American History Archives and Databases

Here you can find a collection of open and limited access digital archives and databases relevant to American History. Links are organized in Alphabetical order.

• American Currency: “Baker Library’s collection of over 700 pieces of paper money ranging in date from 1709 to 1878. This collection illustrates the history of American finance and commerce from Colonial times through the Civil War.”
• Artemas Ward House and its Collections: “The General Artemas Ward House in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, was the home of General Artemas Ward, first commander-in-chief of the Patriot forces. The house was given to Harvard University in 1925 and Harvard currently operates the house as a historic house museum.”
• BlackPast – Primary Documents: “The following are documents which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These documents are a starting point for additional research and discussions that help further our understanding of the history of people of African ancestry in the United States.”
• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1938: This collection “contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA).”
• Department of Homeland Security – Creation of the Department: “Key documents highlighting how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created through the integration of all or part of 22 different federal departments and agencies into a unified, integrated Department, and how DHS has become a more effective and integrated Department, creating a strengthened homeland security enterprise and a more secure America that is better equipped to confront the range of threats we face.”
• Department of Labor Website Archive: “The U.S. Department of Labor Web Archive Collection preserves the web content of DOL and its agencies long after the sites have changed. In January 2009, the Wirtz Labor Library—working with the Office of Public Affairs—began collecting, preserving, and providing access to select DOL agency websites with enduring value.”
• Department of Labor – Historical Sources: “This section presents research on the Department’s history plus a selection of historical source materials. The Historical Office produced all of the items found under Articles, Monographs and Conference Papers. Under the Documents heading are primary and secondary historical source materials produced elsewhere in the Department.”
• Department of State – Office of the Historian: “The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which is produced by the Department of State’s Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 450 individual volumes. The volumes published over the last two decades increasingly contain declassified records from all the foreign affairs agencies.”
• Department of the Treasury – Historical Collection: “The historic Treasury Collection represents one of the oldest and most intact collections of fine and decorative arts, furniture and architectural fragments in the Executive branch of the United States government.”
• FirstWorldWar.com: “Included here are archive documents signed in the late 1830s which bore relevance to the outbreak of war some 75 years later, as well as memos, letters, treaties and the text of speeches throughout the war and beyond.”
• HathiTrust Digital Library (hathitrust.org): Limited Access; “Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries preserving 17+ million digitized items. HathiTrust offers reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S. copyright law, computational access to the entire corpus for scholarly research, and other emerging services based on the combined collection.”
• Immigration to the United States, 1798-1930: Concentrates heavily on the 19th century; “By incorporating diaries, biographies, and other writings capturing diverse experiences, the collected material provides a window into the lives of ordinary immigrants.”
• Internet Archive (archive.org): “A non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.”
• Library of Congress Digital Collections (loc.gov): “Today’s Library of Congress is an unparalleled world resource. The collection of more than 170 million items includes more than 39 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 73 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America; and the world’s largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.”
• The Living New Deal: “The mission of the Living New Deal is three-fold: research, presentation and education. It begins with the historical work of uncovering the immense riches of New Deal public works. That research is then made available to all through digital mapping and a website that serves as a clearinghouse for information on the New Deal. And, finally, the information gained from our work is disseminated as widely as possible through newsletters, social media, written media, interviews, lectures and other public events.”
• Montana Memory Project (mtmemory.org): “The Montana Memory Project (MMP) is an online source for digital collections relating to Montana’s cultural heritage…Contents may include maps, copies of photographs, rare books, historic documents, diaries, oral histories, audio and video clips, paintings, illustrations and art.”
• National Archives (archives.gov): The National Archives houses Federal records of “continuing value” – “approximately 13.28 billion pages of textual records; 10 million maps, charts, and architectural and engineering drawings; 44.4 million still photographs, digital images, filmstrips, and graphics; 40 million aerial photographs; 563,000 reels of motion picture film; 992,000 video and sound recordings; and 1,323 terabytes of electronic data. All of these materials are preserved because they are important to the workings of Government, have long-term research worth, or provide information of value to citizens.”
• National Library of Medicine Digital Collections (collections.nlm.nih.gov): “Digital Collections is the National Library of Medicine’s free online repository of biomedical resources including books, manuscripts, still images, videos, and maps. The content in Digital Collections is freely available worldwide and, unless otherwise indicated, in the public domain. Digital Collections provides unique access to NLM’s rich historical resources, as well as select modern resources.”
• Political Buttons: “Glimpse U.S. history through Harvard’s collection of political buttons featuring candidate campaigns, political demonstrations, and social movements.”
• UCR California Digital Newspaper Collection: “This collection contains 587,525 issues comprising 6,525,928 pages and 42,797,936 articles.”
• UNT Portal to Texas History: “A gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas.”
• United States World War I Centennial Commission: “The Commission will use the Centennial as a timely and essential opportunity to educate the country’s citizens about the causes, courses and consequences of the war; to honor the heroism and sacrifice of those Americans who served; and to commemorate through public programs and initiatives the centennial of this global event.”
• Women Working, 1800-1930: “The collection is an exploration of women’s impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression. Working conditions, workplace regulations, home life, costs of living, commerce, recreation, health and hygiene, and social issues are among the issues documented.”
• World War I Document Archive: “This archive of primary documents from World War One has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). International in focus, the archive intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War.”