Our Shared Heritage: Revolution Crossroads

The Revolution Crossroads project is led by the Smithsonian, in partnership with the Library of Congress, and staffed by a cross-disciplinary team of technologists, curators, and educators exploring the intersection of history and emerging technology.  

For inquiries, contact us at revolutioncrossroads@si.edu 

The datasets listed here represent the publicly available records we are drawing on for the Revolution Crossroads project—newspapers, pension files, museum objects, letters, and more. By bringing these materials together across institutions, the project makes it possible to explore connections and stories that are easier to see when collections are examined side by side. Additional datasets may be added as the project grows. 

• The Smithsonian’s Revolutionary Era materials consist of a wide variety of items drawn from several of its museums that reflect many facets of late 18th-century life—from military equipment and household items to early American currency and personal belongings of historical figures. Key contributions come from the National Museum of American History, the National Postal Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. These diverse holdings include military equipment, letters, postal route maps, miniature portraits, coins, garments and much more—together painting a fuller picture of the Revolutionary period.
• Chronicling America is a freely accessible digital archive of historic American newspapers, created by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress through the National Digital Newspaper Program. With over 13 million pages spanning 1690 to 1963, it offers a rich window into the nation’s past. For this project, we are focusing on a selected subset of newspaper issues published between 1770 and 1810—capturing how the press reported on the Revolutionary Era as events unfolded in real time. These pages offer valuable context, firsthand perspectives, and everyday details from communities across the early United States.
• The  Revolutionary War Pension Files are held by the National Archives and Records Administration, and they include more than 82,000 files that contain over 2 million pages. The pension files contain personal stories and supporting documents from veterans and their families, who applied for military pensions or land grants after the war. These records often include details like where and when a veteran served, and in which battles they took part. Many files also include information from widows seeking benefits—offering glimpses into marriages, family life, and community ties. Together, these documents provide a rich and sometimes deeply personal view of life during and after the Revolutionary War.