Links to the Study of American History

The following links will help you do research for your term papers. The list is divided into bibliographies and databases. Please note: some links require a valid University Library account. A complete list of databases that can be accessed with a University Library account can be found here.

Bibliographies:

• America: History and Life (fee charged)
       > lists books, essays, Ph.D theses, and reviews
• Library of Congress Online Catalog
       > online catalog of the de-facto American national library
• Neuerwerbungen
       > recently purchased books in the Library of the Department of History and the Schurman Library
• Periodicals Archive Online

Databases for Primary Sources:

General

• American Memory
      > digitalized archive of the Library of Congress, contains several collections including American State Papers Collection, George Washington Papers etc.
• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
       > overview over historical and recent governmental documents, mostly full-text access
• Critical Past
       > collection of historical image and film sources
• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
       > collection of historical maps with focus maps of North and South America from 18th and 19th century
• Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800) (requires library account)
       > full-text versions of many publications published in North America between 1639-1800
• Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw/Shoemaker (1801-1819) (requires library account)
       > full-text versions of many publications published in North America between 1801-1819
• Internet Archive
       > non-profit database with many documents, audio files, and other sources
       > caution: be careful using this database due to the often lacking background details and information
• National Archives
       > national archive of the U.S. containing among others millions of photo sources
• New York Public Library - Digital Gallery
       > image archive of the New York Public Library
• The Avalon Project
       > collection of historical sources held by the Yale Law School, focus on dimplomatic history and law history

Newspaper Archives

• 19th Century U.S. Newspapers (requires library account)
       > full-text articles of 398 newspapers published between 1800-1900
• African American Newspapers Series 1, Series 2
• American Antiquarian Society - Historical Periodical Collection, Series 1-5 (requires library account)
       > full-text articles of historical journals and periodicals published between 1691-1877
• America's Historical Newspapers (requires library account)
       > contains the collections Early American Newspapers, Series 1 - 5, 1690-1922, Archive of Americana, EAN und American State Papers, 1789-1838
• Historical Newspapers (requires library account)
       > extensive collection of digitalized editions of most major U.S. newspapers
• Modernist Journals Project
• U.S. News Archives
       > collection of links to U.S. newspaper archives (listed in alphabetical order of statest)

Slavery and Civil War

• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives form the Federal Writers´ Project, 1936 to 1938

Civil Rights Movement

• Civil Rights Movement Veterans
• Freedom Now!
       > collection of documents concerning the Mississippi Freedom Movement held by Brown University 
• Virginia Center for Digital History - Digital Collection
       > collecction with focus on the history of Virginia, slavery, Civil Rights Movement, containing among others the Civil Rights Television News Archive, 1950-1970

Colonial Era

• American Journeys
       > digitalized manuscripts, drawings etc. related to the Colonial Era
• The Luna Imaging Collections
       > image database of Brown University containing among others the Archive of Early American Images, Map Collection, and Political Cartoon Collection

Political and Military History

• American President
       > database of University of Virginia providing information on all former U.S. presidents including the Presidential Speech Archive
• Department of State - Major Publications
       > historical and recent documents of the U.S. Department of State
• Digital National Security Archive
• Foreign Relations of the Americas
        > full-text articles from Foreign Relations of the United States 1861-1960
• Papers of the War Department, 1784-1800
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, 1929 to 1932, 1945 to 2016
• The Presidential Elections, 1860-1912
        > collection of election related historical caricatures published in Harpers Weekly
• World War I Document Archive

Economic and Social History

• African American History - Online Reference Guide
• Barnard Centre for Research on Women
• Documenting the American South
• Historical Census Browser
       > former database on U.S. census organized by the University of Virginia Library. Today accessible via several databases.
• Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
• Jews in America. Jewish Virtual Library
• Making of America
       > sources on U.S. social history focusing on 19th century
• Measuring America
       > overview over all U.S. census from 1790 to 2000
• Oyez
       > archive of the U.S. Supreme Court
• Primary Sources: The 1920s
       > guide by the Christopher Newport University
• Women Working, 1800-1930