Guide to Primary Sources

Library of Congress: Search the collection of American Cartoon Prints ca. 1766-1876

American Journeys contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.

The Printed Ephemera collection at the Library of Congress is a rich repository of Americana. In total, the collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history. Broadsides (newspapers) are the bulk of the collection, but it also includes pamphlets, advertisements, programs, timetables, and more.

Documents in law, history, and diplomacy, ranging from ancient to modern times. Emphasis on US and Western European documents but not exclusive.

This 13,000 page reference center is dedicated to providing information to the general public on African American history and on the history of the more than one billion people of African ancestry around the world. Includes full text primary documents, and major speeches of black activists and leaders from the 18th Century to the present.

This database provides access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States. These diverse collections range from Ancestral Pueblo pottery to interviews with women engineers from the 1970s.

UNC's digital collection of texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture.

Includes documents from ancient and medieval times, plus some 20th century voice & video recordings. Mostly Western civilization, US & Europe (England, especially).

Primary sources in US history and literature going back to 1492.

The Scripps Library, through cooperation with various presidential libraries, has been collecting some of the most important presidential speeches in American history. These speeches all have transcripts, and some are available in their entirety in audio or video.

Primary source document companion reader to the online textbook, American Yawp. Organized by topic within loose time periods.