Digitized Primary American History Sources

General Resources

Access to Archival Databases (AAD) U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

American Colonist's Library - Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History
Contents are arranged in chronological order. Contents are searchable with browser's "find" feature.

American History to 1865 - University of Washington
Includes sites arranged chronologically from the Colonial period through the Civil War.

American Memory project - Library of Congress
This project of the Library of Congress includes over 70 digitized collections of photographs, sound recordings, films, and documents. Among these are included many broadsides and documents related to the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention. This site may be searched or browsed. Click on "Collection Finder" and then on history.

Archiving Early America
"Our main focus at Archiving Early America is primary source material from 18th Century America-- all displayed digitally. " Documents are displayed in their original formats. This site also includes Summer 1996 - present of the periodical: Early America Review.

Avalon Project at Yale Law School
Includes digitized text of "Colonial Charters, Grants and Related Documents." The site also includes some world history documents as well. This site may be searched of browsed.

Census of Population and Housing - U.S. Census Bureau
Currently contains decennial censuses 1790 - 1860 and 1990 and 2000. For census of agriculture, business, construction and housing, economic, foreign trade, governments, manufacturing and minerals, and transportation, see: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/titles.html .

Charters of Freedom - National Archives and Records Administration
Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and Bill of Rights

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875 - Library of Congress

Chronological List (of documents in American history) - American Memory Project
Contains links to scanned documents beginning with Pre1775 to the present.

Chronology of US Historical Documents - University of Oklahoma, College of Law
Primary sources from pre-Colonial to the present day. Site may be browsed by time period.

Collaborative Digitization Programs in the United States - Ken Middleton, Middle Tennessee State University
Digitization programs listed by State.

Congressional debates - National Archives and Records Administration:

Annals of Congress 1789-1824 (1st Congress - first session of the 18th Congress)

Register of Debates 1824-1837 (2nd session of the 18th Congress - 25th Congress

Congressional Globe 1833-1873 (23rd Congress - 42nd Congress)

Congressional Record 1873-

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy - GPO Access

Digital collections Online DCO -University of Connecticut
Documents contained here may be searched or browsed. Click on "Browse" and then on "Browse the Database by Subject." Next, select "History."

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 - Library of Congress
Continental Congress Broadside Collection and the Constitutional Convention Broadside Collection. These collections are browseable by subject and keyword searchable.

Electronic Text Center - University of Virginia
Digitized versions of many historical documents. Click on "Collections" and then choose from among thirteen languages. Next, click on "Online Holdings" for a list of documents divided by time periods: The Modern English Collection (AD 1500-present) and The Middle English Collection are accessible to the public. The Modern English Collection includes the Salem Witch Trials, Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers, and Thomas Jefferson. All collections may be searched or browsed.

Federal Government Resources: Historic Documents - University of Michigan
This site includes some comprehensive sources as well as the full text of documents on more specific topics such as the Salem Witchcraft, Westward Expansion, Love Canal, and the Bay of Pigs, etc.

Foreign Relations of the United States - Department of State
Foreign Relations 1861-. This series had "varying titles until 1870, when the series became known as Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States. In 1947 (beginning with the volumes for 1932) the title Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers was adopted. In 1969 (beginning with the volumes for 1946) the title was shortened to its present form." This site includes online versions 1945-1950, 1958-. See Foreign Relations of the United States - (University of Wisconsin, Madison) for some of the earlier years back to 1863. This is a work in progress.

The Founding Documents - National Constitution Center
Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, etc.

From Revolution to Reconstruction...and what happened afterwards - University of Groningen, Netherlands.
Primary sources and transcripts from the Magna Charta through the present administration. Contains the Inaugural addresses and State of the Union addresses formany of the presidents.

Historical Census Browser - University of Virginia Library
Information from the decennial censuses 1790-1960.

*The Historical New York Times (via ABI/Inform Global (ProQuest))*(new Spring 2007)
Digitized newspaper articles from the New York Times 1851-2003. After going to ABI/Inform Global (ProQuest), select News - The Historical New York Times from the drop down menu of databases.

Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights - Thurgood Marshall Law Library
This site provides access to the historical record of United States Commission on Civil Rights since its inception in 1957.

HYPERTEXTS (American studies) - University of Virginia
Contains the full text of historical works.

In the First Person: An Index to Letters, Diaries, Oral Histories and Personal Narratives - Alexander Street Press
Many of these are available full text on the Internet.

League of Nations Photo Archive - Center for the Study of Global Change, Indiana University
"...includes photos of: Personalities, Assemblies, Councils, Delegations, Commissions, Conferences, the Secretariat, the Permanent Court of International Justice, the Bureau International du Travail, and miscellaneous photos."

Making of America project
MOA is "a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction." Both books and periodicals have been digitized by the two contributing libraries: University of Michigan and Cornell University. This collection, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, "currently contains approximately 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with
19th century imprints."

Making Of America (University of Michigan)
This library has contributed journal articles from 11 periodicals dating back to the early 1800s, among which are: Princeton Review (1831-1882), Southern Quarterly Review (1842-1857), and Vanity Fair (1860-1862).

Making Of America (Cornell University)
This library has contributed journal articles from 22 periodicals dating back to the early 1800s, among which are: The Atlantic Monthly (1857-1901), Scientific American (1846-1869), and The North American Review (1815-1900).

Map Collections - The Library of Congress
This collection focuses on "Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress" from 1544 - 1999 and is fully searchable by title, creator, subject, and keyword. Includes a geographic location index.

NHGIS - National HIstorical Geographic Information System
Contains "aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2000. "

The People's Vote - www.ourdocuments.gov
100 of the most influential documents in American history

Primary Documents in American History - Library of Congress
An evolving collection which currently covers years 1763 - 1877.

Records of Congress - National Archives & Records Administration
Includes links to the U.S. Congress, laws and bills, and documents of American History.

Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects - GPOAccess
Serves as a locator to publicly accessible collections of digitized U.S. government publications. This is a growing collection.

Repositories of Primary Sources - Terry Abraham, University of Idaho Library
"A listing of over 5500 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar."

Selected Historic Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court - Legal Information Institute

UNESCO/IFLA Directory of Digitized Collections - American History
Links to digitized collections on American History.

United States Historical Census Data Browser -Originated by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Census data from 1790 to 1960 may be browsed.

WWW Virtual Library - American Indians
Includes General Resources and regional resources: Northeast; Southeast (including Caribbean); Midwest (including Northern Plains); Southwest, Great Basin and California; Northwest; and Alaska. Also included are histories taken orally.

WWW-VL HISTORY: UNITED STATES - European University Institute, Florence, Italy.
Contents arranged by topic and chronological periods.