U.S. State Department's Documentary History: Volume 1 of the Documentary History of the Constitution of the United States of America, 1786-1870 contains materials deposited with the U.S. Department of State regarding the Constitution’s drafting. This includes the “official” journal of the Convention, which was transferred from its president, George Washington, to the department.
Madison's Notes: James Madison took detailed notes at the Constitutional Convention and was considered by many of its members to be the body’s 'unofficial' reporter. Madison reviewed and edited his notes after the 1819 publication of the Journal. After Madison died in 1836, his wife Dolley sold his manuscript to the U.S. Government, which finally published it in 1840.
Farrand's Debates: Historian Max Farrand was the first to comprehensively make constitutional source material more widely available through his The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, published in 1911. Farrand assembled the Constitutional Convention’s Journal, notes of the participants, Convention drafts and post-Convention supplementary material, such as participant correspondence.
Documentary History: The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution is a huge ongoing collection of contemporaneous public and private materials for the development, creation and ratification of the Constitution and its amendments. It is available at many libraries in print and online, to which Villanova University subscribes. Volumes 1-36 covers the Revolutionary era as well as the Constitution’s drafting, ratification by the states and indexes.
The Law Library has physical volumes 1-3 and 14-16. Falvey Library has a more complete set. The call number for locating volumes in either library is KF4502.D63.
The Federalist Papers: The Federalist Papers are a collection of 85 essays authored mostly by James Madison with some by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay (though the authors published their work anonymously under the pseudonym Publius). These were published from 1787-88 in New York newspapers to gather support for that state's ratification of the Constitution. Falvey Library and the Law Library have several compilations and republications of The Federalist Papers at call number KF4515.F4. The Library of Congress publishes an online version.
Anti-Federalist Writings: Anti-federalists opposed the U.S. Constitution’s ratification. Prominent opponents to the Constitution included John Hancock, Patrick Henry and George Mason. Various publications of their writings exist, with the most prominent likely being The Complete Anti-Federalist, edited by Professor Herbert J. Storing.
Elliot's Debates: Publisher Jonathan Elliot tackled collecting and publishing reports on the state ratifying conventions, mostly from newspapers in a multivolume set originally between 1827-1830. Elliot has been criticized for his political motivations in publishing the debates as well as for including questionable sources.
Miracle at Philadelphia by 