LibGuides: HIST 17A:Primary Sources: Primary Sources

Selected Primary Source Websites for General U.S. History

100 Milestone Documents
Here is a link to a list of 100 important documents that the National Archives and Records Administration compiled regarding U.S. history from 1776 to 1965.

These are some examples of online primary resource collections. Use the tips in the "Using Google to Find Primary Sources" section to find other collections. If you have a collection you want to share, leave a comment or send an email.

American Memory
The Library of Congress's American Memory has a growing collection of digitized primary source documents from different time periods in U.S. history.
American Presidency Project
Developed by University of California Santa Barbara, the American Presidency Project has transcripts for presidential speeches and documents, as well as sound and video recordings.
AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
Developed by Lynn Nelson, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Kansas, AMDOCS provides links to documents related to American and U.S. political, diplomatic, military, and legal history. Documents range from the 1400s through 2009.
American History From Revolution to Reconstruction
Developed by the University of Groningen's Computing in the Humanities department, the American History From Revolution to Reconstruction Project contains primary source documents related to American history from pre-1600 to the present.
The Avalon Project
Developed by the Lillian Goldman Law Library of Yale Law School, the Avalong Project contains law, history, and diplomacy documents from ancient times through the 21st century.
Britain and the American Civil War
"While war was fought on American soil, the conflict had global repercussions, with Britain playing an important strategic, commercial and diplomatic role." This collection highlights Britain's involvement.
Chronicling America
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, Chronicling America allows you to search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922. The U.S. Newspaper Directory helps to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Cornell Digital Collections
Digitized primary source documents. From Cornell University.
Digital History
This website was designed and developed to support the teaching of American History in K-12 schools and colleges and is supported by the College of Education at the University of Houston.
Digital Public Library of America
The DPLA is "a portal that delivers students, teachers, scholars, and the public to incredible resources, wherever they may be in America."
History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web
This website was first developed in 1998 by the American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning, City University of New York, and the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, with initial funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
The Huntingon Free Library Native American Collection
The Huntington Free Library Navtive American Collection has 91 native language dictionaries that were digitized by Cornell University.
JCB Archive of Early American Images
The Archive of Early American Images from John Carter Brown University Library at Brown University is "[a] database of graphic representations of the colonial Americas, from Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego, drawn entirely from primary sources printed or created between 1492 and ca. 1825."
Making of America
Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The project is a joint venture between the University of Michigan and Cornell University.
American Rhetoric
A trove of speeches.
David Rumsey Map Collection
Documenting the American South
Primary resources for the study of southern history, literature, and culture. From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Harvard University Library Digital Collections
Digitized archival images. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.
World Digital Library
Digitized primary source documents from countries and cultures around the world. From the Library of Congress.
Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights
From the University of Maryland.
Internet Archive Texts
E-books in fiction, children's literature, academic texts, and historical documents.
Library of Congress Maps Collection
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Historical prints and photographs. Most are in the public domain.
Mapping History
Interactive and animated map representations of historical problems, events, developments, and dynamics. From the University of Oregon.
National Archives
Scanned text and images. "All of the digital images that are available on [the] website are in the public domain."
National Security Archive
From George Washington University.
Old Maps Online
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.
Perseus Digital Library 19th Century American Collection
From Tufts University.
Project Gutenberg
The biggest collection of public domain e-books on the web. Many classics and primary sources.
Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image (SCETI)
Rare books and manuscripts. From the University of Pennsylvania.
Smithsonian Institution
Check out the Folkways Collection, the Photography Initiative, and the Archives of American Art.
University of Chicago Digital Collections
Digitized classics and primary source documents.
Vincent Voice Library
Clips of American political speeches. From Michigan State University Libraries.
Yale University Library Digital Collections
Photographs and digitized archival images. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.
C-SPAN
Programs dating back to 1987.

Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources

Primary sources "provide the 'raw data' that you use...as evidence to support your claim" (Booth, Colomb, and Williams, 2008). Primary sources are documents and items that exist in the time period of the person, place, or event you are studying. They can include maps, posters, photographs, pamphlets, brochures, diaries, clothes, song lyrics, novels, paintings, statistics, interviews, speeches, newspapers, news clips, films, and even Tweets and blogs.

Secondary sources interpret primary sources. They tell a "story" using pieces of evidence (primary sources) to support their claims.

Here is an example of the difference:

Primary source: interviews of former American slaves

Secondary source: a book that discusses the experiences of slaves, which uses interviews, diaries, and statistics to make the claims, etc.

How to Use Primary Sources

Making Sense of Evidence

How to Use Google to Find Primary Sources

Google Advanced Search

There are many university and government libraries and museums with online collections of primary source materials. Find these collections using Google. Here are some tips for doing Google searches, along with other useful links.

To limit your results to sites that end with .gov, at the end of the words you enter in the search box, type site:.gov

To limit your results to sites that end with .edu, at the end of the words you enter in the search box, type site:.edu

You can even add the word "library" to the end of the words you enter in the search box to see if a library out there has a collection on yout topic or historical period or figure.

"29 Awesome Things You Didn't Know About Google (But Should)"

HIST 17A:Primary Sources: Primary Sources

Primary Sources!

Selected Primary Source Websites for General U.S. History

Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources

How to Use Primary Sources

How to Use Google to Find Primary Sources