Library Research Guides: HIST 244: History of the American West: Find Primary Sources

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Primary Sources

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Core and General Sources

Frontier Life
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.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Digitized papers from cultural sources, image collections, political figures, and more. Spans all time periods.

American History, 1493-1945
Primary sources from a library in New York spanning American history. Particular strength in the papers of elite white men, but materials include the papers of others as well.
Dates: 1493-1945 CE

Hathi Trust
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
Cartoon Drawings from the Library of Congress
Offers more than 9,000 original drawings for editorial cartoons, caricatures, and comic strips spanning the late 1700s to the present, primarily from 1880 to 1980. The cartoons cover people and events throughout the world, but most of the images were intended for publication in American newspapers and magazines.
Discovering American Women's History Online
Making of the Modern World
Primary sources documenting world history through the lens of economics & trade, 1450-1914.
NOTE: Access is provided through the Boston Public Library with a Boston Public Library card. Get a BPL eCard
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Enormous historical map collection searchable by keyword, geographic area, subject, and time period.
Persuasive Cartography at Cornell
This is a collection of “persuasive” cartography: more than 800 maps intended primarily to influence opinions or beliefs - to send a message - rather than to communicate geographic information. Browse categories and try a keyword search.

Location-Based (States, Territories, and More)

Digital Portals to State History
Biblioteca Digital Puertoriquena
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.

Race

Ethnic American Newspapers from the Balch Collection, 1799-1971
More than 130 newspapers published by and for American ethnic groups, with German-American, Irish-American, and Japanese-American papers forming the bulk. English language news is predominant.
Dates: 1799-1971 CE

Umbra Search
"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.

Jewish Life in America, c1654-1954
Primary sources from individuals, families, cultural and political organizations focusing on American Ashkenazi Jewish life.
Dates: 1654-1954 CE

Newspapers and Other Publications

Chronicling America: Digitized Historical Newspapers
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.

America's Historical Newspapers
Full text of more than 1,000 historical U.S. newspapers. Contains Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922, and African American Newspapers, 1827-1998.
Dates: 1690-1998 CE
American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I, 1760-1900
Full-color, high-resolution images of many pamphlets, fliers, advertisements, and more from the Revolutionary Period through the Spanish-American War.
Dates: 1760-1900 CE
American Periodicals, 1740-1940
Full text of over 1,000 American magazines and journals from colonial times to the early 20th century, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, and children's and women's magazines.
Dates: 1740-1940 CE
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
The diaries and letters of over 1300 North American women, mostly white and elite. Common topics include health, relationships, religion, politics, economics, home life, and travel.
Dates: 1600-1950 CE

Legal Sources

Caselaw Access Project
Access historical case law from the US going back to 1648. Organized by state/territory, jurisdiction. Find more caselaw on the Internet Archive.
AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
Congressional Record
Debates & proceedings in the U.S. Congress 1789-present
National Intelligence Council
This collection contains hundreds of intelligence reports, including many National Intelligence Estimates and other publications produced by the National Intelligence Council or its predecessor organizations, the Office of National Estimates and the Office of Reports and Estimates since 1946. Documents organized by region of the world and date.

Ayer Collection, Newberry Library
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.
Indians of North America: Library of Congress Resources
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.

Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America (American Indian Histories and Cultures)
Primary sources from the largest and best collection of materials on Indigenous (Native American) history, including maps, treaties, letters, journals, art, and more.
Dates: 1500-1998 CE

Indian Peoples of the Great Northern Plains Digital Collection
Includes photographs, paintings, ledger drawings, documents, serigraphs, and stereographs from 1874 through the 1940's.
Archive of Early American Images
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.
Indian Removal: Library of Congress
"This guide contains digital materials at the Library of Congress related to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and its after-effects, as well as links to external websites and a selected print bibliography."
Library of Congress: Indians of North America
Browse 14 newspapers from indigenous communities. Mostly Oklahoma and Minnesota-based.

Indigenous Newspapers in North America (American Indian Newspapers)
Indigenous newspapers from the US and Canada, with a special focus on the 1970s-present. Mostly English-language, but some Cherokee, Navajo, and Hawaiian-language papers.
Dates: 1828-2016 CE

Yale Indian Papers Project
A scholarly critical edition of primary source materials about Native communities from the American Northeast gathered into one robust virtual collection.
Native Northeast Portal
The Native Northeast Portal is a platform for research, scholarly editing, commentary and community sharing of primary source materials from multiple holding institutions.
GEE Lindquist Native American Photographs
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.

Early American Indian Documents
10 volumes of treaties and documents relating to Native American history: 1607-1789.

National Film Board of Canada
Over 3000 free film on Canadian history, First Nations peoples, environmentalism, and more.

The West, Manifest Destiny, and Expansion

American West
Primary sources featuring books, journals, maps and more, documenting westward expansion in America. Includes sources on White American settlers, Indigenous peoples, Black migrants free and enslaved, and more.
Dates: 1718-1968 CE

Archives of the West
Documents and photos gathered as a part of research done for a PBS documentary. Some citations robust, some scant.
US West: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints
In general, collecting at the DeGolyer Library emphasizes the American West, the borderlands, exploration, business history and transportation, particularly the railroads.
Mountain West Digital Library
A central search portal for digital collections about the Mountain West region.
Frontier Life
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.
Ayer Collection, Newberry Library
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.
Photographs of the American West
Hundreds of photos of the West from 1867-1900, with a focus on the Kansas Pacific Railroad and the 1898 Indian Congress.
Diseños Collection
"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."
Denver Public Library Digital Photographs Collection: American West
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.
Early Advertising of the West
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.
Calisphere
Digitized materials from institutions in California. Collection strengths include California history, Chinese immigration, and the 19th century.
Graff Collection of Western Americana
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.
University of Oklahoma Western History Collections
Includes manuscripts by indigenous people, records of Native-pioneer meetings, Civil War manuscripts, and more.
Bexar Archives Online
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.
American Journeys
European records of travelers encountering what would become the United States. 1000 AD - 1844 AD

Civil War and the South

The Civil War in America
from The Illustrated London News
Confederate States of America Records
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.
Documenting the American South
Several collections of materials on the South. Focuses on North Carolina and the 19th century, but other periods and places may be found.
Medical Services and Warfare
"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."
Civil War Collection, Library of Congress
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.
Confederados Digital Collection
Transcribed letters from families from former Confederate states that moved to Brazil after the Civil War.
Runyon Photographs Collection
"His photographs document the history and development of South Texas and the border, including the Mexican Revolution, the U.S. military presence at Ft. Brown and along the border prior to and during World War I, and the growth and development of the Rio Grande Valley."

Race and Slavery

North American Slave Narratives
UNC Library
Digital Library on American Slavery
Primary sources including deeds, insurance registries, petitions, and runaway ads.
Slavery in America and the World
"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."

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
Full-text of 282 Black American newspapers.
Dates: 1827-1998 CE

Library of Congress: African American Newspapers
Browse issues of African American newspapers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
African American West
A site maintained by a scholar with links to resources about the Black community in the American West.
Slave Voyages
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.
Anti-Slavery: Boston Public Library
The Anti-Slavery Collection contains about 40,000 pieces of correspondence, broadsides, newspapers, pamphlets, books, and realia spanning a 35-year period.
Free People of Color in Louisiana
Digital records from several collections of personal and family papers on free people of color in Louisiana, with a focus on the 19th century.

Ethnic American Newspapers from the Balch Collection, 1799-1971
More than 130 newspapers published by and for American ethnic groups, with German-American, Irish-American, and Japanese-American papers forming the bulk. English language news is predominant.
Dates: 1799-1971 CE
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007
Primary sources documenting slavery and abolition, including court records, slavery testimonies, pamphlets, books, maps, and more. Areas of focus include the African coast, the Middle Passage, slavery and the Islamic world, spiritualism and religion, resistance and the Underground Railroad, free Black settlements.
Dates: 1490-2007 CE

Culture and Society

Women Working, 1800-1930
a digital exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression, from Harvard University.
Social and Political Cartoons: Boston Public Library
Over 100 cartoons, with a focus on the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
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.
Trial Pamphlets,17th-19th Century (Cornell)
Popular Medicine in America, 1800-1900
"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. "
Political Americana
A major collection of materials from U.S. national political campaigns, including pamphlets, political cartoons, buttons, and more.

North American Women's Letters and Diaries
The diaries and letters of over 1300 North American women, mostly white and elite. Common topics include health, relationships, religion, politics, economics, home life, and travel.
Dates: 1600-1950 CE
Everyday Life & Women in America c.1800-1920
Text-based primary sources covering 19th and early 20th Century political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, and health.
Dates: 1800-1940 CE

General Sources

Foreign Relations of the United States
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.
Puerto Rican Civil Court Documents Collection
Handwritten documents that cover civil disputes over land, slaves, and livestock that occurred in the Arecibo appellate court district from 1844-1900.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961
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.

American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I, 1760-1900
Full-color, high-resolution images of many pamphlets, fliers, advertisements, and more from the Revolutionary Period through the Spanish-American War.
Dates: 1760-1900 CE
Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819
An archive of American printed primary sources from pamphlets to children's books from the early republic to the last founding father's presidency. An emphasis on English-language documents.
Dates: 1801-1819 CE
Migration to New Worlds
This source contains letters, journals, images, and more that cover all aspects of the migration experience, from motives and departures (from Europe and Asia) to arrival and permanent settlement (in North and South America as well as Oceania).
Dates: 1800-1924 CE

Avalon Project: 19th-Century Documents
Legal sources, focuses on Manifest Destiny and foreign policy.
Nineteenth Century in Print
Popular magazines of the era digitized by Cornell

Culture

Trade Catalogues ad the American Home
"Explore domestic consumerism, life and leisure in America between 1850-1950 with Trade Catalogues and the American Home. This resource presents a wealth of highly illustrated primary source documents that highlight commercial tastes and consumer trends, and provide a valuable visual record for a breadth of interdisciplinary study."

Mainstream Politics and Political Culture

Political Americana
A major collection of materials from U.S. national political campaigns, including pamphlets, political cartoons, buttons, and more.
Hoover Institution Political Poster Collection
Over 30,000 political and cultural posters primarily from the mid-20th century, including 10,000 American posters.

War and Diplomacy

Avalon Project: 20th-Century Documents
Focus on international military and economic documents, and major laws and acts.
Foreign Relations of the United States
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.

China, America and the Pacific
A primary source archive of images, writings, economic accounts books, maps, and more about the trading and cultural relationships between China, America and the Pacific region, with a heavy focus on the 19th Century.
Dates: 1648-1997 CE

The First World War
The First World War portal makes available invaluable primary sources for the study of the Great War, brought together in four thematic modules. From personal collections and rare printed material to military files, artwork and audio-visual files, content highlights the experiences of soldiers, civilians and governments on both sides of a conflict that shook the world.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961
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.
World War I Document Archive
hosted by Brigham Young University
Medical Services and Warfare
"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."
World War I Posters
This collection makes available online approximately 1,900 posters created between 1914 and 1920.
WWI Pathe Films
Over 100 films from WWI, focusing on the war machine and various countries' contributions. Includes propaganda and memory.
War Posters: Boston Public Library
A selection of 20th Century American war posters.

Race

Black Press Research Collective Resources
Links to digitized black newspapers online, predominantly 20th century.

Chicago Defender, 1909-1975
The full text of one of America's biggest African-American newspapers. Browsable by article type (obituary, editorial, etc).
Dates: 1909-1975 CE
African American Communities
Focusing primarily on Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and North Carolina, this resource documents multiple aspects of African American communities through pamphlets, news, letters, photos, maps, and oral histories. Themes include arts and culture, civil rights and Black power, education, policing, and faith and religion.
Dates: 1810-2011 CE
Oxford African American Studies Center
Thousands of articles by scholars focused on the lives and events that have shaped African American and African history and culture, along with primary source documents, encyclopedias, and biographies.
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
Full-text of 282 Black American newspapers.
Dates: 1827-1998 CE

Library of Congress: African American Newspapers
Browse issues of African American newspapers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Newspapers and Media

Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (H.W. Wilson)
Index of over three million articles from more than 550 US and Canadian magazines on every topic from science to forestry, social issues to biking.
Dates: 1890-1982 CE

News
by Wellesley College Research & Instruction Staff Last Updated Jan 27, 2025 229 views this year

Ad*Access
Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements covering five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda - dated between 1911 and 1955.

Gender

North American Women's Letters and Diaries
The diaries and letters of over 1300 North American women, mostly white and elite. Common topics include health, relationships, religion, politics, economics, home life, and travel.
Dates: 1600-1950 CE
Gender: Identity and Social Change
Primary sources documenting representations and experiences of gender roles and relations, including pamphlets, speeches, newsletters, diaries, images, and more. About half of the materials from 1900-1950.
Dates: 1575-2014 CE

Work, Labor, Radicalism, and Activism

Women's Travel Diaries
The diaries in this digital collection were written by British and American women who documented their travels to places around the globe, including India, the West Indies, countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as around the United States.

Archivo General de la Nacion
Digital documents in the Mexican national archive.
Archivo de Jose Maria Luis Mora
The Archivo de José María Luis Mora digital archive contains scanned copies of over 600 documents, both manuscripts and printed works, from the Mora archive, as well as an exhaustive guide describing the collections.
Bexar Archives Online
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.
Diseños Collection
"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."
Runyon Photographs Collection
"His photographs document the history and development of South Texas and the border, including the Mexican Revolution, the U.S. military presence at Ft. Brown and along the border prior to and during World War I, and the growth and development of the Rio Grande Valley."
Mexico: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints
The collection includes images and texts from the Mexican revolution to American relations, focusing on the 19th century.
Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press
"The Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press collection documents and showcases historic Mexican and Mexican American publications published in Tucson, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sonora, Mexico from the mid-1800s to the 1970s."

Mexico in History: Colonialism to Revolution
Predominantly Spanish-language material from Mexican history on colonization and the War of Independence through the Mexican Revolution. The majority of documents are official correspondence, legal papers, and official records about government, religion, law, conflict, and the colonial project. Bulk 1800-1900 CE.
Dates: c.1500-1929 CE

Biblioteca Digital Puertoriquena
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.
Digital Library of the Caribbean
The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean.
Puerto Rican Civil Court Documents Collection
Handwritten documents that cover civil disputes over land, slaves, and livestock that occurred in the Arecibo appellate court district from 1844-1900.