US History Websites

• Alpha History

  Alpha History is a free, ad-supported online textbook for history teachers and students. It spans twelve different historical periods or themes.
• American Memory from The Library of Congress

  A vast collection of primary sources about American History, organized by subject.
• American Rhetoric

  Database of and index to full text, video and audio versions of speeches, debates, lectures, legal proceedings, and interviews from American history.
• Biography of America

  An interactive website including maps, diagrams, photographs, primary source excerpts, and secondary sources on American History.

  C-SPAN Video Library- This video archive covers every C-SPAN program aired since 1987.  
• Docs Teach from the National Archives

  Search over 3,000 U.S history primary source documents and activities.
• Digital History

  A compilation of primary and secondary sources, timelines, and images from American History organized by topic and era.
• History Matters
  Offers first-person primary documents, and guides to analyzing historical evidence, as well as links to web resources.
• Internet Modern History Sourcebook
  The primary source material in this collection covers the modern and ancient history of countries around the world. Includes legal and political documents, contemporary narrative accounts, personal memoirs, songs, and newspaper reports, as well as cultural, philosophical, religious, and scientific documents.
• Media History Digital Library

  Digitized collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access.
• National Archives

  This section contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States
• Our Documents, The National Archives

  Offers 100 milestone documents that chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965.
• Pew Research Center

  A nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
• The Presidency - Miller Center

  The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history and strives to apply the lessons of history and civil discourse to the nation's most pressing contemporary governance challenges.
• The Price of Freedom, Americans at War

  Integrates Flash video and text to examine armed conflicts involving the U.S. from the Revolutionary War to the war in Iraq.
• Ted

  Links to talks by leaders in technology, entertainment and design.

  Religion Websites

  • Guide to World Religions

    From the BBC
  • Middle East & Jewish Studies

    Columbia University Libraries
  • Milestone Documents: World Religions

    Examines the key sacred texts and foundational documents of the world's primary religions, from ancient times to the present, providing researchers with a fresh perspective on how critical religious texts have influenced both the past and the present. Part of History Center database.
  • Sacred Texts

    Access selections of the following sacred texts:
    Ethiopic Bible Selections; Golden Haggadah; Lindisfarne Gospels; Lisbon Bibles; Lustrell Psalter; Sforza Hours; Sherborne Missal; Sultan Baybars' Qur'an

    The Vatican Website

    The Holy See

    What are Primary Documents?

    PRIMARY DOCUMENTS were either created during the time period being studied or were created at a later date by a participant in the events being studied (as in the case of memoirs).  They reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer.  Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. Some examples of primary sources include:

    • Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts 
    • Memoirs or autobiographies. 
    • Record of or Information collected by government agencies. 
      • For Example, births, deaths, marriages, permits, census data all document conditions in the society
    • Record of organizatons. Their minutes, reports, correspondence
    • Published materials (books, magazine and journal articles, newspaper articles) written at the time about a particular event.
      • Accounts by particpants, or written by jounalists or other observers. Important to distinguish between material written at the time of an event  versus material written as historical analysis.
    • Photographs, audio recordings, and moving pictures or video recordings
    • Materials that document the attitudes and poplular thought of a historical time period.
      • Sources include: public opinion polls taken at the time - ideas and images conveyed in the mass media, literature, film, popular fiction.
    • Research data 
      • Such as anthroplogical field notes, the results of scientific experiments, and the other scholarly activity of the time. 
    • Artifacts of all kinds: objects, buildings, furniture, clothing, toys                                                                           Source: U.C. Berkeley Library

    A SECONDARY SOURCE is a work that interprets or analyzes an historical event or phenomenon.  It is generally at least one step removed from the event is often based on primary sources. Examples include: scholarly or popular books, articles, reference books, textbooks.

  • Primary Source Websites

    Search these collections and databases for Primary Sources!

    • New York Public Library Digital Collections

      Access to almost 800,000 documents - Locate manuscripts, maps, rare prints, photos and more.

      Library of Congress

      The largest library in the world!!

      Life Photo Archive

      Find Life Magazine photos from multiple decades.
    • Massachusetts Historical Society

      The Coming of the American Revolution will ground students’ understanding of the facts relating to the events leading up to the American Revolution,

      The Historical Text Archive
    • A database of full-text articles, and links to other digitized primary sources.

       

    The databases listed below contain primary source materials that are searchable by subject and most are available full text.

    • World History Reference Center (GALE DB)

      History Resource Center offers Full-text and facsimile images for more than 1,400 primary source documents.
    • Massachusetts HIstory Online (GALE DB)
    • U.S. History in Context (Gale)

      History Resource Center: U.S. provides access to more than 1,000 historical (primary) documents, more than 30,000 reference articles, and more than 65 full-text journals covering themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-Colonial times to the present.
    • Docs Teach - National Archives

      Thousands of primary source documents to from the National Archives including images, maps, charts, graphs, that spans the course of American History

       

      • Locating Primary Sources on the Web

        Locating Primary Sources 
        on the Web 

        • Enter your search term and "primary source" in a Google search and you will find posted documents. 

         

        Other Search Engines:

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          RefSeek RefSeek is a web search engine for students and researchers that aims to make academic information easily accessible to everyone. RefSeek searches more than one billion documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers.
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          Infotopia Academic search engine trusting only websites selected by librarians and teachers. Created for students and teachers.
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          The Virtual Learning Rescource Center The Virtual Learning Resources Center indexes thousands of the best academic information websites, selected by teachers and library professionals worldwide, in order to provide to students and teachers with current, valid information for school and university academic projects!