History and the Classics: Primary Sources: Topic-Specific Resources

Contains transcripts of more than 700 interviews conducted on refugees from the USSR in the early years of the Cold War.

Web portal to numerous digital projects involving Slavic, East European, and Eurasian history. Some links do not work. Most links go to text-searchable sites.

Collection of prominent eyewitness accounts of the Russian Revolution of 1917

A cooperative online library of documents relating to Caribbean history, from the colonial period to the present day. Includes many full-text newspapers.

A searchable collection of Mexican and Mexican American newspapers, largely focused on the years 1850-1950. Made available by the University of Arizona.

An online database of scanned Latin American books and pamphlets published in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Collections of public domain and copy-permitted primary source documents, many in full text. This links to their collection of documents in Islamic History.

A Harvard University project which has digitized and cataloged hundreds of Islamic manuscripts from the 10th to the 20th century. Most are not translated into English.

Multilingual collection of art and historical documents produced by many Persian gulf states.

A collection of primary sources, arranged chronologically, which involve travel or settlement along the silk road.

A collection of 19th and 20th century travel literature that documents East/West interactions. Mostly letters and diaries.

A web portal maintained by Stanford University, organized by country, which links to documents relevant to the history of that country.

A large collection of full-text primary sources, organized by time period and geographic location.

"Chronicling America is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP)."

A digital publishing initiative sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture.

Digital projects of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, hosts numerous tools for researching African-American history, the African Diaspora, and African history.

more than 100,000 text-searchable documents produced by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.

Historical Statistics on a range of topics and locations. An essential source for statistical data before 1975.

Note sub-categories at the left side of the page, including Colonial North America, US Immigration and more.

Access to federal records from the National Archives, available in archival databases, the archival catalog, and museum exhibits.
http://www.archives.gov/research/

American Journeys contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.

The American Presidency Project is the only online resource that has consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database:
The Messages and Papers of the Presidents: 1789-1929
The Public Papers of the Presidents: since 1929
The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: 1977-2009
The Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents: post-2009
Among other documents, our archives contain data related to Midterm Elections, U.S. Party Platforms (from 1840), Statements of Administration Policy, White House Press Briefing Transcripts, Presidential Debate transcripts.

Colonial North America at Harvard Library provides access to remarkable and wide-ranging materials digitized as part of an ongoing, multi-year project. When complete, the project will make available to the world approximately 470,000 digitized pages of all known archival and manuscript materials in the Harvard Library that relate to 17th- and 18th-century North America.

FRASER is a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System.

This digital collection of historical materials from Harvard's libraries, archives, and museums documents voluntary immigration to the United States from the signing of the Constitution to the start of the Great Depression. Concentrating heavily on the 19th century, the collection includes:
over 400,000 pages from more than 2,200 books, pamphlets, and serials over 9,600 pages from manuscript and archival collections more than 7,800 photographs By incorporating diaries, biographies, and other writings capturing diverse experiences, the collected material provides a window into the lives of ordinary immigrants. The collection also includes contextual information on voluntary immigration and quantitative data.

FRANKLIN connects you to 350,000 pages of archival documents, 2,000 historical photographs, and hundreds of archival finding aids and collection descriptions. Now, many of the most important historic materials of the twentieth century -- primary source documentation of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s experiences leading the nation through the Great Depression and World War II -- are online for anyone to access.

Beginning with the Continental Congress in 1774, America's national legislative bodies have kept records of their proceedings. The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress make up a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation and the development of the federal government and its role in the national life. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.

A Mississippi site which includes transcripts of oral history interviews, a civil rights timeline, and bibliography.

This database maintains full-text access to "more than 63,000 of the most important declassified documents regarding critical U.S. policy decisions" during the 20th century.

On the battlefront and at home, letters provide a vital connection between military service members and their families, friends, and loved ones. Motivated by the extraordinary circumstances of war, letter writers often reveal the priorities of life through vivid, heartfelt words and sentiments.

Every letter on display was lost or discarded by its original recipient. Found by strangers, these letters were recovered from the trash, yard sales, construction sites or former homes and were forwarded to The Legacy Project. While the background of some of the letters remains incomplete, these re-discovered papers offer irreplaceable perspectives on history. Includes letters from the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Civil War.

Available through Hathi Trust, a collection of some of the most prominent periodicals published in 19th century Britain, including Punch, The Spectator, The Westminster Review, and the Illustrated London News.

Documents in law, history and diplomacy for the 18th through 21st centuries.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp

Links to Western European historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page

Digitized primary source documents from the National Library of France.
http://gallica.bnf.fr/

Collection of public domain and copy-permitted primary source documents, many in full text. This links to their collection of documents in Medieval History.

The German Propaganda Archive includes both propaganda itself and material produced by Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic

From the US Holocaust Museum

The Harvard Law School Library's Nuremberg Trials Project is an open-access initiative to create and present digitized images or full-text versions of the Library's Nuremberg documents, descriptions of each document, and general information about the trials.

Constructed and maintained by the Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program, the Digital Archive contains newly declassified historical materials from archives around the world—much of it in translation and including diplomatic cables, high level correspondence, meeting minutes and more.
http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/

Significant primary materials that represent the culture of countries around the world. Sponsored by UNESCO and the Library of Congress.

A Library of Congress project which allows users to search transcripts of the depression-era Federal Writer's Project. The collection includes more than 2,000 oral histories created between 1936 and 1940.

An online repository of Marxist documents produced in America from 1864-1946

A large collection of documents written by prominent Marxists.

A product of Harvard's Open Collections Program, hosts primary sources such as pamphlets, books, newspaper articles, journals, and institutional records relating to women and labor, mostly between 1800 and 1930.

FRASER is a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System.

A project of Claremont Colleges to provide the collected works of the major anarchists and an online history of anarchists and anarchist movements worldwide, including a graphics archive.

Documents in law, history and diplomacy for the 18th through 21st centuries.

The American Presidency Project is the only online resource that has consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database:
The Messages and Papers of the Presidents: 1789-1929
The Public Papers of the Presidents: since 1929
The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: 1977-2009
The Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents: post-2009
Among other documents, our archives contain data related to Midterm Elections, U.S. Party Platforms (from 1840), Statements of Administration Policy, White House Press Briefing Transcripts, Presidential Debate transcripts.

more than 100,000 text-searchable documents produced by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.

FRASER is a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System.

Beginning with the Continental Congress in 1774, America's national legislative bodies have kept records of their proceedings. The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress make up a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation and the development of the federal government and its role in the national life. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.

An independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive also serves as a repository of government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States.

Here we feature the best movies of the United States Government, from training films to history, from our national parks to the U.S. Fire Academy and the Postal Inspectors, all of these fine flix are available for reuse without any restrictions whatsoever.

One of the only long-running LGBT papers in the United States that has been fully digitized. Linked collection goes back to 1971.

A large text-searchable collection of primary sources from the 17th tot the 19th centuries.

An online collection of documents, visual material, and oral histories on LGBT history.

A list of full-text primary sources on medieval military history.

A project of Brigham Young University which hosts digitized letters, diaries, and government documents related to the first World War.

Magazine focused on Catholic schools and missions in the U.S. (1902-1962).

Features the full text of this definitive edition.

The Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History online provides access to typescripts of interviews (1967 -1972) conducted with hundreds of Indians in Oklahoma regarding the histories and cultures of their respective nations and tribes. Related are accounts of Indian ceremonies, customs, social conditions, philosophies, and standards of living.

From Montana State University.

1845-1909

A full-text collection of influential letters, papers, treatises, and journal articles from the 17th to the 20th century, organized by topic.

A collection of important primary sources in the history of science, organized by discipline.

A project of the New York Public Library. Digital collection of 52 19th-century works by African-American Women Writers.

An online collection of letters written from the 7th to the 14th century, all by women.

Texts of speeches by famous women from the 1830s to the 1970s. No audio or video. Maintained by Sweet Briar College.
http://gos.sbc.edu

A product of Harvard's Open Collections Program, hosts primary sources such as pamphlets, books, newspaper articles, journals, and institutional records relating to women and labor, mostly between 1800 and 1930.

FRANKLIN connects you to 350,000 pages of archival documents, 2,000 historical photographs, and hundreds of archival finding aids and collection descriptions. Now, many of the most important historic materials of the twentieth century -- primary source documentation of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s experiences leading the nation through the Great Depression and World War II -- are online for anyone to access.

The Vietnam Center and Archive collects and preserves the documentary record of the Vietnam War, and supports and encourages research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam Experience.

The German Propaganda Archive includes both propaganda itself and material produced by Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic

From the US Holocaust Museum

The Harvard Law School Library's Nuremberg Trials Project is an open-access initiative to create and present digitized images or full-text versions of the Library's Nuremberg documents, descriptions of each document, and general information about the trials.

This archive of primary documents from World War I has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). The archive is international in focus and intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War.

Constructed and maintained by the Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program, the Digital Archive contains newly declassified historical materials from archives around the world—much of it in translation and including diplomatic cables, high level correspondence, meeting minutes and more. Includes coverage of the Korean War and Cold War.

On the battlefront and at home, letters provide a vital connection between military service members and their families, friends, and loved ones. Motivated by the extraordinary circumstances of war, letter writers often reveal the priorities of life through vivid, heartfelt words and sentiments.

Every letter on display was lost or discarded by its original recipient. Found by strangers, these letters were recovered from the trash, yard sales, construction sites or former homes and were forwarded to The Legacy Project. While the background of some of the letters remains incomplete, these re-discovered papers offer irreplaceable perspectives on history. Includes letters from the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Civil War.

Images from U.S. and world history from the 1750s to the 2000s

From Montana State University.

Explore 753,565 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections. This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.