Primary Sources: History

Primary source documents from ancient times through the present, having to do with law, politics and diplomacy. From Yale Law School.

Full-text of American newspapers from 1897-1910. From the U.S. Library of Congress.

Maps from the David Rumsey collection.

Primary sources in women's history. From the Middle Tennessee State University.

Especially strong collection of slave narratives. Also Southern literature.

Digitized archival images. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.

E-books in fiction, children's literature, academic texts and historical documents.

Collections include the Haymarket Affair, America at Work, Inside an American Factory, and the National Child Labor Committee. Search the Ephemera Collection for pamphlets by various organizations.

Huge collection of historical prints and photographs. Most are in the public domain.

Primary sources in 19th century American social history. From Cornell University.

Interactive and animated map representations of historical problems, events, developments, and dynamics. From the University of Oregon.

Scanned text and images. "All of the digital images that are available on our website are in the public domain."

This site provides access to summary tables and time series of population, housing, agriculture, and economic data, along with GIS-compatible boundary files, for years from 1790 through the present and for all levels of U.S. census geography, including states, counties, tracts, and blocks.

From George Washington University.

Digitized primary source documents in New York state history. From Cornell University.

Search for online digital historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search. Search by typing a place-name or by clicking in the map window, and narrow by date. Funded by JISC. Many participating institutions. Many of these maps are in the public domain.

E-book classics from the medieval and renaissance periods. From Tufts University.

The biggest collection of public domain e-books on the web. Many classics and primary sources.

Rare books and manuscripts. From the University of Pennsylvania.

Check out the Folkways Collection, the Photography Initiative, and the Archives of American Art.

A site that has current and correct data (along with additional data) and that allows mapping of search results.

Digitized classics and primary source documents.

Early American literature, English literature from the same period, African American literature. The Lewis and Clark and Westward Expansion collections are also of interest.

Clips of American political speeches.

Digitized primary source documents. From Cornell University.

Digitized primary source documents in women's involvement in the US economy between the Civil War and the Great Depression. From Harvard University.

Digitized primary source documents from countries and cultures around the world. From the Library of Congress.

Photographs and digitized archival images. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.

More than 80,000 videos of historical footage.

Maps from the David Rumsey collection.

Transcriptions, translations, and scanned originals. Includes Eastern Europe and Russia.

Europa Film Treasures disappeared. Many or all of its videos are now available through this French web site, Arte. Historical European films and footage. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.

Attempts to be an exhaustive compilation of European history primary sources on the web.

71 historical e-books about American and World history

E-books in fiction, children's literature, academic texts and historical documents.

In Kanji, Romaji, and English.

Medieval European and Byzantine documents.

Interactive and animated map representations of historical problems, events, developments, and dynamics. From the University of Oregon.

Classic movies and alternative news broadcasts. Some of these works are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.

From George Washington University.

Search for online digital historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search. Search by typing a place-name or by clicking in the map window, and narrow by date. Funded by JISC. Many participating institutions. Many of these maps are in the public domain.

A collection of links to national archives throughout the Latin American and Caribbean world. Mostly Spanish language resources.

E-books and other documents in history, literature, philosophy, religion, etc. From the University of Virginia Library.
Formerly known as the Virginia Electronic Text Center.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database now comprises 36,000 individual slaving expeditions between 1514 and 1866.

Digitized primary source documents. From Cornell University.

Digitized primary source documents from countries and cultures around the world. From the Library of Congress.

Links to thousands of maps, maintained by the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas. Many of these maps are in the public domain.

Translated into English.