Suggested Websites for Historical Research
All:
KU’s Information Gateway
http://infogateway.ku.edu/
 From here, click on “History” to see a thematic list of topics
National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/
American Memory (Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
The Making of America
http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
The Smithsonian Institution
http://www.si.edu/
PBS
http://www.pbs.org/
The Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Early U. S. History
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook26.html
Digital History
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/
Images:
Google Image Search
http://images.google.com/
 Powerful search engine, but be discerning about choosing images from its
search results
Picture History: The Primary Source for History Online
http://www.picturehistory.com/
 This website has an excellent browse feature, and contains images spanning
from early colonization through the twentieth century
Digital History: Images
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/images.cfm
 Includes images for the breadth of American history, with particular strengths
in the area of nineteenth century African Americans and also the Civil War
By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-present
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http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/odmdhtml/preshome.html
 This site includes images of each president along with their families, including
both formal and informal portraits and/or photographs
Kansas Collection Photographs
http://www.lib.ku.edu/imagegateway/index.cfm?page=detail&collection=32
 This collection includes images from the Spencer Research Library at the
University of Kansas
Early Photographic Techniques
http://www.common-place.org/vol-02/no-02/fried/early-photography.shtml
 This article from Common-Place (an online history journal) explains early
photographic techniques; most useful for reference purposes
Maps:
Digital History: Maps
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/maps/maps.cfm
 Site includes historic maps from the earliest explorations to the Civil War
Cultural Maps in American Studies
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/map_hp.html
 On his site the American Studies department at the University of Virginia has
compiled a wide variety of maps stretching as far back as the fifteenth
century
David Rumsey Map Collection
http://www.davidrumsey.com/
 This site has a variety of search features, including a “ticker” which runs
along the screen as a browsing feature
Music:
Digital History: Historical Music
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/music/titles_noncopyright.cfm and
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/music/titles_linkedmusic.cfm
 While most of these songs are from the twentieth century, there are a few
selections from the early to mid-nineteenth century
UCLA Digital Library Sheet Music Project
http://digital.library.ucla.edu/apam/
 This site includes images of American sheet music from 1790 to the present,
although the greatest focus is on the modern era
Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, c. 1820-1860
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sm2html/
 More images of American sheet music
iTunes
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
 A great source for classical music and soundtracks, and the search feature
can be used to find specific historical songs
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Text:
Electronic Texts for the Study of American Culture
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/hypertex.html
 Contains links to well-known literary works
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/major.htm
 This resource includes extensive source material dealing with a number of
topics, with the greatest emphasis on political history and diplomatic history
Special Topics:
American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and
Settlement
http://www.americanjourneys.org/
 Contains text, maps and other images of American settlement and exploration
Archiving Early America
http://www.earlyamerica.com/
 This site includes documents, music, and visuals pertaining to early America
Discovering Lewis and Clark
http://www.lewis-clark.org/
 This multimedia website “focuses on issues, values and visions relating to the
Lewis & Clark Expedition, its preludes, and its aftermath up to the present
time” (from the homepage)
Denver Public Library: Western History and Genealogy Digital Image Collection
http://history.denverlibrary.org/images/index.html
 This link points directly to their searchable database (not all images in the
collection have been digitized)
The Industrial Revolution in America
http://www.oberlin.edu/history/GJK/H258S2004/Default.htm
 This syllabus for an upper-division course includes links to secondary and
primary sources involving the Market and Industrial Revolutions
The Multicultural American West: A Resource Site
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~amerstu/mw/
 Contains sources pertaining to native peoples, the Latino/a West, and women
in the West (among others)
American Women’s History: A Research Guide
http://www.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women/wh-digcoll.html
 This site, arranged topically, covered the whole of American history;
particularly interesting subjects (from our time period) include the suffrage
and temperance movements
Westward by Sea: A Maritime Perspective on America Expansion, 1820-1890
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/mymhihtml/mymhihome.htm
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
This project, by the Library of Congress, focuses on items from Mystic
Seaport's archival collections
Famous Trials
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/ftrials.htm
 This site includes a wealth of information on famous court cases such as the
Salem Witchcraft trials, the Boston Massacre trials, and the Amistad trials
Cornell University Collection of Political Americana
http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/political/
 This useful website
Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy Prior to 1898
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pre1898.htm
 Site includes links to a wide variety of sources relating to foreign policy
“I Do Solemnly Swear…:” Presidential Inaugurations
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pihome.html
This online collection contains “approximately 400 items or 2,000 digital files relating
to inaugurations from George Washington's in 1789 to George W. Bush's
inauguration of 2001” (from homepage)
Antislavery Literature Project
http://antislavery.eserver.org/
 This site contains mostly texts, including newspapers, treatises, and poetry
about the antislavery movement in America (with a few images and music
links)
“Been Here So Long:” Selections from the WPA Slave Narratives
http://newdeal.feri.org/asn/
 A collection of oral history interviews of former slaves taken during the 1930s
Territorial Kansas Online
http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/
 Includes images, correspondence, newspaper articles, and other primary
sources dealing with Kansas’ territorial period (1854-1861)
The History Gateway at Kansas
http://www.vlib.us/history/
 Provides a variety of sources related to the history of the Sunflower State
Documenting the American South
http://docsouth.unc.edu/
 Fabulous website with a variety of source materials dealing with all aspects of
Southern history
Secession Era Editorials Project
http://facweb.furman.edu/~benson/docs/
 Contains sources relating to debates around the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the
Dred Scott decision, the caning of Charles Sumner, and John Brown’s raid on
Harper’s Ferry
The American Civil War Homepage
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http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html
 Includes links to thousands of sites for Civil War music and images (be
discerning about which sites you visit)