Internet Search Engines
Archives, libraries, and museums continue to digitize and transcribe their collections of primary source materials and make them freely accessible online. Here are some popular collections to explore:
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Considered our country's national archive and preserver of our "cultural memory," the digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials associated with American History including manuscripts, broadsides, oral histories, government documents, books, images, and maps.
Provides free public access to primary sources from the state of California—including manuscripts, photographs, artwork, scientific data and more—through collection guides and 250,000 digitized images and documents.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept forever.Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you.
ArchiveGrid includes over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
New York Public Library's Digital Collections
700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
Includes documents that chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Search and read newspaper pages from several states, including California; search a directory (including library holdings) for U.S. newspapers published from 1690-present.
America's Archive (Rice University)
Strives to represent the full range and complexity of the Americas history by bringing together key documents that examines political and cultural relationships from a hemispheric perspective. Its goal is to represent the full range and complexity of a multilingual “Americas” that includes Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America from the beginning of colonization to the present.
AmDocs: Documents for the Study of American History
Extensive collection of links to U.S. historical documents from 1000 c.e. to the present.
Eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
The September 11 Digital Archive uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the history of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. The Archive contains more than 150,000 digital items, a tally that includes more than 40,000 emails and other electronic communications, more than 40,000 first-hand stories, and more than 15,000 digital images.
In 1964, volunteers gathered at the former Western College for Women (now a part of Miami University) for “Freedom Summer,” to be trained to register African-American voters in Mississippi. Three volunteers were subsequently found murdered in Mississippi. The events of Freedom Summer helped to call attention to racial inequality and serve as a catalyst for change.
Scanned -- and redacted -- images of FBI files of (in)famous individuals and groups.
The video library records, indexes, and archives all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational, research, and archival uses. Every C-SPAN program aired since 1987, now totaling over 170,000 hours, is contained in the C-SPAN Archives.
American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election
Consists of 59 sound recordings of speeches by American leaders from 1918-1920. The speeches focus on issues and events surrounding WWI and the subsequent presidential election of 1920. Speakers include: Warren G. Harding, James Cox, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Gompers, Henry Cabot Lodge and John J. Pershing. Speeches range from one to five minutes.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
Recorded histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations.
A broad collection of digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government, from ancient times to the present.
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates
Contains digitized early U.S. government documents from 1774-1885 including the American State Papers, early U.S. Serial Set vols, the Congressional Globe, and House & Senate Journals.
Site created by BYU, it provides links to full text historical documents from European countries. Also lists other websites that link to historical document sites for other regions, nations, continents.
Internet East Asia History Sourcebook
Directory to hundreds of documents and sites that have links sources for Asian history.
This "is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly... for educational use. Quite extensive, all periods, all regions.
These sites may produce primary visual information.
Los Angeles Times Photographs Collection
Features more than 5000 images that chronicle the history and growth of Los Angeles from the 1920s to 1990.
Online database of historical images.
Photographs that appeared in LIFE Magazine.
New York Public Library Picture Collection Online
Contains 30,000 high-resolution digital images taken from the New York Public Library's extensive collection of books, magazines, newspapers, photographs, and prints. Most images are pre-1923, and the collection is especially strong in the areas of fashion and natural history.
Images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II.
American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement (up to 1844)
American Journeys contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
Archive of Early American Images A database of images of the colonial Americas, 1492-1825
A database of pictures of the colonial Americas, from Hudson Bay to Tierra Del Fuego based entirely on primary sources printed or created between 1492 and ca. 1825.
Extensive digital library of primary source texts and artifacts, covering Ancient Greece and Rome, the English Renaissance, and early North American history.
Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
Provides access to more than one million historically significant digital images, some of which can be freely downloaded.