Primary Sources

Digitized content from the Library of Congress African American Pamphlet Collection and the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection with a date range of 1822 through 1909. Most were written by African American authors, though some were written by others on topics of particular importance in African American history. Includes sermons on racial pride and political activism, slave narratives, speeches by members of Congress, legal documents, poetry, playbills, dramas, librettos, and pamphlets pertaining to slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and other related topics.

Audio, video and transcribed text of famous speeches including political speeches, movie speeches and more.

A portal to digital collections of oral histories, photographs, manuscripts, and more documenting the African American experiences particularly during the Civil Rights Era.

This database of primary documents, from Yale University, has items from 400 B.C. to the present. The greatest emphasis is on legal documents. However there are numerous documents in the areas of history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government. Documents are transcribed, not digitized.

A large collection of resources dedicated to African American history. Includes transcripts of selected primary documents.

An online collection from the Library of Congress containing more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. Transcripts of interviews with former slaves are organized by state, and then alphabetically by name of informant within each state.

Oral histories, artifacts and images pertaining to the Bracero program, a guest worker initiative that spanned the years 1942-1964. Joint Project of Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History.
http://braceroarchive.org/

The Bracero Program, which brought millions of Mexican guest workers to the United States, ended more than four decades ago. This project records the recollections of those involved in the program. Includes audio files and transcripts in PDF.

Archive of 90,000 British videos covering newsreel, sports footage, social history documentaries, entertainment and music stories from 1896 to 1976. U.S. history, British history, world history.

Digitized collections on Japanese Americans during WWI, tradeswomen, the first international aviation meet in America, and more.

Digitized materials submitted by archives across California. Topics include the Gold Rush, Japanese American relocation, Chinese Exclusion Act, California missions, United Farm Workers, the Bracero Program and much more.

Local news film and special programs relating to César Chávez, the United Farm Workers union and agricultural workers, from the 1960s & 70s. 32 streaming videos.

CIA files made public through Freedom of Information Requests. This link takes you to "Historical Collections" to find declassified records of historical value on many topics. In addition, you may wish to explore the "Collections Archive," also linked on this page.

The CRDL features a collection of unedited news film clips, television archives, sound recordings, photographs, textual materials and more from the Civil Rights Era.

Digitized documents from the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive (AHPN). Sheds light on the role the United States played in Guatemala. See also the link to the book, From Silence to Memory.

A collection of images, documents, video, and oral histories depicting life on the Northern Plains from the late 1800s to present.

Explore more than 8 million items from libraries, archives, and museums. This national network brings together digitized and born-digital content from digital libraries across the country into a single access point.

Online access to text, images, oral histories, and audio files pertaining to Southern history, literature, and culture from UNC-Chapel Hill. Includes first person slave narratives.

Collections include Advertising and Consumer Culture, Historic American Sheet Music, African American History, Women's History, Nazi Propaganda Comics, Transcultural Experience and more.

More than 1,800 oral histories available with audio and/or transcript. Free registration required to use site.

Primary source materials including photographs, oral histories, videos, essays and historical documents from the United Farm Worker Delano Grape Strikers and the UFW Volunteers who worked with Cesar Chavez to build his farmworker movement. Presented and preserved by The Library, University of California San Diego.

Digitized FBI case files related to espionage, famous persons, gangster era, historical interest, unusual phenomena, and violent crime.

The single best source for information on the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive. Translated from Spanish to English. Sheds light on the role the United States played in Guatemala. See also the link to the Digital Archive of the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive.

Transcriptions of documents pertaining to slavery in the U.S. from the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance & Abolition.

Oral interviews tell the stories of African Americans who left lives behind in the South during the early years of the Great Depression (1910-1930) and ventured north. in search of opportunity and equality. These stories reveal the impact of the Great Migration north.

Collections include Immigration to the U.S. 1789-1930; Historical views of disease; Role of women in the U.S. economy 1800-1930; the Nuremberg Trials Project; Latin American Pamphlet Collection; 19th century American trade cards, among others.

IWM covers conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day. Explore images from the collections.

The Institute of Oral History was established in 1972 for the purpose of "preserving the history of the region adjacent to the Rio Grande both in the United States and in Mexico." Since that time, the Institute has built one of the largest border-related oral history collections in the United States. While an emphasis has been on the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez region, the collection also contains interviews dealing with the history of communities all along the U.S.-Mexico border. These materials cover a wide range of subjects, spanning social, economic, political, cultural and artistic concerns.

Digitized maps, photos, posters, documents, audio, etc. from the American historical experience.

A searchable archive of back issues of Life Magazine. Check box to search all issues. 1930s - 1970s.

More than 144,000 digital materials on a wide variety of topics from Louisiana institutions. Browse by collection name to see what is available.

Cornell University Libraries makes available The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, as well as The War of Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and Confederates Armies.

Digital collections on a wide variety of subjects including the Civil War, the Dred Scott case, history of Kansas City and St. Louis, railroad history, Frank and Jesse James, local newspapers, and more.

Thousands of digital films including public information films, vintage commercials, movie newsreels, political speeches, TV news programs recorded live around 9/11/2001, and other content of historical interest.

The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries and archives.

An archive of declassified national security documents.

A library of primary source materials on the history of the American West, Included are the full texts of many memoirs, journals, diaries, letters, autobiographies and other documents, as well as archival photographs and other images. Also includes links to other sources of information on the American West.

Digital collection on a wide variety of topics including WWI photograph albums and postcards, historical photographs of New York City, maps and atlases of the U.S., rare books, personal papers of English and American authors, and more.

Links to Presidential Libraries online from Hoover to the last previous administration, bringing together in one place the documents and artifacts of a President and his administration.

Audio files and limited transcripts of recordings by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.

DPLA Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. Primary sources include letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more.

Audio, video and transcripts of presidential speeches, secret White House recordings, oral history interviews and more during the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history.

Original documents and secondary sources on the Triangle Fire, held by the Cornell University Library.

Over 32,000 pages of full-text, searchable oral history. Use the navigation menu to browse collections of military history and social / cultural history. For more specific keyword searches (Civil Rights Movement, Immigration, Vietnam) use the search box.

A collection of archival materials dating from the 16th through the 20th centuries documenting the history of Africans and their descendants in the Atlantic World. Includes maps, images, and secular documents such as bills of sale, property registries and disputes, dowries, and letters of manumission, as well as church documents pertaining to baptism, marriage, wills, and more.

Widely considered the most important resource on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Comprises 36,000 individual slaving expeditions between 1514 and 1866. Users can look for particular voyages of documented slaving expeditions, create listings, tables, and maps that draw on the database, examine estimates of the slave trade, and locate the African name, age, gender, origin, country, and places of embarkation and disembarkation of individuals. Website includes 3 databases: the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Intro-American Slave Trade, and the African Names database. Special features include introductory essays, maps, timelines of estimates of captives embarked and disembarked, an image gallery, and more.

A digital archive for hundreds of historical images, paintings, lithographs, and photographs illustrating enslaved Africans and their descendants before c. 1900. From the Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship, University of Colorado at Boulder.

Search oral history interviews or browse by interviewee name, occupation, or ethnicity.

Search digitized collections including Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA), African American Archival Material, World War I & II Posters and Postcards, Ames Library of South Asia, and more.

A vast digital collection that includes primary sources on many topics such as the American Founding Period, Documentary History of the Ratification of the U.S. Constitution, Documents relating to Native American Affairs, German Studies, African Studies, World War I, and more. From the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.

Personal accounts of men and women American war veterans covering wars fought in the 20th and 21st centuries. Search by war, branch of service, gender, prisoner of war, and type of material.

Oral histories of U.S. Latinas and Latinos.

Search or browse collections of images and oral histories. Browse may be the most useful since it is organized by branch of service, theater of war, and keywords / vocabulary.

Early America, African-Americans, the American West. and the Mexican Revolution are among the topics covered in Yale's digital collections.

Digital collections related to gospel music, sheet music, Texas history, and U.S. Civil War.

Digitized images and documents from the history of Latin America from the Benson Latin American Collection at UT Austin.

The Bexar Archives are the official Spanish documents that preserve the political, military, economic, and social life of the Spanish province of Texas and the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas, up to 1836. Includes digital images of more than 5,000 original documents and translations.

Browse by collection or subject, or search by keyword. Includes documents, photographs, illustrations, book excerpts, moving images, sound recordings, and even digitized artifacts.

Historic documents and information that include the Spanish Colonial Missions Collection, the María Antonietta Berriozábal Collection, the Mexican American Collection, among others. Make an appointment with OLLU library staff to see items in person.

Unofficial website about Edwards Aquifer presented as an information resource for the general public. Use the drop-down "Index" menu to find historical and environmental information and primary sources about the San Antonio River, San Antonio Springs, and other area springs, rivers, lakes, and canals.

Goldbeck (American, 1892-1986) was a commercial photographer who specialized in panoramic photography. Photographs in this collection document a period of rapid growth and prosperity in San Antonio, Texas, as well as America's involvement in the First World War on the home front both on- and off-base.

Digitized photographs, maps, film news clips, oral histories, and more from the Houston area.

Indexes and summaries of items in the Laredo Archives, held by St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX.

Digitized materials submitted by archives across Texas.

Digital collections can be found at the links for "Archives," "Manuscripts," and "Rare Books." Exhibits focus on the founding and history of Rice University, digitized copies of the student newspaper "Rice Thresher," slavery and the Battle of Sabine Pass, Houston waterways, and the architectural career of William Ward Watkin, among others.

Online access to digitized archival materials.

Digital collections covering a variety of topics in Texas and Southwestern history, including the Civil War, railroads, Dallas historic aerial photographs, historic Texas documents, photographs of historic periods/events in Mexico, and more.

A collection of digital city views from the Amon Carter Museum, including Texas city views Search the Collection for: birds-eye view

Numerous photographs from the later 19th to the early 20th centuries from all across Texas. Also includes documents from Texas agencies and the governor's office.

Digital collections including a digitized edition of The Account and Commentaries of Governor Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. Spanish conquistador Cabeza de Vaca was shipwrecked in 1528 on what is now Galveston Island and was the first European to explore what is now Texas and the Southwest. Also, a behind the scenes look at the making of the television miniseries Lonesome Dove and documents relating to the Branch Davidians of Waco.

A searchable collection of digitized documents and manuscripts, still and moving images, audio recordings, oral histories, maps, artifacts, and more related to the Vietnam War. Topics include military operations, POW/MIA, My Lai massacre, Agent Orange, antiwar activities, refugee relocation, and more. In addition to searching, you can also browse collections. For additional search help see Virtual Vietnam Video Archive Guides on YouTube.

Archive of documents, manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, and artifacts with a strong focus on women. Some topics: women in the military, women Airforce service pilots, women in aviation, African American women, women's athletics, women's organizations, and women's activism and political participation.

Digital collections related to the history of Houston, Texas and the University of Houston. Includes photographs and documents about suffragist Minnie Fisher Cunningham, civil rights leader Alonso S. Perales, the Houston Negro Hospital founded in the 1920s, and more.

Audio, transcripts and photographs from the personal recollections of 173 Tejanos and Tejanas and their struggle against racial discrimination in post-World War II Texas.

Digital collection includes text and images of Texas constitutions from 1824-1876, papers of Justice Tom C. Clark relating to some of the most important Supreme Court cases of the 20th century, description of the Justices of Texas from 1836-1986, and more.

Digital collections include UTEP publications, El Paso city directories, and photograph collections, as well as oral histories of participants in the Bracero Program from the Institute of Oral History. Click "Expand All" to see an index of all digitized content.

A selection of digitized items pertaining to the history of medicine, university history, university records, and electronic theses and dissertations.

Digitized materials from UTSA Special Collections and the Institute of Texan Cultures.