U.S. History - Primary Sources - by Subject (Historical) - Research Guides at Rowan University

US History - General

Databases

American Historical Periodicals (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Highly comprehensive documentary history of the American experience spanning four centuries with multiple perspectives on the thought, culture, and society of North America.
Black Life in America This link opens in a new window
The experience and impact of African Americans, as recorded by the news media.
Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents for U.S. national security topics.
Contains a comprehensive collection of primary documents including declassified documents regarding critical U.S. policy decisions.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive coverage of more than 2,000 journals and the Congressional Record.
Complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, constitutions for every country in the world, classic books from the 18th & 19th centuries, all United States Treaties, the Federal Register and CFR from inception.
Heritagequest This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources—rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, convenient research guides, interactive census maps.
Hispanic Life in America This link opens in a new window
The experience and impact of Hispanic Americans, as recorded by the news media.
Historical Newspapers (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Newspaper digital archive of many significant U.S. and some international newspapers dating back to the 18th Century.
Primary Sources Collection (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary resources providing access to thousands of primary source documents, including archival collections, government documents, periodicals, newspapers, and video.
History Vault This link opens in a new window
Archival collections documenting topics in eighteenth- through twentieth-century American history.
Subjects include African American studies, women’s studies, history, political science, military and diplomatic history, immigration.
Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Covers the years 1933 - 2000, including storytelling through documentary photographs and captions.
Depicts national and international events and topical stories, providing intimate views of real people and their real life situations.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials in world history.
This resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.

ProQuest Congressional
The most comprehensive online resource for congressional publications and legislative research, dating back to the 1800s.

Web Resources

American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Public radio and TV broadcasting from the past 60 years. A collaboration of the Library of Congress and WGBH in Boston.
American History: From Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond
The documents tab on the American History website includes documents originating beyond the borders and before the establishment of the United States, but all are related to the history of the country and are very interesting. The site also includes other tabs with a wealth of information and it is worth a visit.
Digital Public Library of America
Historical, cultural, artistic, and scientific works from the collections of U.S. libraries, archives, and museums
Digital Public Library of America: Primary Source Sets
Evans Early American Imprint Collection: Text Creation Partnership
Select digizied content from the Evans collection. The Evans collection (1639-1800) includes an extensive number of books, pamphlets, and broadsides published in early America.
Foreign Relations of the United States
Official record of major US foreign policy decisions that have been declassified. Produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian. Search within the volumes or by administration.

HistoryMakers Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
United States' largest African American video oral history collection, containing oral history interviews with historically significant African Americans.

National Archives and Records Administration
Extensive collections of U.S. historical documents
Primary Documents in American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress)
Smithsonian Institution Collections
Search over 10 million records of museum objects, archives, and library materials including more than 1.7 million online media files. (source: website).
Edward E. Ayer Digital Collection (Newberry Library)
This strong collection of general Americana from the Newberry Library (Chicago, IL) is known to be one of the strongest collections for American Indian and Indigenous studies.
Early Americas Digital Archive
Texts written in or about the Americas from 1492 to 1820

Native American Studies

Please see this guide's Native American Studies page.

African American History

In addition to the resources integrated throughout this page, please see the Africana Studies page of this guide.

Civil War

Databases

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Select the subcollections The Civil War, Parts I-VII.
African American Newspapers, Series 1 This link opens in a new window
African American newspapers published in the U.S. from 1827-1998.
Provides access to U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection 1684 - 1912 This link opens in a new window
Access to a set of historical periodicals published from 1684 through 1912.

American Civil War Research Database
Photographs and information on over soldiers and battles, regimental rosters, officer profiles
American Civil War Letters and Diaries

American History This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedia of American history.
Spans more than 500 years of political, military, social, and cultural history, highlighting the important people and events of the American experience. Includes biographies, events and topics, primary sources, timelines, images and videos, maps and charts. All full text.
American Indian History This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedia of the history of the American Indian.
Offers access to more than 600 Native American groups and over 15,000 years of American Indian culture and history.
American Women's History Online This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedia of the history of women in the United States.
Covers the important people, events, legislation, and issues relevant to the study of women's history in the United States. Includes biographies, events and topics, primary sources, time-lines, images and videos, maps and charts. All full text.
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States between 1830 and 1865.
Civil War Collection This link opens in a new window
Online archive of newspaper articles published in and books during the U.S. Civil War.
Contains the full text of major articles from The New York Herald, The Charleston Mercury and the Richmond Enquirer, published between November 1, 1860 and April 15, 1865. Included are descriptive news articles, eye-witness accounts and official reports of battles and events, editorials, advertisements and biographies.
History Vault: Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials candidly documenting the realities of slavery at the most immediate grassroots level in Southern society and provides some of the most revealing documentation in existence on the functioning of the slave system.

Proquest Civil War Era
Civil War era newspapers, pamphlets, and other primary source material
Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War (1865-1877)

Web Resources

American History: From Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond
The documents tab on the American History website includes documents originating beyond the borders and before the establishment of the United States, but all are related to the history of the country and are very interesting. The site also includes other tabs with a wealth of information and it is worth a visit.
The Civil War: The Nation Moves Towards War (1850-1861)
Conflict between abolition and slavery marked the 1850s, preceding the election of 1860 and the attack on Fort Sumter. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown, and secession in maps, newspapers, political cartoons and song sheets. Part of the Library of Congress Primary Source Sets.
Civil War: Women and the Homefront: Primary Sources Online (Duke University)
Worlds of Change: Materials from the 17th and 18th Century North America (Harvard Library)
Archival and manuscript materials related to 17th- and 18th-century North America from Harvard Library
Crisis of the Union: Causes, Conduct and Consequences of the US Civil War (Univ. of Pennsylvania)
Print memorabilia about the United States from 1830 to 1880. Archived by The Wayback Machine.
Library of Congress Civil War Collection
Military Records - Civil War (National Archives, U.S.)
Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspaper Collection (Penn State)
The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865 (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Valley of the Shadow Archive (Univ. of Virginia)
Primary sources from two communities in the American Civil War

World War I

Databases

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Archives of searchable historical primary source materials. Note: This content has moved to the History Commons platform, but still contains the Accessible Archives collections subscribed to by Rowan University.

Trench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War (1845-2015)
Rowan users only
WWI: British Foreign Office Political Correspondence (1914-1920) (History Vault)
Rowan users only
WWI: Records of the American Expeditionary Forces, and Diplomacy in the WWI Era (1915-1927) (History Vault)
Rowan users only

Online Collections

American Treasures of the Library of Congress, WWI
Europeana Collections: 1914-1918
Includes WWI letters, postcards, film, and more. Initiative of the European Union.
National Archives (UK): First World War
World War I (Library of Congress)
World War One (British Library)
WWI Centennial, National Archives (U.S.)
Primary source materials organized by topic
WWI Document Archive (Brigham Young University)

World War II

Databases

WWII: US Documents on Planning, Operations, Intelligence, Axis War Crimes, and Refugees (History Vault)
Rowan users only

Online Collections

After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Library of Congress
American Treasures of the Library of Congress, WWII
The Atomic Bomb and the End of WWII: A Collection of Primary Sources
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 162
Euro Docs: Germany - National Socialism and WWII
Historic Government Publications from WWII
Southern Methodist University Libraries
Historic Government Publications from WWII (SMU Libraries)
Pamphlets, government reports, speeches, propaganda, and more from the Government Printing Office
Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement: A Digital Archive
UC-Berkeley, Bancroft Library
Japanese American Incarceration during WWII
Washington State University
Nuremberg Trials Project (Harvard Law School Library)
Powers of Persuasion: Poster Art from WWII
National Archives (U.S.)
US Holocaust Memorial Museum Collections
Women Veterans Historical Project
UNC Greensboro
World War, 1939-1945, German Concentration Camps and Prisons Collection
Collection of correspondences. Project from McMaster University.
WW II: Documents (Avalon Project, Yale Law School Library)
WWII Propaganda Poster Collection (Hennepin County Library)
Yad Vashem Collections (World Holocaust Remembrance Center)

Cold War

Databases

U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a broad range of previously classified U.S. federal records spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Includes sensitive documents from all the presidential libraries and numerous executive agencies.
Covers major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond.
Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents for U.S. national security topics.
Contains a comprehensive collection of primary documents including declassified documents regarding critical U.S. policy decisions.

Web Resources

Avalon Project: The Cold War
The Avalon Project is provided by Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School. This collection contains law, history, and diplomacy documents pertaining to the Cold War.
CIA Historical Collections (Open Gov)
Declassified historically significant documents from the Central Intelligence Agency.
CIA Special Collections Archive (Open Gov)
Declassified materials from the Central Intelligence Agency
Cold War International History Project
Cold War, Wilson Center
Ideological Foundations of the Cold War (Truman Library)
NASA History
Historical materials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Nevada Test Site Oral History Project
Oral histories from people affected by the Nevada Test Site during the Cold War
President Truman's Confrontation with McCarthyism (Truman Library)
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Hundreds of interviews from the PBS series of the same name
Wilson Center Digital Archive: Cold War
Cold War-related collections in the Wilson Center Digital Archive. Collections are organized to present the Cold War era through a variety of aspects, which is helpful as you attempt to deal with the very disparate subjects and issues that were part of the era.

Vietnam War

Databases

Vietnam War and American Foreign Policy, 1960-1975 (History Vault)
Rowan users only

Online Collections

Declassified CIA Documents on the Vietnam War (Univ. of Saskatchewan)
Pentagon Papgers (National Archives)
US Department of Defense records on military involvement in Vietnam from 1945-67
Vietnam War (National Archives, U.S.)
Rowan users only
Virtual Vietnam Archive (Texas Tech University)

Korean War

The Korean War and Its Origins

Civil Rights Movement

(Also see Africana Studies Primary Sources)

History Vault: Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle This link opens in a new window
Manuscript and archival collections focusing on civil rights and the Black Freedom Movement of the 20th Century. Contains records of four of the most important civil rights organizations of the 1950s and 1960s: NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, and CORE.
Black Life in America This link opens in a new window
The experience and impact of African Americans, as recorded by the news media.

The Black Panther (Newspaper)
The newspaper of the Black Panther Party. Twenty issues of the Black Panther Party newspaper from between 1968-1973. The papers are posted on Libcom.org.
Civil Rights (National Archives)
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Library of Congress)
Exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the history that led up to it, and its immediate impact.
Civil Rights Digital Library: Topics (Digital Library of Georgia)
Select a topic to see archival collections and reference resources, many of which are available online.
Civil Rights History Project (Library of Congress)
Oral interviews and collections of people who participated in the Civil Rights movement.
FBI Records: The Vault - Civil Rights
FBI records included in the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Library.
Freedom Summer Collection (Wisconsin Historical Society)
Manuscript collections documents the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964

Hispanic Life in America This link opens in a new window
The experience and impact of Hispanic Americans, as recorded by the news media.

Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights
Documents from this commission, which have been at the forefront of federal and state efforts for civil rights.
Jim Crow and Segregation (Library of Congress)
Set of primary sources that reflects popular views of and causes and affects of racial segregation.
The Krueger-Scott Oral History Project
The Krueger-Scott oral histories is the largest collection of oral history interviews conducted with African-American residents of Newark who came to the city during the Great Migration, as well as those whose local roots stretch back generations. The faculty, staff and graduate students at Rutgers University-Newark who have worked on the collection in collaboration with local cultural institutions are proud to have helped preserve, archive, and make public these remarkable oral narratives that describe an as yet unwritten history of 20th-century African-American life. (source: website)
Land of (Unequal) Opportunity: Documenting the Civil Rights Struggle in Arkansas
From the University of Arkansas
The NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom
The story of America's oldest and largest civil rights organization, told through letters, photographs, maps, and more. Part of the Library of Congress Primary Source sets.
National Archives Civil Rights Records
National Museum of African American History & Culture: Collections (Smithsonian)
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture.
Voices of Civil Rights (Library of Congress)
Exhibition that includes personal accounts and oral hstories. A collaboration of AARP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the Library of Congress.
Seminal Documents of the Civil Rights Movement

The Women's Movement

(Also see Women & Gender Studies Primary Sources)

Contemporary Women's Issues
Content covering topics including civil rights, health, education, professional development, and entrepreneurship.
Gerritsen Collection of Aletta H. Jacobs
Books, pamphlets, and periodical related to the women's rights movement and the evolution of feminism. From the archives of Dutch physician Aletta Jacobs and her husband C.V. Gerritsen.
History Vault - Women's Studies
Includes the Margaret Sanger Papers; Struggle for Women's Rights, 1880-1990; Women at Work During WWII; and Women's Studies Manuscript Collection from the Schlesinger Library: Voting Rights, National Politics and Reproductive Rights
LGBT Thought and Culture
"Books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements throughout the twentieth century and into the present day."
Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1820
Focused on "bringing the voices of the colonized to the forefront." "Documents related to the Habsburg Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the British, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, and United States Empires, and settler societies in the United States, New Zealand and Australia."
Women and Social Movements International, 1840-present
Women activists' writings, including personal letters and diaries, and conference proceedings at which key decisions were made
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Teaching-centered document projects, as well as primary source collections. Content curators also run an online journal, with new issues each fall and spring and featuring new document projects, book reviews, and more.
National Women's History Museum: Primary Sources
Organized by time periods and topics
DocsTeach: Women's Rights (National Archives)
Primary sources and teaching activities
Women's Suffrage (Library of Congress)
Primary Sources in Teacher's Guide