Please note: The Library is closed Saturday, July 4, and Sunday, July 5. We reopen for normal hours at 9:00 AM on Monday, July 6.

As we never tire of saying, this Library was founded in 1754, making us a British institution that got adopted into the United States at independence (in a literal sense, since George Washington was inaugurated down the hall from us). Many of the founding fathers used this Library’s collection 1789-92, as documented in the digitized ledger that features John Adams, John Jay, and Aaron Burr, among many others.

Our collection, founded in those old colonial days, reflects two and a half centuries of thought, celebration, and weirdness about our national heritage. Here are a few items that catch the eye for this Independence Day.

Our oldest relevant book looks to be a multi-volume subscription affair with some reference to, er, chickens:
Gordon, William. The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment, of the Independence of the United States of America: Including an Account of the Late War; and of the Thirteen Colonies, from Their Origin to That Period (London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Charles Dilly, in the Poultry; and James Buckland, in Pater-Noster-Row, 1788, Z-M G6657 H4).
Its escutcheon is somewhat biffed by a cataloger’s incisive note: “This work is a plagiarism.” 

The next highlight suggests one of those good old small-town Fourth of July parades:
Lathrop, John. An Oration, Pronounced on the 4th Day of July, 1798, at the Request of a Number of the Inhabitants of Dedham and Its Vicinity: In Commemoration of the Anniversary of American Independence (1798, Z-M L3548 O6)

Those Founding Fathers: we can’t get enough of them. One can’t help wondering if the happy alliteration of the phrase keeps them perpetually before our eyes. We want to know about their faiths, their failures, their intimate lives (by Library member Thomas Fleming!), and their gardens.

But even better than Founding Fathers are FORGOTTEN Founding Fathers. Did you know about Charles Pinckney, George Mason, Luther Martin, Robert Carter, John Winthrop (here too!), Richard Varick, Noah Webster (also this), and everybody else? And while we're finding the forgotten, Abigail Adams reminds us to "remember the ladies."

Here's where I confess my favorite Fourth-related work: The Edwards/Stone musical 1776 (1964, 822 E). Yes, it makes Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams soft-shoe while singing "chirp, chirp, chirp" - but it also crams in a surprising amount of historic language from the Continental Congress. Highly recommend both the script and the original cast album. Elsewhere on the eclectic end, George Plimpton traces the history and impact of everyone's favorite accoutrement of patriotism in Fireworks (1984, 662 P) and Mouse That Roared creator Leonard Wibberley records debates straight from the Elysian Fields among Jefferson, Voltaire, and assorted angels in 1776 - And All That: (Being a True and Detailed Account of a Visitation to the White House in Connection with the Bicentenary of the United States of America, 1776-1976) (1975, F W).

But seriously, Independence Day weekend is a good chance to get a fresh overview of America's founding and its legacies. Acclaimed guides here include
David McCullough's 1776 (2005, 973.3 M),
William Hogeland's Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-June 4, 1776 (2010, 973.31 H), and
Richard R. Beeman's Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776 (2013, 973.3 B).

For recent and different perspectives, you might look to
Clarence Lusane's The Black History of the White House (2011, 325.26 L),
Danielle S. Allen's Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (2014), or
David Armitage's The Declaration of Independence: A Global History (2007, 973.3 A).

For younger Americans, our Children's Library recommends
Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies by Cokie Roberts and Diane Goode (2014, Juv 973.3 R)
and the hands-on history in Revolutionary War Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes by David C. King and Cheryl Kirk Noll (2001, Juv 973.3 K).
And I can't resist adding one of my favorites, This Land is Your Land with beautiful paintings by Kathy Jakobsen (1998, Juv 784.4 G).

Or maybe you've had all the history you can take, and this book covers all your Independence Day needs!

Regardless, we wish you a pleasant and festive one.