Search Engines for Finding Primary Sources in Archives/Repositories in the United States:
¨ ArchivesUSA: “Access to holdings and contact information of more than 5,400 repositories. Indexes to over 118,000 special collections”–searchable (for locating primary sources in the USA):http://archives.chadwyck.com/
¨ Library of Congress (every book published in English should be in this collection):http://www.loc.gov/catdir/catdir.html [also on CD-ROM]
¨ National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections [NUCMUC]–the guide to manuscript collections throughout the U.S. (normally indispensible, but primarily only if you can get to the U.S. to visit archives):http://lcweb.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/nucmc.html
¨ National Archives (again, useful primarily only if you can get to the U.S. for research, but see the next two entries in this list):http://www.nara.gov/
Different Periods/Topics:
¨ The American Memory Project at the Library of Congress (an amazing array of things– documents, photos, etc.–divided topically and fully searchable [see below, Perseus Project, for an example]):http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html
¨ Bartleby Library: Great Books On-Line (including Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, eight books by President Theodore Roosevelt, and inaugural addresses of all regularly elected American presidents):http://www.bartleby.com/index.html
¨ The Making of America Project, a digital library of primary sources; a collaborative effort between the University of Michigan (8,500 books and over 50,000 journal articles, mostly from the period 1850-1877) and Cornell University (267 books and over 100,000 journal articles, mostly from 1840-1900)–all fully searchable:http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/
¨ Perseus Project (Tufts University)–Library of Congress American Memory Collection: Books on the Upper Midwest (including, the full text of multi-volume publications of primary sources from the collections of the Minnesota and Wisconsin State Historical Societies)–see above for entire American Memory Project:http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/perscoll?collection=AmMem-lhbum
CHRONOLOGICAL PAGES
Colonial/Revolutionary Period:
¨ The American Revolution at the History Place:http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/
¨ Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings:http://www.puritansermons.com/toc.htm
¨ Founding Documents of the United States (links to texts of Dec. of Indep., Constitution, Federalist Papers, and other documents, including Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson papers, and Supreme Court decisions):http://www.constitution.org/cs_found.htm
¨ The Thomas Jefferson Papers (at present [4/99] mostly pertaining to Colonial Virginia, 1606-1737):http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mtjhtml/
” George Washington Papers:http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml
¨ The Writings of Thomas Jefferson–complete text of 19 volume compilation originally published in 1907http://www.constitution.org/tj/tj-categ.htm
Early Republic/Jacksonian Era (1783-1840):
¨ DoHistory.org: Site containing the entire twenty-seven year diary of Martha Ballard, 1785-1812 (diary was basis for a Pulitzer Prize Winning book by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale, but could be used in other ways):http://www.dohistory.org/
¨ Founding Documents of the United States (links to texts of Dec. of Indep., Constitution, Federalist Papers, and other documents, including Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson papers, and Supreme Court decisions):http://www.constitution.org/cs_found.htm
¨ George Washington Papers:http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml
¨ Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1820-1940 (a project at SUNY-Binghamton):http://womhist.binghamton.edu/
¨ The Writings of Thomas Jefferson–complete text of 19 volume compilation originally published in 1907http://www.constitution.org/tj/tj-categ.htm
Antebellum (1840-1860) and the South:
¨ Documenting the American South–“a collection of full-text primary sources on Southern history” including first person narratives and ex-slave narratives; focused on the colonial period to the early-20th century:http://sunsite.unc.edu/docsouth/
¨ Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1820-1940 (a project at SUNY-Binghamton):http://womhist.binghamton.edu/
Civil War and Reconstruction (1860-1877):
¨ The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (president, 1865-1869) from Harper’s Weekly:http://www.impeachment-johnson.com
¨ Lincoln/Net: Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project (many primary materials plus a few short interpretive essays on Lincoln and his times):http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu
¨ Presidential Elections, 1860-1884 (cartoons, mostly from Harper’s Weekly, and other information) and Political Prints, 1766-1876 (a wider ranging collection from the Library of Congress holdings), both from the Harper’s Weeklywebpage:http://elections.harpweek.com/ and http://loc.harpweek.com/
¨ The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War by Edward L. Ayres, Univ. of Virginia (large, searchable collection of primary documents from two communties during the Civil War era):http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/
Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1877-1920):
¨ “Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935” by Jim Zwick: Bancroft Library, Suffragists Oral History Project (interviews with women involved in rights issues, from the suffragist movement of the early-20th century to the Equal Rights Amendment cause in the 1970s):http://library.berkeley.edu/BANC/ROHO/ohonline/suffragists.html
¨ The Alexander Graham Bell (inventer of the telephone) Papers (first release; 4/99):http://memory.loc.gov/ammem bellhtml/bellhome.html
¨ Thomas A. Edison Papers, from Rutgers University (at present a searchable document database covering Edison’s life 1847-1898; eventually the full published “papers” will be on-line):http://edison.rutgers.edu/
¨ The Rutherford B. Hayes [U.S. President, 1877-1881] Papers (searchable):http://www.rbhayes.org
¨ The Making of America Project, a digital library of primary sources; a collaborative effort between the University of Michigan (8,500 books and over 50,000 journal articles, mostly from the period 1850-1877) and Cornell University (267 books and over 100,000 journal articles, mostly from 1840-1900)–all fully searchable:http:// moa.umdl.umich.edu/
¨ Presidential Elections, 1860-1884 (cartoons, mostly from Harper’s Weekly, and other information) and Political Prints, 1766-1876 (a wider ranging collection from the Library of Congress holdings), both from the Harper’s Weekly webpage:http://elections.harpweek.com/ and http://loc.harpweek.com/
¨ Society of Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (SHGAPE) Internet Resources:http:www.hnet.msu.edu~shgape/internet/index.html
¨ Booker T. Washington Papers (from the History Cooperative):http://www.historycooperative.org/btw/index.html
New Era, Depression, New Deal, World War II (1920-1945):
¨ Ad*Access at Duke University, “an online image database of over 7,000 advertisements printed mainly in U.S. newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955” (searchable):http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/
¨ U.S. Foreign Policy Development under FDR, 1933-1942 [documents]:http://metalab.unc.edu/pha/7-2-188/188title.html
¨ 1930s Project: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html
¨ Project Whistlestop–the Harry S Truman (President 1945-1953) Digital Archivehttp://www.whistlestop.org/
¨ Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929 (primary sources on “the transition to a mass consumer economy” during the 1920s):http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/coolhtml/coolhome.html
¨ Strategic Bombing Surveys (World War II analyses of the effectiveness of bombing):http://www.anesi.com/ussbs02.htm(Europe); http://www.anesi.com/ussbs01.htm (Japan)
¨ The World War II Resources Page (documents and links to more, including Pearl Harbor investigation):http://metalab.unc.edu/pha/
Post-War Period (1945-present):
¨ Congressional Record (pretty exclusively very modern material only):http://thomas.loc.gov/
¨ Freedom of Information Act–Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s FBI file (4,296 pages of documents)http://foia.fbi.gov/mccarthy.htm
¨ The National Security Archive Homepage (many declassified documents related to the Cold War, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to Richard Nixon’s famous meeting with Elvis Presley and all points in between):http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
¨ Project Whistlestop–the Harry S Truman (President 1945-1953) Digital Archivehttp://www.whistlestop.org/
¨ The Sixties Project at the University of Virginia contains primary documents and an on-line journal, the Vietnam Generation JournalProject homepage: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Sixties.html andVNG Journal: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Journal.html
TOPICAL PAGES
Diplomatic History:
¨ The National Security Archive Homepage (many declassified documents related to the Cold War, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to Richard Nixon’s famous meeting with Elvis Presley and all points in between):http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
¨ U.S. Foreign Policy Development under FDR, 1933-1942 [documents]:http://metalab.unc.edu/pha/7-2-188/188title.html
Military History:
¨ The Sixties Project at the University of Virginia contains primary documents and an on-line journal, the Vietnam Generation JournalProject homepage: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Sixties.html andVNG Journal: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Journal.html
¨ Strategic Bombing Surveys (World War II analyses of the effectiveness of bombing):http://www.anesi.com/ussbs02.htm(Europe); http://www.anesi.com/ussbs01.htm (Japan)
¨ The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War by Edward L. Ayres, Univ. of Virginia (large, searchable collection of primary documents from two communties during the Civil War era):http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/
¨ The World War II Resources Page (documents and links to more, including Pearl Harbor investigation):http://metalab.unc.edu/pha/
Economic History:
¨ The Alexander Graham Bell (inventer of the telephone) Papers (first release; 4/99):http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bellhome.html
¨ Thomas A. Edison Papers, from Rutgers University (at present a searchable document database covering Edison’s life 1847-1898; eventually the full published “papers” will be on-line):http://edison.rutgers.edu/
¨ Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929 (primary sources on “the transition to a mass consumer economy” during the 1920s):http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/coolhtml/coolhome.html
Social/Cultural History:
¨ Ad*Access at Duke University, “an online image database of over 7,000 advertisements printed mainly in U.S. newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955” (searchable):http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/
¨ Seattle General Strike Project (primary sources, secondary literature, and research reports):http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/strike/strikehome.htm
¨ The Sixties Project at the University of Virginia contains primary documents and an on-line journal, the Vietnam Generation JournalProject homepage: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Sixties.html andVNG Journal: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Journal.html
¨ The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War by Edward L. Ayres, Univ. of Virginia (large, searchable collection of primary documents from two communties during the Civil War era):http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/
Slavery/Race Relations:
¨ Booker T. Washington Papers (from the History Cooperative):http://www.historycooperative.org/btw/index.html
Women/Gender:
¨ Civil War Women: Primary Sources on the Net (links to sources):http://odyssey.lib.duke.edu/women/cwdocs.html
¨ Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1820-1940 (a project at SUNY-Binghamton):http://womhist.binghamton.edu/
Labor History:
¨ Seattle General Strike Project (primary sources, secondary literature, and research reports):http: faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/strike/strikehome.htm
History of the American West:
¨ WestWeb: Western History Resource by Catherine Lavender at CUNY (primary sources, secondary literature, bibliographies, and links relating to the history of the American West):http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/westweb