought to be, or to approximate, primary source materials are given priority over items considered to be interpretive history. The collection also includes representative works of the general history of Pittsburgh. It should be understood that Historic Pittsburgh does not represent a complete body of work that covers the entire history of the region, but rather an informed selection of materials that should serve to introduce and assist in the scholarly study of Pittsburgh and the surrounding Western Pennsylvania area.

Because most of the items selected for the Historic Pittsburgh Book Collection were published before the early 1920s, they reflect the attitudes and beliefs -- the historical context -- of the time in which they were produced. Certain materials in the collection may be offensive to some readers. The user should keep in mind the historical context of the material when searching for information. The user also should be aware of the possibility that there will be variations in spelling and meaning (for example, the use of native Americans in early published works generally refers to the Caucasian people who settled in America, rather than the native American Indian tribes).

Some of the original source materials used for Historic Pittsburgh may have marginalia, torn pages, or other physical defects which appear on the digital images. Every effort possible has been made to maintain the integrity and ensure the completeness of each item. In some cases, though, an item with limited missing information may be included in the collection because its content has significant research value.

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