Digital Public Library of America
Search more than 4,500,000 primary sources from across the country from one website!
After Slavery
Does your textbook make Reconstruction sound simple? Explore the real pain and complexity of Reconstruction with primary sources focusing on the Carolinas.
The March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project
Wisconsin teachers, bring the Civil Rights Movement home to your students with this archive of primary sources.
Clio Visualizing History
This site offers a grab bag of digital history exhibits. Definitely worth perusal.
Creating the United States
Even the Founding Fathers wrote rough drafts! Interact with early versions of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
Recipe for Victory: Food and Cooking in Wartime
Winning a war using…food? Explore sources concerning World War I and gastronomical homefront movements.
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Virtual Museum Exhibit
What was life like in abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s home in Washington, DC? The NPS takes a look.
Hope for America
Do you want to use humor to your advantage in the classroom? Hope for America examines comedy and satire in American popular culture and its influence on political history.
Sewall-Belmont House Museum Collections
Allow the National Woman’s Party to show you their collection on women’s progress to equality.
Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project
What role have women played in war and the military?
HERB: Social History for Every Classroom
Find a wide variety of classroom resources focused on social history, from classroom activities to primary sources.
From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909
Peruse an extensive collection of pamphlets related to African-American life leading up to, during, and following the Civil War.
Yale Digital Commons
A wheeled pull toy depicting Nixon with a crown? If you’re looking for a unique object to bring up in class, start with the digital commons.
National Park Service History E-Library
Look into how historical sites are researched, prepared, and made public.
Slavery in Canada
Slavery in Canada? Who were these people? What were their lives like?
HSI: Historical Scene Investigation
Ever wanted to be Sherlock Holmes? Look at history the way a detective looks into crime.
Center on Congress
What is Congress? Why should anyone care?
Children and Youth in History
Bring history home to young students with sources they can relate to—and prompt older students to think about the construction of concepts like “child” and “teenager.”
Laura Jernegan: Girl on a Whaleship
Make whaling, a rich part of New England history, relevant to young students with the diary of a six-year-old at sea.
Union or Secession: Virginians Decide
Trace Virginia’s route to secession in the Civil War with more than 200 primary sources.
Virginia Memory
Are you a Virginia educator teaching VA state history? My your task easy! Explore the Library of Virginia’s 70 collections of digitized primary sources.
Freedom's Story: Teaching African American Literature and History
Slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement—you have to teach these topics, so check out these essays to enrich your curriculum!
Paul Laurence Dunbar Digital Collection
Read the books and poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, internationally famous African American writer.
Playing House—Homemaking for Children
How have childhood and gender roles changed over time? Browse five housekeeping books for girls.
Mass Moments
MA educators—explore a historical moment (and accompanying primary source) for every day of the year.
University of Wyoming Digital Collections
Wyoming educators, explore more than 10,000 primary sources on Wyoming’s 19th- and 20th-century history.
Tennessee 4 Me
Three years in the making, this project of the Tennessee State Museum outlines TN state history from pre-history to the present.
Black Mask Magazine
Analyze popular fiction of the 1920s with these stories from the pulp magazine Black Mask. What do they say about gender, stereotypes, youth, and entertainment?
Missouri Digital Heritage
Missouri teachers looking for primary sources, look no further. Explore this portal for resources from libraries, universities, archives, and heritage sites throughout the state.
Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project
75 full-text cookbooks let you or your students prepare the foods from the 19th to the early 20th century.
Toolbox Library: Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature
Eight “toolboxes” enable secondary teachers to enhance existing U.S. History units.
Thomas Jefferson's Library
Basic information and several images of 41 books once in Thomas Jefferson’s library.
Library of Southern Literature
Full texts of more than 130 works of literature by more than 75 Southern authors.
The Leonard Bernstein Collection, ca.1920-1989
An extensive collection of primary resources concerning renowned composer Leonard Bernstein.
Thomas Jefferson Papers
The largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. Really, we’re serious.
Bartleby, Great Books Online
A collection of American and European literary classics, made available free of charge.
17th-Century Colonial New England
Explore the history of 17th century New England and, more specifically, the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
Leslie Brock Center for the Study of Colonial Currency, University of Virginia
Learn about the American colonial economy and currency.
White Trash: The Construction of an American Scapegoat
An excellent site for new study into the “white trash” demographic.
Albert and Vera Weisbord Archives
Learn about American radicalism and the communist movement with this collection of primary sources.
Jewish American History on the Web
An impressive website for the study of Jews and Judaism in the United States.
The American Colonist's Library
This extensive database contains influential documents and literature spanning from 500BC to the 1800s.
Classics in the History of Psychology
Explore the subject of psychology through this full-text archive of classic works in the field.
Godey's Lady's Book
Explore mid-18th century women’s culture through three full-text issues of the Godey’s Lady’s Book.
Nixon and Sports
Explore the relationship between Nixon’s love of sports and his actions as US President.
Liberty Rhetoric and 19th-Century American Women
Compare early women’s rights campaigns to the rhetoric of the American Revolution.
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800
Looking for a one-stop spot for all your quick 1639-1800 research needs?
American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920
What impressions did the average citizen or foreigner form of early America and its people?
Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War
Visualize the Civil War through the photographs selected by Alexander Gardner in 1865.
The Crisis of the Union
An impressive array of tracts (and more) brought together for your convenience.
Spain, The United States, and The American Frontier: Historias Paralelas
If you need primary sources on the Spanish in North America, try this site.
Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition
What was said, written, and drawn about slavery? Gain a more complete image of the institution, its evil effects, and how it felt to be a slave.
Knowing Poe
Introduce your students to one of America’s great masters of horror.
Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection
Discover the men, ideas, and process behind discovering that mosquitoes transfer yellow fever.
University of Missouri-Columbia: Digital Library Collections
A hodge podge of history: England, Missouri, and the greater U.S.
North Carolinians and the Great War
How did World War I effect the lives of the everyday North Carolinian?
Linus Pauling and the Race for DNA: A Documentary History
Meet Linus Pauling, from his Nobel prizes to his “dirty laundry.”
Cleveland Digital Library
Explore the history of “the forest city.”
Urban Planning, 1794-1918: An International Anthology
How did WWI affect urban development? How did it impact housing and business in the cities?
American Women's Dime Novel Project
What was the turn-of-the-century woman’s “beach read”?
Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia
Although painful to view, racist memorabilia reminds us of past mindsets and ethics.
Museum of Musical Instruments (MoMI)
Find out about the guitar players who came before you, and perhaps, even perfect your own abilities.
Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry
Listen to the recordings of the creator of the microphone and gramophone player.
The Joshua Lederberg Papers
What contributions has bacterial geneticist Joshua Lederberg made to science and healthcare?
Meeting of Frontiers
How does the settling of the Siberian frontier compare to that of the U.S. West?
Encyclopedia Britannica: The 1911 Edition
Find out what people thought of everything from ablation to vinegar in 1911.
Mark Twain: A Film Directed by Ken Burns
Enjoy an interactive experience depicting the life of Mark Twain.
U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, 1906-1971
Relive the construction of the city of steel—Gary, Indiana.
Thomas Jefferson Papers
What did Thomas Jefferson read?
Lift Every Voice: Music in American Life
What work can be accomplished through music?
Brief Timeline of American Literature, Music, and Movies
Explore film, music, and literature in its social context and chronology. Understand the cultural dynamics that lent themselves to the media.
Department of Transportation: Digital Special Collections
Read up on early 20th-century train and airplane accidents, among other transportation topics.
The Irving Fine Collection, Ca. 1914-1962
Experience the life and works of lesser known American classical composer Irving Fine.
The Capital and the Bay, ca. 1600-1925
What picture have people painted of the Washington, D.C. in written works?
Agents of Social Change: 20th-Century Women's Activism
Source documents to help you approach 20th-century feminism.
Texts from Collections of the University of Wisconsin, Madison
Access a selection of rare 19th-century books online.
Free Speech Movement: Student Protest, U.C. Berkeley, 1964-65
Explore primary documents concerning the Berkeley Free Speech Movement.
Private Passions, Public Legacy: Paul Mellon's Personal Library
Enjoy this sneak peek at the Mellon Collection of Virginia history.
The Daguerreian Society
Have you ever thought of teaching your students the history of photography?
Jo Freeman.com
Explore women’s political history and activism from the 1960s onward.
Hannah Arendt Papers
Do you read German? Not to worry. Select documents are available in English.
James Fenimore Cooper Society
Teenagers in love? By the author of The Last of the Mohicans?
Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Rare Books c. 1820-1910
Explore Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin life through rare books.
Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film
Do films capture your students’ attention? Introduce them to Roosevelt in motion.
Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age
Have you ever wondered about the international politics of Puerto Rico?
The 19th Century in Print: Periodicals
What magazines do you read? What did people read in the 1800s?
The 19th Century in Print: Books
What were people reading around the time of the Civil War?
Florida Heritage Collection
Explore Florida state, regional, and local history.
Toledo's Attic: A Virtual Museum of Toledo, Ohio
Explore Toledo, Ohio’s entertainment, technological, business, and political history.
Little Cowpuncher: Rural School Newspaper of Southern Arizona
If you were a pioneer, what would you have to say about your schooling? Students take up their pens and invoke their democratic freedom of the press.
The Church in the Southern Black Community, 1780-1925
How did the Protestant Church become central to Southern African American communities?
The Barbara McClintock Papers
Meet Barbara McClintock, Nobel Prize-winning geneticist best known for discovering genetic transposition.
Samuel F. B. Morse Papers, 1793-1919
Explore the thoughts of Samuel F. Morse, artist and father of the electromagnetic telegraph.
Children's Books Online
For story time or personal research, peruse historical children’s books.
Women Working, 1800-1930
What did women think of their work at home, in the arts, and in business?
Education by Design: Using Visual Aids
Seek inspiration from classroom visual aids of the past.
The United States and Brazil: Expanding Frontiers, Comparing Cultures
How are Brazil and the U.S. similar? How are they different?
Women of Valor
Meet international anarchist and women’s rights activist Emma Goldman.
TUPPERWARE!
Have you ever heard of a Tupperware party? Find out more about the household brand.
The Zora Neale Hurston Plays
Read 10 unpublished Hurston plays based on her anthropological studies of the U.S. South.
Rediscovering George Washington
Take in the latest scholarship on the life of the first U.S. president.
Bethlehem Digital History Project
Imagine life as a Moravian in Bethlehem, PA.
Democracy in America: Alexis de Tocqueville
Visit this website to learn more about the United States during the time of Tocqueville’s landmark tour and book.
A Curriculum of United States Labor History for Teachers
Learn about labor politics and economics throughout American history.
Voice of the Shuttle: Web Page for Humanities Research
An impressive gateway site for all humanities subjects.
Investigating the Vietnam War
A good starting point for student research regarding the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
Pluralism and Unity
Explore the clash of ideas and ideologies in early 20th century America.
Project Muse: Journals OnLine
A database of history journals as well as journals in related fields.
Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
Learn about the history of the United States up to 1815 with this website dedicated exclusively to early American history.
Cold War: Postwar Estrangement
A collection of Soviet archival documents which take visitors inside the highest levels of the Soviet Government.
Augustana College Library, Digital Projects
Midwest teacher looking for local history primary sources? Try these nine digital collections.
The Alexis de Tocqueville Tour: Exploring Democracy in America
Everything you never knew you wanted to know about Alexis de Tocqueville’s trip through the United States. You’re welcome!
Seneca Village
One of the few resources dedicated to Seneca Village and the creation of Central Park.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress
A collection of special documents and artifacts held within the Library of Congress.
Women's History: The 1850 Worcester Convention
Learn about the First National Women’s Rights Convention and the greater women’s rights movement.
At Home in the Heartland
Learn about family life and social history in the northern Midwest.
Magic, Illusion, and Detection in Turn of the Century America
Learn about American culture at the turn of the 20th century.
H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences OnLine
A great resource for scholars in any humanities discipline. It provides forums and keeps historians at the cusp of latest scholarship and ideas.
Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers and Artists of Color
Learn about all of America’s most famous female writers of color with this comprehensive website.
Modern and Contemporary American Poetry
Read hundreds of poems by major and lesser known figures.
New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939
Learn about the New Deal through the Federal Theatre Project, designed to employ actors during the Great Depression.
Political Thought Page
Use the links on this website to explore political thought from the ancient past to the present day.
Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement, 1848-1998
Learn about the women’s rights movement through the secondary sources offered by this website.
Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement
Explore over 50 documents which chronicle the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement.
An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490-1920
This collection of social dance manuals showcases the social history of Europe and America.
Thomas Jefferson on Politics and Government
Learn about Jefferson’s political views through this collection of quotations from his writings.
Sixties Project & Viet Nam Generation
Learn about the Vietnam anti-war movement through this website.
A Cybrary of the Holocaust
Visit this website for a firsthand view into the horror of the holocaust.
Women in America: 1820 to 1842
Peruse this website to explore comments made by Tocqueville, Beaumont, and others on the early 19th-century American woman.
Godey's Lady's Book Online
Explore mid-19th century culture as presented in the Godey’s Lady’s Book, a women’s magazine.
People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History
Use this extensive resource as a starting point for all inquiries into homosexual and transgender history.
National Women's History Project
Start your research into Women’s history with the National Women’s History Project.
The Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project
Go back in time and witness the harsh conditions at Japanese Internment Camps during World War II.
Drafting the Documents of Independence
View documents relating to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
Civil War Women
Learn about the role of three American women during the Civil War.
From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America
Peruse this online exhibit on the history of Jewish life in the United States.
Freedom Now! An Archival Project of Tougaloo College and Brown University
Immerse yourself in the historical struggle for the African American vote in Mississippi.
Benjamin Franklin: In His Own Words
Get to know Benjamin Franklin through his own writings, cartoons, and letters.
Anne Sullivan Macy: Miracle Worker
When teaching about Helen Keller, why leave out her friend and educator Anne Sullivan Macy?
Illinois Digital Archives
Primary sources on Illinois history with an emphasis on residential and commercial architecture.
Historic Pittsburgh
Acquaint yourself with Pittsburgh history through full texts, images, maps, census data, and lesson plans.
Medicine in the Americas, 1619-1914
Access works on medicine and health by Clara Barton, Benjamin Coleman, Benjamin Rush, and others.
Portal to Texas History
Texas educators, looking for primary resources on state history? Search this portal for thousands of images and documents drawn from Texas-based archival collections.
Turning Points in Wisconsin History
Primary documents, background information, and lesson plans for Wisconsin history.
Encyclopedia of Chicago, Historical Sources
Imagine your life in 19th and 20th-century Chicago with this extensive collection of images.
Walt Whitman Archive
Get to know the life, mind, works, and criticisms of poet Walt Whitman.
Historic Missouri Newspaper Project
Peruse articles, images, and advertisements drawn from 14 Missouri newspapers, 1835 through 1988.
Negroes With Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power
Do you think armed resistance is a justifiable reaction to racism? Explore Rob William’s motives.
Seattle Black Panther Party History and Memory Project
Who exactly were the Black Panthers? Explore the history and memories of the Seattle chapter.
Northern Visions of Race, Region, and Reform in the Press
Investigate racial issues during and after the Civil War through letters, illustrations, and official documents.
LexisNexis
Search news articles, court cases, journals, broadcast transmissions, polls, data compilations, magazine articles, and more.
McKinley Assassination Ink: A Documentary History
Explore the assassination of President McKinley and the social context thereof.
Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819
Uncover novels, readers, hymnals, almanacs, diaries, maps, treaties, and more from between 1801 and 1819.
American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I, 1760-1900
Explore American life through advertisements, literature, poetry, Civil War envelopes, and more!
Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage
Explore the history of Maryland, from Edgar Allen Poe to the War of 1812.
Red White Blue & Brimstone: New World Literature and the American Millennium
Texts throughout U.S. history have featured imagery from the Book of Revelations, including the the documents on this site.
Fly Girls
Explore the experiences of World War II’s Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) at this companion website to the PBS American Experience documentary.
Literature and Culture of the American 1950s
Explore the cultural, intellectual, and political trends of the 1950s in a diverse array of primary and secondary sources.
The Jack London Online Collection
From White Fang to short stories and speeches, read more than 40 works by renown author Jack London.
Profiles in Science
Explore the profiles of 26 scientists, physicians, and experts in biomedical research and public health.
Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls
Cover art and full texts from dime novels preserve the popular culture of an industrializing U.S.
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
Read the full text of 52 published works by black women writers from the late 18th to the early 20th century.
Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875
Digitizing 19th-century American fiction, this site offers close to 3,000 texts by 1,456 authors.
Willa Cather Archive
Read the annotated works of author Willa Cather (1873–1947), including O Pioneer! and My Antonia.
Emma Goldman Papers
Learn more about Emma Goldman, radical and feminist activist, through this collection of primary and secondary sources.
SCETI: Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image
Search and browse a collection of resources covering topics ranging from the Civil War to the ENIAC computer.
Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis and Clark and the Revealing of America
180 documents and artifacts interpret 19th-century westward exploration and the concept of Manifest Destiny.
Ohio Memory: An Online Scrapbook of Ohio History
A wealth of primary materials document Ohio life, culture, and history from prehistoric times to the recent past.
France in America
In French and English, explore the history of the French in North America from the 1500s through the 1800s.
Votes for Women: Selections from the NAWSA, 1848-1921
10,000 pages of records on the struggle for votes for women, including papers by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
Follows the development of popular entertainment forms from the 1870s to the 1920s, through playscripts, playbills, and media clips.
Slavery in New York
Nine galleries explore the history of slavery in New York City.
Making of America
Provides more than 1.5 million pages of text in an effort to digitize more than 11,000 volumes and 100,000 19th-century journal articles.
Edgar Allan Poe
Annotated materials about Poe published during his lifetime.
American Transcendentalism Web
Presents texts by and about the major figures of American Transcendentalism.
Documenting the American South
Nearly 1,400 documents covering Southern life from the 18th to early 20th centuries.
Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
Searchable facsimiles of 1,850 monographs and 288 journal volumes related to agriculture in the U.S. between 1806 and 1989.
American Journeys
Firsthand accounts of exploration range from Viking stories to early 19th-century trappers’ journals.
Nineteenth-Century American Children and What They Read
Examines 19th-century children in America: what they read, what was written about them, and what was written for them.
North American Slave Narratives, Beginnings to 1920
Explore all of the known published slave narratives, to better understand the experience of slavery and the culture that slaves created in the nation.
Historical Thinking Matters
Presents four guided investigations—on the Spanish-American War, the Scopes Trial, Social Security, and Rosa Parks—designed to teach students to read primary sources and construct historical narratives.
Disability History Museum
Explore the experiences of those with disabilities through documents and images dating from the 18th century to the present.
The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War
A wonderful collection of chronologies, images, maps, and other materials on the Spanish-American War.
First World War: The War to End All Wars
Provides an overview of World War I through essays, diaries, posters, audio files, and other primary and secondary sources.
Urban Experience in Chicago: Hull-House and Its Neighborhoods, 1889-1963
Peruse this collection of over 900 items relating to Chicago’s Hull House to discover its influence on 20th century urban development.
The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale
We’re off to see the wizard! Discover the cultural impact of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture
Explore Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as the American cultural phenomenon it was.
Mark Twain in His Times
Focuses on Mark Twain’s life and career, including creation of his popular image, marketing and promotion of his texts, and live performances.
California as I Saw It: First-Person Narratives of California, 1849-1900
40,000 written pages and more than 3,000 illustrations provide accounts of California history from the Gold Rush to the end of the 19th century.
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
Explore the significance of religion in early American history and its influence on republican institutions.
Digital Library of Georgia
Examines the history and culture of the state of Georgia, presenting an extensive range of primary sources.
Alexander Street Press
Databases of digitized firsthand accounts and literary works document periods in American history, the experiences of minorities, and other topics.
American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
The Library of Congress offers an archive of more than 9 million primary sources dating from 1490 to the present.
The Stars and Stripes, 1918-1919
Peruse every edition of the “official newspaper” of the U.S. Army fighting forces during World War I.