"Umbra Search African American History makes African American history more broadly accessible through a freely available widget and search tool, umbrasearch.org." Use the search to find materials across archives.
Personal letters, scrapbooks, and autobiographies, as well as papers and records of organizations, showing the communal and social aspects of Jewish identity and culture, whilst tracing Jewish involvement in the political life of American society as a whole.
La Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña de la Universidad de Puerto Rico es un repositorio en línea de imágenes y texto relacionadas con la historia y la cultura puertorriqueña.
Searchable database of 150,000 pages of letters and diaries, drawn from journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings.
This database offers full-color, high-resolution facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed 1820–1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed 1760–1900.
Chronicling America is a website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Sort newspapers by ethnicity, date, and state.
Over 60,000 primary source documents including correspondence, diaries, government documents, business records, books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, photographs, artwork and maps, documenting American history.
The material covering North America covers the varied frontier regions from fur trappers in Canada to cowboys in Texas and government in Baja California. It is divided into the frontier regions of the American East, the American Midwest, the American Southwest, California & Mexico and Canada.
As a collection of general Americana, the Newberry’s Edward E. Ayer Collection is one of the best in the country and one of the strongest collections on American Indians in the world.
This guide is a compilation of many of the resources on the Indians of North America available at the Library of Congress as well as selected resources outside the Library. They are organized by format.
Documents relating to American Indian history in the US, Canada and Mexico, including treaties, speeches and diaries, historic maps and travel journals, and artwork.
(From the World History Encyclopedia) The Jesuit Relations, published in France from 1632 to 1673, were a series of annual reports from the Roman Catholic Jesuit missions in the lands claimed by France in North America. The Relations were written as an appeal to French Catholics in hopes of gathering the political and financial support that was essential for the maintenance of the missions.
"This collection features materials covering the centuries long struggles of Indigenous Americans to resist European imperialism and maintain their culture and autonomy. Focuses of the collection include Native American political prisoners, documents and recordings from the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the 1992 Tribunal which centered on challenging the 500th anniversary of Columbus "discovering" America."
"The US National Archives holds 374 of the treaties, where they are known as the Ratified Indian Treaties. Here you can view them for the first time with key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of our shared lands."
The Publications of the American Ethnological Society include some translated indigenous stories. Some of the editors of these collections were indigenous, some not. For example. Jones was an anthropologist of the Fox nation who collected and translated tales from Ojibwe, Fox, and Kickapoo peoples. There is usually little context or expository methodological information.
Browse these titles online or on the shelf for translated folk tales.
Images filtered by date, place, subject, and searchable. Concentration on images from Spanish sources on Indigenous cultures, particularly Arctic peoples, South American, and Southern present-day US.
The Chaco Research Archive is an online resource providing access to a wealth of information documenting the history of archaeological research in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The archive includes material from dozens of sites excavated in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park and beyond.
A scholarly critical edition of primary source materials about Native communities from the American Northeast gathered into one robust virtual collection.
The Native Northeast Portal is a platform for research, scholarly editing, commentary and community sharing of primary source materials from multiple holding institutions.
These photos depict the people, places, and practices of Native Americans and their communities from at least 34 States, plus Canada and Mexico in the period from 1909-1953.
Sources on slavery in the Medieval period across the world, browsable by region and century. Includes digitized resources on the site as well as a bibliography of sources found elsewhere.
EEBO contains searchable and browsable page images of virtually every work printed in the English-speaking world from 1473 to 1700, as well as some items printed after 1700.
Searchable and sortable databases of the Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American slave trades as well as the names of African people taken into captivity. Users can sort data on point of departure, gender, slave ship captain, and many many more variables. Site includes image galleries that contextualize data with historical maps, ship manifests, drawings, and more.
(From the World History Encyclopedia) The Jesuit Relations, published in France from 1632 to 1673, were a series of annual reports from the Roman Catholic Jesuit missions in the lands claimed by France in North America. The Relations were written as an appeal to French Catholics in hopes of gathering the political and financial support that was essential for the maintenance of the missions.
Colonial North America at Harvard Library provides access to digitized manuscripts and archives documenting a wide range of topics related to 17th- and 18th-century North America.
The Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) is a collection of electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820.
The records of these congregations document births, deaths, and marriages, but also open a window onto the lives of ordinary people deliberating on matters both sacred and secular.
The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online is a collection of writings and articles from important early American theologian Jonathan Edwards. The collection contains edited published works and raw manuscripts.
Web displays of manuscripts and early printed works about the lives of African Americans in Massachusetts from the late 17th century through the abolition of slavery in the state in 1780.
As a collection of general Americana, the Newberry’s Edward E. Ayer Collection is one of the best in the country and one of the strongest collections on American Indians in the world.
"Consists of the original correspondence between the British government and the governments of the American colonies, making it a uniquely rich resource for all historians of the period." Coverage: 1606-1822.
Colonial North America at Harvard Library provides access to digitized manuscripts and archives documenting a wide range of topics related to 17th- and 18th-century North America.
The Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) is a collection of electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820.
The material covering North America covers the varied frontier regions from fur trappers in Canada to cowboys in Texas and government in Baja California. It is divided into the frontier regions of the American East, the American Midwest, the American Southwest, California & Mexico and Canada.
The Bexar Archives are the official Spanish documents that preserve the political, military, economic, and social life of the Spanish province of Texas and the Mexican state of Coahulia y Texas.
Searchable and sortable databases of the Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American slave trades as well as the names of African people taken into captivity. Users can sort data on point of departure, gender, slave ship captain, and many many more variables. Site includes image galleries that contextualize data with historical maps, ship manifests, drawings, and more.
Covering the history of Caribbean territories under British colonial governance from 1624 to 1870, this resource includes administrative documentation, trade and shipping records, minutes of council meetings, and details of plantation life, colonial settlement, imperial rivalries, and the growing concern of absentee landlords.
Documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world, with close attention given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social-justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.
EEBO contains searchable and browsable page images of virtually every work printed in the English-speaking world from 1473 to 1700, as well as some items printed after 1700.
Journals printed c.1685–1835, illuminating 18th-century social, political and literary life. Topics covered include colonial life, provincial and rural affairs, the French and American revolutions, reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe, political debates, and London coffee house gossip and discussion.
Features printed books, journals, historic maps, broadsides, periodicals, advertisements, photographs, artwork and more, documenting westward expansion in America from the early-18th to the mid-20th century.
In general, collecting at the DeGolyer Library emphasizes the American West, the borderlands, exploration, business history and transportation, particularly the railroads.
The material covering North America covers the varied frontier regions from fur trappers in Canada to cowboys in Texas and government in Baja California. It is divided into the frontier regions of the American East, the American Midwest, the American Southwest, California & Mexico and Canada.
As a collection of general Americana, the Newberry’s Edward E. Ayer Collection is one of the best in the country and one of the strongest collections on American Indians in the world.
"These sketch maps were hand-copied from originals that were created from approximately 1827-1846. Many of the diseños have labeled neighboring properties and as part of the initial land grant process all boarders were agreed upon by surrounding landowners. The diseños also show existing travel routes, locations of houses and local place names."
The Denver Public Library’s Western History/Genealogy Department collection of digitized photographs (formerly Photoswest) chronicles the people, places and events that shaped the settlement and growth of the Western United States.
The Early Advertising of the West collection consists of over 450 print advertisements published in local magazines, city directories, and theater pamphlets from 1867 to 1918.
Explore more than 130,000 digitized images from the Newberry’s renowned Graff collection, documenting America’s westward expansion. Topics covered include narratives from explorers, pioneers, hunters, traders, and prospectors; accounts of the Mormon treks of 1846 and 1849, the California gold rush, and overland travel during the 19th century; the development of transcontinental railroads; the growth of Western city and town life; and the history and culture of Native Americans.
The Bexar Archives are the official Spanish documents that preserve the political, military, economic, and social life of the Spanish province of Texas and the Mexican state of Coahulia y Texas.
The records of the Confederate States of America span the years 1854-1889, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1861-1865, during the Civil War in America. The collection relates to the formation of the government of the Confederacy and the conduct of its internal, external, and military affairs.
"The resource tells the story of medical advances during warfare from the mid-nineteenth century to the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in 1918 and the discovery of penicillin in 1927. The wealth of documents cover multiple conflicts as well as interwar developments from a range of perspectives."
Explore the faces, places and events of the U.S. Civil War through photographs, prints and drawings. The Prints & Photographs Division holds thousands of images relating to the Civil War, found in many different collections. This category allows research across those collections.
"This HeinOnline collection brings together a multitude of essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery."
Search through different types of records and record fragments to learn about the lives of enslaved people. Filter by age, ethnomarkers, status, and more.
"From 1830 until well after the Civil War, African Americans gathered across the United States and Canada to participate in political meetings held at the state and national levels. A cornerstone of Black organizing in the nineteenth century, these “Colored Conventions” brought Black men and women together in a decades-long campaign for civil and human rights." This site brings together their records for use.
"Featured in this collection are more than 2,000 images from the Schomburg Center, one of the world’s leading cultural institutions on the African American experience. Most focus on early community leaders and institutions in the United States: schools, churches, the military, and businesses. "
Searchable and sortable databases of the Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American slave trades as well as the names of African people taken into captivity. Users can sort data on point of departure, gender, slave ship captain, and many many more variables. Site includes image galleries that contextualize data with historical maps, ship manifests, drawings, and more.
The Anti-Slavery Collection contains about 40,000 pieces of correspondence, broadsides, newspapers, pamphlets, books, and realia spanning a 35-year period.
Documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world, with close attention given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social-justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.
Over 3,300 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.
"This unique collection showcases the development of 'popular' medicine in America during the nineteenth century, through an extensive range of material that was aimed at the general public rather than medical professionals. "
Searchable database of 150,000 pages of letters and diaries, drawn from journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings.
Personal collections, business records and rich visual content offering perspectives on America’s transformative age of industrialization, expanding wealth, inequality and social change.
Monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides addressing 19th- and early 20th-century political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes.
Official historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions, declassified (meaning a significant delay) and edited for publication. Earlier volumes available from the University of Wisconsin.
This collection consists of the Confidential Print for the United States, Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean, with some coverage of Central and South America, and covers such topics as slavery, Prohibition, the First and Second World Wars, racial segregation, territorial disputes, the League of Nations, McCarthyism and the nuclear bomb. The bulk of the material covers the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.
This database offers full-color, high-resolution facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed 1820–1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed 1760–1900.
Collections from 26 archives, libraries and museums exploring the movement of peoples from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia to the New World and Australasia, across two centuries of mass migration.
Early American Indian Documents