Primary Sources - History: America

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.

(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."

BIA photos from the National Archives, browsable by tribal nation, topic, and US state.

"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."

Includes photographs, paintings, ledger drawings, documents, serigraphs, and stereographs from 1874 through the 1940's.

Thousands of primary source documents related to the Cherokee Nation.

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.

Browse 14 newspapers from indigenous communities. Mostly Oklahoma and Minnesota-based.

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.

The official website of AIM, an organization that grew from and with the Red Power movement of the mid-20th Century.

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.

Includes FBI, CIA, White House, and Department of Justice declassified documents on the American Indian Movement.

A PDF of digitized materials from MSU; citations minimal.

A PDF of digitized materials from MSU; citations minimal.

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.

Over 3000 free film on Canadian history, First Nations peoples, environmentalism, and more.

collection of documents and maps from the Library of Congress focusing on the law and forced relocation of Cherokees from Florida to the West.

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.

European records of travelers encountering what would become the United States. 1000 AD - 1844 AD

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 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.

(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.

"Published documents--legislation, court proceedings, records, correspondence, etc.--from the 13 original colonies and their predecessors."

Focus on early New England, but rich resources throughout.

Legal documents from Yale, with a focus on colony-level charters and agreements.

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.

Documents by and about the Virginia Company and their settlement in what is now the state of Virginia.

A good list of digitized colonial records, listed by colony.

Includes some digital records of the first years of the colony, including military records, town records, court documents, and more.

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.

An electronic collection of primary source materials relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692 and a new transcription of the court records.

Virginia Company records, documents from indentured servants and about enslaved people, and more. Choose a link from the resources tab.

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.

European records of travelers encountering what would become the United States. 1000 AD - 1844 AD

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.

This collection covers the American colonies from the British perspective, utilizing British governmental documents.

Images filtered by date, place, subject, and searchable. Concentration on images from printed books.

A collection of links to digital archives of French colonies in North America.

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.

European records of travelers encountering what would become the United States. 1000 AD - 1844 AD

Some of the topics covered include the war’s political origins, the unfolding of military and naval campaigns, foreign alliances, opinions, and the economic aspects of the struggle.

The collection represents an important historical record of the mapping of North America and the Caribbean. Most of the items presented here are documented in Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789: A Guide to the Collections in the Library of Congress compiled by John R. Sellers and Patricia Molen van Ee in 1981.

Links to documents and sites with primary sources on American Independence.

Legal sources, with a focus on revolutionary records.

Over 100 cartoons, with a focus on the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

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.

Images filtered by date, place, subject, and searchable. Concentration on images from printed books.

Website includes documents on taxation, the Boston Massacre, the Tea Party, the Continental Congresses, and more.

Several collections of materials on the South. Focuses on North Carolina and the 19th century, but other periods and places may be found.

Search a database of images of early American objects

"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.

Louisiana documents from 1655 to 1924 with a strong emphasis on the French colonial, Spanish colonial, and early national periods.

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 GPP is a ten-year interdisciplinary project to digitise, conserve, catalogue, transcribe, interpret and disseminate 425,000 pages or 65,000 items in the Royal Archives and Royal Library relating to the Georgian period, 1714-1837.

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.

"Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 presents this collection of more than 42,000 documents. The Papers record far more than the era’s military history. Between 1784 and 1800, the War Department was responsible for Indian affairs, veteran affairs, naval affairs (until 1798), as well as militia and army matters."

The Massachusetts Historical Society holds the papers of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and the largest collection of Thomas Jefferson’s private papers, in addition to many other valuable presidential papers and artifacts from throughout United States history.

Revolutionary-era Boston newspapers and pamphlets collected, annotated, and indexed by Harbottle Dorr, Jr., a shopkeeper in Boston.

Advertisements in Colonial American newspapers from 250 years ago.

A collection of links to digital archives of French colonies in North America.

Documents and photos gathered as a part of research done for a PBS documentary. Some citations robust, some scant.

In general, collecting at the DeGolyer Library emphasizes the American West, the borderlands, exploration, business history and transportation, particularly the railroads.

A central search portal for digital collections about the Mountain West region.

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.

Hundreds of photos of the West from 1867-1900, with a focus on the Kansas Pacific Railroad and the 1898 Indian Congress.

"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.

Digitized materials from institutions in California. Collection strengths include California history, Chinese immigration, and the 19th century.

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.

Includes manuscripts by indigenous people, records of Native-pioneer meetings, Civil War manuscripts, and more.

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.

European records of travelers encountering what would become the United States. 1000 AD - 1844 AD

from The Illustrated London News

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.

Several collections of materials on the South. Focuses on North Carolina and the 19th century, but other periods and places may be found.

"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.

Wellesley and Brandeis collection of Civil War letters, transcribed.

"The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies."

Transcribed letters from families from former Confederate states that moved to Brazil after the Civil War.

Original material from one town in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania, including diaries, letters, newspapers, records, and statistics.

UNC Library

Primary sources including deeds, insurance registries, petitions, and runaway ads.

"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.

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

"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. "

100 oral history interviews chronicling African American life during the age of legal segregation in the American South, from the 1890s to the 1950

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.

Digital records from several collections of personal and family papers on free people of color in Louisiana, with a focus on the 19th century.

Over 300 documents relating to the Amistad case.

a digital exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression, from Harvard University.

Over 100 cartoons, with a focus on the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

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.

Digitized newspapers by imprisoned people over two centuries.

"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. "

A major collection of materials from U.S. national political campaigns, including pamphlets, political cartoons, buttons, and more.

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.

Handwritten documents that cover civil disputes over land, slaves, and livestock that occurred in the Arecibo appellate court district from 1844-1900.

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.

Legal sources, focuses on Manifest Destiny and foreign policy.

Popular magazines of the era digitized by Cornell

Site includes photos, posters, and cartoons from the temperance and prohibitions movements.

"The J. Walter Thompson Company Archive documents the history, operation, policies and accomplishments of one of the world's largest and oldest advertising firms. The papers here reveal many aspects of twentieth-century cultural, social, business, marketing, consumer and economic history while investigating the human psyche."

"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."

"Photogrammar is a web-based platform for organizing, searching, and visualizing the 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (FSA-OWI)."

"Market Research and American Business, 1935-1965 provides a unique insight into the American consumer boom of the mid-20th century through access to the complete market research reports of Ernest Dichter, the era’s foremost consumer analyst, market research pioneer and widely-recognised ‘father’ of Motivational Research."

"Guidebooks and brochures, periodicals, travel agency correspondence, photographs and personal travel journals provide unique insight into the expansion, accessibility and affordability of tourism for the masses and the evolution of some of the most successful travel agencies in the world."

"Political cartoons drawn for the New York newspaper PM by author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel. From 1941-1943, Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, worked as the chief editorial cartoonist for the New York magazine PM, creating over 400 editorial cartoons."

A major collection of materials from U.S. national political campaigns, including pamphlets, political cartoons, buttons, and more.

Digitzed congressional hearings from all committees, 1958-present. "A hearing is a meeting or session of a Senate, House, joint, or special committee of Congress, usually open to the public, to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation, conduct an investigation, or evaluate/oversee the activities of a government department or the implementation of a Federal law."

Over 30,000 political and cultural posters primarily from the mid-20th century, including 10,000 American posters.

Focus on international military and economic documents, and major laws and acts.

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.

The Digital Archive contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, with a focus on the Cold War.

University of Florida Digital Collections newspapers published on the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base.

Collections of declassified government documents from George Washington University

"This digital resource reveals the story of war as told by the newspapers that brought information, entertainment and camaraderie to the forces at home and overseas. Explore over 200 titles from key nations across the globe that took part in the world-changing conflict."

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.

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.

hosted by Brigham Young University

"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."

This collection makes available online approximately 1,900 posters created between 1914 and 1920.

Over 100 films from WWI, focusing on the war machine and various countries' contributions. Includes propaganda and memory.

Over 5600 primary sources on the Cold War like radio broadcasts, photos, speeches, and more.

A selection of 20th Century American war posters.

Many first-person accounts of the Holocaust from different perspectives, including translated materials.

Links to dozens of external archives on the Civil Rights Movement.

Historic photographs, documents, newspapers, letters etc. that tell the story of the Japanese American community, from immigration to the WWII incarceration and its aftermath.

The Bancroft Library's documentation of the Japanese American experience during World War II includes over 250,000 pages from an extensive collection of manuscripts and photographs. The materials in the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Digital Archive are pulled from our voluminous holdings and reveal the multifaceted experience from this complex time in US history.

"Produced by the Japanese-Americans interned at assembly centers and relocation centers around the country during World War II, these newspapers provide a unique look into the daily lives of the people who were held in these camps. "

A portal to SNCC-related digital primary source collections.

Links to digitized black newspapers online, predominantly 20th century.

Collections on people, organizations, and publications from the Black freedom struggle. Includes images and audio.

The foremost collection of digital materials on Freedom Summer. "More than 25,000 pages from the Freedom Summer manuscripts -- enough to fill several file cabinets -- are available online. In them you will find official records of organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)" and more.

Civil Rights Movement interviews, from Vanderbilt University

Over a dozen digital collections of primary sources, primarily from the 20th century Civil Rights Movement.

"Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Department’s staff and Institute participants, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall."

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

"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. "

Recorded interviews & meetings in 1965 of black & white civil rights workers in the South, conducted by Stanford University's radio station (KZSU).

Thousands of television commercials created or collected by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency, dated 1950s - 1980s.

Digitized newspapers by imprisoned people over two centuries.

Stokes amassed a huge archive of videotaped television news, which is slowly being made available through the work of the Internet Archive. Her groundbreaking television show (co-produced with her husband John S Stokes Jr), Input, addressed many pressing issues, and much of it remains relevant today. As of 10/2019, most of the videos available are from 1968-1971.

Discover historic programs of publicly funded radio and television across America. Watch and listen.

Newsreels on major topics from the 20th century. Content focuses on news events and war.

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.

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.

Sources on women's liberation, gender and incarceration, queer liberation, violence against women, and more.

Visual materials from Duke University.

World queer history sources, with a focus on 20th century North America.

A website with image, text, and video resources on the farmworker labor movement and Cesar Chavez.

The Tamiment Library is a major Labor and Left Archive, housed at NYU. Digital collections include radical posters, oral histories from the Asian-American labor movement and the Communist Party, the Spanish Civil War, and more.

Several digital collections on radicalism. Citations are minimal.