American History

The following is a list of 100 milestone documents, compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, and drawn primarily from its nationwide holdings. The documents chronicle United States history from 1776 to 196

Search millions of pages of primary sources spanning the 15th – 21st centuries. Includes Award-winning digital resources spanning the social sciences and humanities, developed in collaboration with leading libraries and archives.

Vol. I: North America

Provides links to approximately 390 documents, most of which are related to the nation's political, diplomatic, military, and legal history.

Includes Inaugural Addresses, Messages, Public Papers and State of the Union Address of the Presidents from 1789-Present.

Database of and index to 5000+ full text, audio and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two.

Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy

Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

Provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture.

An online database of the thousands of Philadelphia-area residents who served in the First World War. Drawing on digitized public-domain documents, the database connects previously distinct sources, such as casualty lists, newspaper articles, and government documents to create a comprehensive social science dataset and a biographical encyclopedia. The data will also be used to create an interactive map to display how the First World War affected the towns and neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area.

A multi-institutional project highlighting materials and resources on the Great War, with articles curated by individual scholars. Uses social media to spotlight newly digitized content, creative educational use of materials and news of other Great War commemorations.

These are the records of the hearings of the Dies Committee, set up by the US House of Representatives to monitor "Un-American activities" and foreign propaganda before and during the Second World War.

Primary Documents in American History

Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.

A series of letters written from 1759 to 1765, between Timothy Fitch, a Medford resident, and an employee of Fitch named Peter Gwinn. The letters are a direct and local link to the trafficking and sale of enslaved human beings from Africa.

In the Nat Turner Project digital archive, you can read original documents related to the only large-scale slave revolt ever to occur in the United States. Explore newspaper articles, diary entries, letters, maps, trials transcripts, census records, pamphlets, petitions, and other types of sources created at the time the revolt occurred. The archive also contains later accounts of the revolt, including interviews with former slaves and memoirs of former slaveholders. In the Memory section, you will also find visual and fictional representations of Nat Turner and the revolt that were created long after the revolt was suppressed and the people involved were gone.

Explore the Newberry through online collections, exhibitions, and publications.

"On the 40th anniversary of the leak to the press, the national Archives, along with the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon Presidential Libraries, has released the complete report. Approx 7,000 declassified pages.

These sets are designed to help students develop analytical and critical thinking skills through exposure to digital primary sources representing significant topics in Pennsylvania history.

Project Gutenberg is a major source of free historical electronic texts that can be searched by author or title. Content is free in the United States because its copyright has expired. You can download 30,000+ free ebooks to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.

The Smithsonian Collections Search Center is an online catalog containing most of Smithsonian major collections from our museums, archives, libraries, and research units.

A unique, virtual collection, comprising over 650,000 individual pages from more than 3,100 books and trade catalogs, 900 archives and manuscript items, and 1,400 photographs.

Transcripts of a large selection of 17th- and 18th-century inventories from across York County, Virginia including the northern half of the city of Williamsburg, Yorktown, and the surrounding areas.