Primary Sources

African-American Studies: Sources

This subject guide is provided by Columbia University Libraries
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eguides/afam/primary.html

AmDocs: Documents for the Study of American History

This site is part of Carrie, a full-text electronic library. The AmDocs site includes
documents dating back as far as the year 1400, as well as current titles being added continuously.
http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/

American Memory

Available to us from the Library of Congress, this enormous archive is one of the best resources for primary sources on U.S. history and culture.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem

There are two ways to search through the more than 100 collections included in the site.

Browse	Allows you to select a specific collection by topic, or to browse by time period, format (i.e., photos, sound recordings, etc.), or place.
Search	Allows you to search multiple collections at the same time.

American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html

Archiving Early America

This site includes images of people, places, events, documents, and more in its Early American Digital Library. There are also various special features that bring to life 18th century American history.
http://www.earlyamerica.com/

Avalon Project at Yale Law School

Here you will find documents related to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy, and Government, as well as links to supporting documents.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/about/purpose.asp

CIESE: Primary Sources

"Here you can find links to sites with primary source information. View original and historical diaries, letters, photographs, maps, audio recordings and much more."
http://www.ciese.org/primary_sources.html

Civil War Resources on the Internet

Here you will find resources from abolition to reconstruction.
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/history/civwar.shtml

Colonial Connecticut Records, 1636-1776

This site offers a searchable database of the public records of the Colony of Connecticut
from 1636 to 1776.
http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu/

Connecticut History Online

Here you will find photographs, drawings, and prints about Connecticut history.
http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm-cho/index.html

Digital Collections of Historical Resources for Children and Teens

This extensive list of online primary resources was developed by Laura Katz Smith,
Archives & Special Collections, University of CT Libraries.
http://www.lib.uconn.edu/online/research/speclib/ASC/collections/dcfk.htm

Digital History

This great website is a digital history textbook, and includes Primary Sources, Ethnic
Voices, For Teachers, Active Learning, Multimedia, an Interactive Timeline, Visual
History, Virtual Exhibitions, Special Topics, and a History Reference Room.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

Documenting the American South

Here you will find "texts, images, and audio files related to Southern history, literature,
and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century.
Currently DocSouth includes seven thematic collections of books, diaries, posters,
artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs."
http://docsouth.unc.edu/

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention

The Library of Congress offers full-color images of their extensive collection of broadsides.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/

Electronic Texts and Primary Sources

This huge and varied list of online primary sources and electronic texts is maintained by
an actual librarian.
http://www.digital-librarian.com/electronic.html

EuroDocs

This site, which is searchable by Western European country, offers documents that "shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries (and within the broadest
sense of political, economic, social and cultural history). The order of documents is chronological wherever possible."
http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page

Fedworld /FLITE (Federal Legal Information Through Electronics)

This searchable offers the full text of Supreme Court decisions from 1937-1975.
http://www.fedworld.gov/supcourt/index.htm

Historic Documents and Texts

This page from iCONN offers an extensive list of historical documents and texts. (Note: you will need a public library barcode number to access this from home.)
http://www.iconn.org/AdditionalResourcesHistoric.aspx

Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights

This collection of historical Civil Rights publications has been recently digitized and is now available to the public.
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/index.asp

History by Topic

The History Channel offers an extensive list of articles and videos that bring history to life.
http://www.history.com/topics

Making of America

MOA is "a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the
antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the
subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and
science and technology."
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Here is a huge collection of digitized primary sources.
http://www.archives.gov/index.html

Use ARC, the NARA Archival Research Catalog, to access archival holdings. It allows
you to search by keyword, digitized image, date, type of material, and location. The Advanced Search option also allows you to search by organization, person, or topic.

New Deal Network

This is "a database of primary source materials—photographs, political cartoons, and texts (speeches, letters, and other historic documents)" - that is "devoted to the public works and arts projects of the New Deal."
http://newdeal.feri.org/

New York Public Library Digital Gallery

This is a collection of "digital images of drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books, and more. Encompassing the subject strengths of the vast collections of the Research Libraries, these materials represent the applied sciences, fine and decorative arts, history, performing arts, and social sciences."
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm

Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents

This site represents the collaborative efforts of The History Channel, U.S. News & World Report, the Siemens Corporation, the USA Freedom Corps, the National Archives and
Records Administration, and National History Day. It offers 100 important documents,
along with various Tools for Educators - including the new OurDocuments.gov Teacher Sourcebook.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/

Performing Arts Encyclopedia

This site serves as a portal to the music and performing arts collections of the Library of Congress. It includes: sheet music, sound recordings, moving images, manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, and essays on relevant topics.
http://www.loc.gov/performingarts/index.html

Presidential Speech Archive

This is a collection of "some of the more important presidential speeches of the past 60
years. These speeches are available in their entirety in full audio. When possible, [they]
have also provided transcripts of the speeches. Recently [they] have expanded our
collection to include the full text of some of the more important presidential speeches
from the 18th and 19th centuries."
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches

Primary Documents in American History

This excellent website includes a large number of documents that are relevant to the
study of the Constitution, including a bibliography of print resources.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/PrimDocsHome.html

Primary Sources on the Web

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/primarysourcesontheweb.html

ProQuest Historical Newspapers

This subscription database includes the full text of The New York Times from 1851 to 2003.
http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTFhY2QmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=6795

Repositories of Primary Sources

http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html

Selected Library of Congress Resources for Connecticut

"[A] sample of the many Connecticut resources available for free on the Library's Web site" plus "along with the tools to help use them in the classroom."
http://memory.loc.gov/learn//features/states/connecticut/index.html

Selected Primary Source Databases

This is an extensive list of links to online resources on a wide range of topics.
http://intersect.uoregon.edu/ahs/primarysources.htm

Smithsonian Photographic Services

http://photo2.si.edu/

Teachers' Domain Civil Rights Special Collection

This great research site includes archival news footage, oral histories, and
primary-source documents.
http://www.teachersdomain.org/special/civil

Thinkfinity
(formerly
Marco Polo)

This is a consortium of national associations that have collaborated to make standards-based educational materials freely available to teachers and classes via the Internet, including a wealth of primary sources.
http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Voices from the Days of Slavery

This American Memory collection offers audio recordings of interviews with former
slaves.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/

Primary Resources

Definition of primary source.
Definition of secondary source.

Articles on Using Primary Sources

Analyzing Primary Sources

Primary Sources Online

Virtual Library Home Page