Educational Resources

The Williamsburg Bray School: A History Through Records, Reflections, and Rediscovery

Seven letters that trace the arc of the Williamsburg Bray School—from its founding in 1760 to its closing in 1774—are the foundation for a collection of essays that explores history and implications of the 18th-century school for enslaved and...

Colonial Williamsburg: The Story

It was in Williamsburg, Virginia, that American independence—and democracy—took root. And it is in the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg that millions have learned about the continuing relevance of America's founding ideas. Spanning...

The United States Constitution - The Full Text With Supplementary Materials

The United States Constitution - The Full Text With Supplementary Materials, by Dover Publications, is an excellent resource for students and history enthusiasts alike. The basis of our nation's law and government, the Constitution is America's most...

What Is the Constitution?

What is the Constitution? is an illustrated book by Patricia Brennan Demuth for kids ages 8-12 that provides readers with the whole story–arguments and all–of how the United States Constitution came into being. This book...

Colonial Williamsburg Kids Sticker Playset

How will the people of Colonial Williamsburg dress today? This fun Colonial Williamsburg Kids Sticker Playset lets kids answer that very question! The trifold sticker book features people inside three of Williamsburg's iconic buildings, The Raleigh...

The Hammerman of Williamsburg DVD

The Hammerman in Williamsburg DVD is back from the archives! Produced in 1973, this 38 minute film features a master blacksmith who explains why the "hammerman" was one of the most vital craftsmen in town. Year-round work for the blacksmith kept the...

Dunmore's War: The Last Conflict of America's Colonial Era

Known to history as "Dunmore's War," the 1774 campaign against a Shawnee-led Indian confederacy in the Ohio Country marked the final time an American colonial militia took to the field in His Majesty’s service and under royal command. Led by John...

You Can Learn Children's Craft Kit - Calligraphy

Teach your kids a skill from the early days of American life with You Can Learn Craft Kits! This children's calligraphy kit allows kids to imagine and experience what life was like in the past when young girls and boys learned how to write with a quill...

You Can Learn Children's Craft Kit - Weaving

Teach your kids a skill from the early days of American life with You Can Learn Craft Kits! This children's weaving kit allows kids to imagine and experience what life was like in the past when young girls and boys learned useful skills to contribute to...

Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs

Kathleen Brown examines the origins of racism and slavery in British North America from the perspective of gender. Both a basic social relationship and a model for other social hierarchies, gender helped determine the construction of racial categories...

Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence

In his celebrated account of the origins of American unity, John Adams described July 1776 as the moment when thirteen clocks managed to strike at the same time. So how did these American colonies overcome long odds to create a durable union capable of...

The Power of Objects in Eighteenth-Century British America

Over the course of the eighteenth century, Anglo-Americans purchased an unprecedented number and array of goods. The Power of Objects in Eighteenth-Century British America investigates these diverse artifacts—from portraits and city views to...

Virginia 1619: Slavery and Freedom in the Making of English America

Virginia 1619 provides an opportunity to reflect on the origins of English colonialism around the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic world. As the essays here demonstrate, Anglo-Americans have been simultaneously experimenting with representative government...

Fatal Revolutions: Natural History, West Indian Slavery, and the Routes of American Literature

Drawing on letters, illustrations, engravings, and neglected manuscripts, Christopher Iannini connects two dramatic transformations in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world--the emergence and growth of the Caribbean plantation system and the rise of...

The Common Cause: Creating Race and Nation in the American Revolution

When the Revolutionary War began, the odds of a united, continental effort to resist the British seemed nearly impossible. Few on either side of the Atlantic expected thirteen colonies to stick together in a war against their cultural cousins. In this...

Foul Means: The Formation of a Slave Society in Virginia, 1660-1740

Challenging the generally accepted belief that the introduction of racial slavery to America was an unplanned consequence of a scarce labor market, Anthony Parent, Jr., contends that during a brief period spanning the late seventeenth and early...

Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia

In this provocative reinterpretation of one of the best-known events in American history, Woody Holton shows that when Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other elite Virginians joined their peers from other colonies in declaring independence from...

Race, Removal, and the Right to Remain: Migration and the Making of the United States

Who had the right to live within the newly united states of America? In the country's founding decades, federal and state politicians debated which categories of people could remain and which should be subject to removal. The result was a white...

Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840

In the first comprehensive history of the fraternity known to outsiders primarily for its secrecy and rituals, Steven Bullock traces Freemasonry through its first century in America. He follows the order from its origins in Britain and its introduction...

Powdered Ink

Pen a note the 18th century way with this Powdered Ink. When mixed with water, this powder produces a rich colored ink for use with quills and other dip pens. Instructions and historical information are provided on the envelopes. A fun way to send a...

Striped Red Earthenware Inkwell

Add historic charm to your desk with this Striped Red Earthenware Inkwell. This reproduction inkwell would have been a common site to inhabitants of Williamsburg in the 18th century. Made of more common materials, such as earthenware, or finely crafted...

Red Earthenware Inkwell

Add historic charm to your desk with this Red Earthenware Inkwell. This reproduction inkwell would have been a common site to inhabitants of Williamsburg in the 18th century. Made of more common materials, such as earthenware, or finely crafted in...

Travel 4-Player Shut the Box Game

A traditional game of counting, addition, and probability, Shut-the-Box dates as far back as the 12th century when this game was enjoyed by Norman fishermen after a long day at sea. Roll the dice and lay down any numerical combination of tiles that match...

The U.S. Constitution and Other Writings

The U.S. Constitution and Other Writings is part of the leather-bound classics series and is a collection of the crucial documents, speeches, and other writings that shaped the United States. In addition to the Constitution, readers can review the...

Four Documents of Freedom

Choose this unique set for the American history buff in your life, young or old. This impressive set of four antiqued historical documents includes the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and Abraham...

Red Thunder

While cannons thundered, swords flashed, and the sky turned red with flame, Nate Chandler and his enslaved friend, James, went about the darker business of espionage. Their spy world of whispered conspiracies, secret missions alone in the dead of night,...

Quill Pen

A goose feather quill pen and powdered ink were the basic writing instruments in the 18th century. Our quill pens are made from the finest quality bleached white goose pointers. The nib may be re-sharpened and re-shaped as often as necessary...

Why The Turkey Didn't Fly

In the Colonial Williamsburg book, Why The Turkey Didn't Fly, the answers to the following questions are revealed: Why did the eagle become our national symbol, even though Franklin preferred the turkey? How did Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington...

The Idea of America: Our Values, Our Legacy, Our Future

"The Idea of America backs us out of current conflicts and gives insight into the values that have made our country such a shining light to others. Now, more than ever, we need to revisit these values and the tensions they create - and work to fulfill...