Guide to Online Primary Sources: History, U.S.

Collection of primary documents and speeches essential for the study of US History. Arranged chronologically: as of August 2004, from Columbus' journals to the report of the 9/11 Commission.

This 9-volume set provides 7000 pages of primary documents, written by contemporary diplomats, charting the emergence of an independent America. Documents are sourced from Colonial Office, Foreign Office, State Papers, and Admiralty records.

This resource provides a history of the American people and a testament to the growth of the nation from the colonial period through to the twentieth century. The periodicals focused on American concerns and were predominantly published in the United States or Canada, though some were published overseas by Americans living abroad. The collection offers multiple perspectives on the thought, culture, and society of North America through the eyes of those who lived it, showing how history affected citizens from all walks of life.

This unique collection documents American History from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century. It is sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, and includes correspondence, diaries, government documents, business records, books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, photographs, artwork and maps.

Original manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material, and rare printed sources from the Graff Collection about the American West, including tales of frontier life, Native Americans, vigilantes, and outlaws, and the growth of urban centres and environmental impact of westward expansion and of life in the borderlands.

This collection explores civil rights, race relations, immigration, and war and military topics in the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries.

This collection explores topics such as commercial and political relations between the U.S. and Japan, and the U.S. and China. European colonialism and U.S. relations with the Vatican and Holocaust are also covered in this resource.

Topics in this resource include: the federal surveillance of African Americans between 1920-1984, the papers of Amir Baraka, reports and correspondence of the U.S. Military Intelligence Division, 1918-1941 with respect to China, and documentation related to the Minutemen,1963-1969.

Explores the cultural and trading relationships that emerged between America, China and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries.

Colonial America consists of all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series of Colonial Office files held at The National Archives in London, plus all extracted documents associated with them. This unique collection of largely manuscript material from the archives of the British government is an invaluable one for students and researchers of all aspects of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American history and the early-modern Atlantic world.

Nearly 40,000 declassified government documents from 1945 to present, organized into collections, each focused on a single topic.

Brings together multimedia materials (text, archival primary sources, video and audio) around key environmental challenges, including climate change, water/air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, agriculture, deforestation and more. The database focuses on specific environmental case studies that enable students, teachers, and researchers to dive into particular, local problems and to investigate how solutions have been created (or not created) in globally scale-able ways. Each case study includes published text, films, documentaries, government reports, NGO publications, monographs, regulations debates, contextualizing resources, and archival primary sources, with an eye toward situating each case in its historical context and supporting continued interdisciplinary dialogue to invent multi-faceted and creative solutions for the future.

Explore America’s transformative age of industrialization, expanding wealth, inequality and social change. Personal collections, business records and rich visual content offer fresh perspectives on this influential period.

U.S. and international documents on the most significant events of the year. Includes presidential speeches, international agreements, Supreme Court decisions, governmental reports, scientific findings, cultural discussions, etc. 100 new documents per year, 1972-

Covers the investigations made by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during the massive immigration wave of 1880-1930. The files cover Asian immigration, especially Japanese and Chinese migration, to California, Hawaii, and other states; Mexican immigration to the U.S. from 1906-1930, and European immigration. There are also extensive files on the INS’s regulation of prostitution and white slavery and on suppression of radical aliens.

Selected declassified documents of the US government on a wide range of subjects: Nuclear History, Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Intelligence and Secrecy, September 11, etc. A valuable collection of primary sources. Also lists documents for sale.

Includes manuscript and rare printed material as well as photographs, ephemera, and memorabilia. The interactive chronology, extensive visual resources, and video footage provide valuable contextual background to the materials included in this collection.

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. Resources include rare books, pamphlets, trade cards, and visually-rich advertising ephemera.

Based at Fisk University from 1943-1970, the Race Relations Department and its annual Institute were set up by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict. 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 and Thurgood Marshall.

Covering more than 400 years and more than 65,000 volumes in North, Central, and South America and the West Indies, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions, and momentous events of the time through sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature, and more.

Provides a comprehensive record of the history of the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624, documenting the founding and economic development of the Virginia colony, relations between colonists and indigenous peoples, and early trade between Britain and America.