PRIMARY SOURCE WEB SITES
American Heritage Magazine www.americanheritage.com
This is not a primary source website, rather a site containing reliable secondary source material
written by reputable historians. Covers all periods of American social and political history, but
does not specialize in any one period or era. Colonial period through Cold War.
American Memory Project at the Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Millions of documents from historic events, people, and ideas that shaped all walks of American
life. Over 100 thematic collections organize the over 9 million items in this digital collection.
The American Presidency Project www.presidency.ucsb.edu
This archive contains approximately 90,000 primary source documents related to all American
presidents. Includes public papers, documents archive, state of the union addresses, data on
elections and party platforms. Sponsored by the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy http://avalon.law.yale.edu
Digitalized documents of primary source material covering from ancient history up to and into
the 21st century. Arranged by period. Sponsored by the Yale Law School.
Chronicling America http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
Search America's historic newspapers from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to
find information about American newspapers published between 1690 and the present.
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, this is a
growing archive as more and more states add their newspaper collections.
Document Library http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library
Letters, speeches, and documents from the Colonial Era through the Modern Era. Also includes
documents on the Constitution, from the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches and on
Religion in American History and Politics. Made available by Teaching American History.
Early Americas Digital Archives www.mith2.umd.edu/eada
The EADA is a collection of electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the
Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820. Published and supported by the Maryland Institute
for Technology in the Humanities. Gateway search has most results.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page
Covers prehistoric and ancient Europe, Medieval and Renaissance Europe, and Europe as a
Supranational Region. Arranged by country. Sponsored by Brigham Young University.
Foreign Relations of the United States – Digital Collections
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/
The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of
major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. The
series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian and printed volumes are
archived at the University of Wisconsin. Begins with the administration of Abraham Lincoln in
1861. For foreign relations documents published since 1945 see United States Department of State
in this listing.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History: Historic Documents Collection
www.gilderlehrman.org/collections
Contains more than 60,000 documents detailing the political and social history of the United
States from early settlement through the 20th century. Includes manuscript letters, diaries, maps,
photographs, printed books and pamphlets. Headquartered at the New York Historical Society.
Historical Voices www.historicalvoices.org
The purpose of Historic Voices is to create a significant, fully searchable online database of
spoken word collections spanning the 20th century. This is a new project and the index is still
being created. Hosted by Michigan State University.
Making of America http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp
The University of Michigan's digital library of primary sources in American social history from
just the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in
psychology, history, sociology, religion, science and technology pertaining to those years.
National History Day – Photos, Maps & Other Images
www.nhd.org/PhotosandotherImages.htm
Links to sites that contain political cartoons, drawings, pictures, photos, and maps pertinent to
United States history.
National History Day Primary Sources www.nhd.org/USHistoryPrimarySources.htm
This content is topically arranged and link to lots of other sources that contain primary
documents.
National Portal to Historic Collections www.americanheritage.com/search-collections
A cooperative website for America's history museums and national historic sites. Acessed by
state. Each museum has specific collections, and curators who can be interviewed about specific
research questions. Under the auspices of the American Heritage Society.
National Women's History Museum www.nwhm.org
In its founding years, this (online only for now) museum researches, collects, and exhibits the
contributions of women to the social, cultural, economic and political life of our nation in a
context of world history.
The Oregon History Project www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/
The Oregon History Project is not limited to primary sources, but it is a good online resource for
learning about Oregon's past. Sponsored by the Oregon Historical Society.
Primary Documents in American History
www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/PrimDocsHome.html
Digitized documents from three eras in American History: The American Revolution and the
New Nation (1763-1815), National Expansion and Reform (1815-1860), and Civil War and
Reconstruction (1860-1877). Documents from the 20th Century are yet to be digitized. From the
collections of the Library of Congress.
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/
Contains the public papers (writings, addresses, and remarks) of Presidents Hoover through
Clinton. Compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and
Records Administration.
U.S. Department of State. Office of the Historian http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments
Presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and
significant diplomatic activity within the presidental administrations of Truman, Eisenhower,
Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter.
Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database www.slavevoyages.org
Provides “information on almost 35,000 slaving voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million
Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.” It is
primarily a data set permitting not only the display of details of each individual voyage, but also
the manipulation of that data in tables and charts. Also contains maps and primary source
images. Sponsored by Emory University.
Web Guides - Library of Congress Digital Reference Section
www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/bibguide.html
These guides cover African-American History; States, Cities, Towns; Government,Law;
Literature; Performing Arts, Music; Presidents; Sports, Recreation; Technology, Industry; War,
Military; and Women's History.
Worcester Women's History Project www.wwhp.org
An online historical library of primary sources established to raise the awareness of the
importance of the first National Woman's Rights Convention held in 1850 with an abolitionist
mission. This project is localized to Massachusetts figures.
World War I Document Archive www.gwpda.org
Covers conventions, treaties, official papers, documents by year, primary resources by author,
biographic material, image archive, memoirs, maritime and medical information, and links to
other sources. Sponsored by The History Channel.
World War II Primary Documents www.teacheroz.com/WWIIDocs.htm
A gold mine of primary sources, including speeches, conference papers, texts of official acts, and
more. Includes a section on Sounds, Films, Images & Photography of the War.