Indexes journal articles, book reviews, and dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada. Subjects include area studies, folklore, government, historiography, political science, popular culture, and urban history.
Major collection of primary sources on American history from the times of the earliest settlers until the end of World War II.
Skillman Library's links to major indexes and full-text collections covering multiple periods of United States history.
Large collection of primary sources split into two parts. Part I covers the documented history, sociology, and culture of Indigenous peoples across the US and Canada from the age of invasion and colonization through western settlement and forced displacement. Part II presents the record and sometimes-troubled history of the Indian Rights Association, an organization founded by White philanthropists that attempted to advocate for Indigenous rights.
In depth articles on major topics and trends relating to the study of American history. Written (and periodically updated) by scholars and peer-reviewed.
Major collection of primary source material covering the global history of the slave trade, slavery, and anti-slavery movements. Presented in 4 collections: Debates over Slavery and Abolition; Slave Trade in the Atlantic World; The Institution of Slavery; and Age of Emancipation.
Vast collection of documents relating to the global slave trade and subsequent abolition efforts and social justice movements. Documents include manuscripts, court records, maps, lists of slaves and ships' logs, books, statistics, and many types of images.
Provides digital access to a highly comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1691 and 1912. Subject coverage includes: advertising, health, women's issues, science, the history of slavery, industry and professions, religious issues, culture and the arts, and more. Produced by a partnership between EBSCO and the American Antiquarian Society (AAS).
Collection of over 30,000 documents, many in full color, fairly evenly split between broadsides (spanning 1749-1900) and ephemera (1820-1900). Contains rare items such as sailing cards, playbills, menus, music programs, advertisements, etc. Built in partnership with the American Antiquarian Society.
Digitized images from American magazines and journals that originated between 1741 and 1940. Includes general interest magazines, children's publications, women's magazines, and literary and professional journals.
Digitized collection of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. Includes many titles published bilingually in Spanish and English.
Selective gateway to online U.S. history resources. Also includes first-person, primary documents and teaching resources. Searchable by keyword or topic.
Collection of primary sources for the study of American social history, featuring books and journals published primarily between 1850 and 1877. From the University of Michigan and Cornell University.
Electronic index to millions of articles published in over 6,000 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, covering more than 300 years.
Primary source material on race relations across social, political, cultural and religious arenas from the mid-nineteenth century through the twentieth century. Focuses primarily on New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and North Carolina.
Collection of materials relating to African American history and culture from the Library of Congress's rare book collection. The bulk of the materials were published between 1822 and 1909 and include public orations, organization records, personal narratives, legal documents, and literary works. Topics covered include segregation, voting rights, violence against African Americans, and the colonization movement.
Database of hundreds of prison newspapers from across the U.S. representing penal institutions of all kinds, with special attention paid to women's-only institutions. From Reveal Digital, a library crowdfunded open access initiative.
Collection of nearly 19,000 newspapers covering the experience and impact of Asian Americans as recorded by the American and international news media -- majority of titles are U.S.-based.
Collection of abolitionist speeches by antebellum blacks and editorials from the period.
Full text of several historical Brooklyn newspapers, including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1841 – 1963).
Primary sources connected to the trading and cultural relationships that emerged between China, America and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries.
Allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1777-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. From the Library of Congress.
Hundreds of primary source documents, photographs, drawings, maps, and other American history materials drawn from the holdings of the National Archives. Large collections on aviation and space, civil rights, Civil War, founders and founding documents, presidents, and World War II. Images can be used in papers and presentations.
Collection of primary sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the late colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Includes collections of slave narratives, Southern literature, and materials related to the church in the black community.
Collection of over 9,000 print advertisements from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University. See Ad*Access for advertisements in Duke's collection from 1911-1955.
Primary sources charting the rise and fall of empires, from the explorations of Columbus, Captain Cook, and others to decolonization in the second half of the twentieth century. Includes perspectives from colonizers as well as indigenous peoples from Africa, India and North America.
Collection of books, pamphlets, periodicals, and broadsides for the study of American social, cultural and popular history. Particularly rich in conduct-of-life and domestic management literature, offering insights into the daily lives of women and men in the nineteenth century.
Collection of primary source documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, NSA, CIA, AID, foreign affairs agencies, and private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy. Selected volumes online. Complete print version available in Skillman Library (Call No. JX 233 .A3).
Contains approximately 2,000 items (16,000 images) relating to Douglass's life as an escaped slave, abolitionist, editor, orator, and public servant. The papers span the years 1841 to 1964, with the bulk of the material from 1862 to 1895.
Primary sources relating to various frontiers that arose from the movements of Europeans to Africa, Australasia and North America. The majority of the material originates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Primary sources such as manuscripts/diaries, rare books, maps, paintings, advertisements, company records, etc., covering the global history of 15 major commodities: chocolate, coffee, cotton, fur, energy, opium, porcelain, silver & gold, spices, sugar, tea, timber, tobacco, wheat, wine & spirits. Also includes data on energy production, consumption, and reserves by country from 1965 to the present.
Collection of primary sources about Chicago during the period before and after the great fire of 1871.
Coverage: 1857-1912
Full text of Harper's Weekly with extensive indexing of articles, illustrations, and advertisements.
Collection of primary and secondary sources related to the history of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region from the 18th century to the early 20th century. The site, from The University of Pittsburgh, includes over 300 books, nearly 600 maps, census schedules, and a timeline.
Harvard University Library digital collection of primary source materials (books, pamphlets, photographs, maps, manuscripts, diaries, etc.) providing a window into the lives of ordinary immigrants to the United States. Focus is on voluntary immigration in the 19th century.
Compilation of U.S. treaties, laws, and executive orders pertaining to Indigenous peoples and tribes from 1778 to 1971.
Primary sources relating to indigenous history in the United States, Canada and Mexico from earliest contact with Europeans through the late twentieth century. From the Ayer Collection at the Newberry Library. Can be searched jointly with the American West collection.
Coverage: 1828-2016
Collection of 42 newspapers from Indigenous peoples of the US and Canada covering 1828-2016.
Archive of documents highlighting the Jewish American culture, identity, and experiences, sourced from the American Jewish Historical Society.
Digitized version of the Proceedings of the Confederate Congress between 1861 and 1865. The 7-volume set originally was compiled by the War Department and published in 1904-05.
Full text of eleven decisions reflecting the Supreme Court's changing attitude toward race, from Scott v. Sanford to Brown v. Board of Education.
Archive documenting the history of nursing and medicinal practices during wartime, with a focus on the American Civil War, the Crimean War, and the First World War (including the outbreak of influenza in 1918).
Major collection of oral histories, personal accounts, correspondence, shipping records, and many other primary sources covering the experience of migration from Europe and Asia to the United States, Canada, Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand.
Collection of online exhibitions about New York City.
Correspondence, orders, reports and returns of the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. A digitized version of the 70-volume, indexed set published by the War Department between 1880 and 1901.
Reports, orders, correspondence, maps, charts and illustrations related to naval operations during the Civil War. A digitized version of the 30-volume, indexed set published by the Naval War Records Office between 1894 and 1922.
Searchable full text of some Pennsylvania newspapers from 1831 to 1877. From the Penn State Libraries.
Pamphlets, ads, books, trade cards, posters, and other ephemera meant to educate the general public about "popular" medicine and remedies.
Coverage: 1763-1877
Important documents from U.S. history (e.g., Treaty of Paris, Missouri Compromise) with brief background information and links to other relevant primary materials. Provided by the Library of Congress.
Extensive collection of pamphlets and leaflets relating to the anti-slavery struggle. Hosted by the Cornell University Library.
Small collection of books and pamphlets from the 19th century on slavery in the United States. Includes anti-slavery tracts and slave narratives. From Dickinson College and Millersville University.
Digitized trade catalogues highlighting American consumerism, marketing, manufacturing, and home life in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Diaries and correspondence, plus some illustrations, describing the motivations for and experiences of travel by 19th & 20th century American women to destinations across the globe.
Records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the 1st-43rd United States Congresses.
Collection of resources documenting two Shenandoah Valley communities in the years before, during, and after the Civil War. Contains searchable newspapers, population census data, agricultural census data, manufacturing census data, slave owner census data, tax records, letters and diaries, images, maps, church records, and military rosters.
Collection of images, posters, playbills, books, objects, and ephemera (e.g. pamphlets, handbills) documenting popular entertainment in the Victorian era. Divided into 4 modules: spiritualism/magic; circuses; theater/music halls; and cinema.
Digitized books, manuscripts, images, magazines, and catalogs from Harvard University libraries and museums on women in the U.S. economy from 1800-1930.