LibGuides: Primary Sources: American History Sources

Kansas History

Kansas Memory This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from the Kansas Historical Society.
Kansas Digital Newspapers This link opens in a new window
The Kansas Historical Society has partnered with Newspapers.com and Ancestry.com to allow Kansans free online access to select KSHS collections, including historic Kansas newspapers and documents
Kansas History, Territorial through Civil War Years, 1854-1865 This link opens in a new window
Archive of Kansas historical documents.

Library Databases with American History Sources

African-American History This link opens in a new window
African-American history and culture including videos and slideshows, images, biographies of key people, event and topic entries, primary sources, maps and graphs, and timelines.
American Indian History This link opens in a new window
Offers fast access to more than 15,000 years of culture and history, covering more than 600 Native American groups, through videos and slideshows, images, biographies of key people, event and topic entries, primary sources, maps and graphs, and timelines.
American Memory Project This link opens in a new window
Provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. Compiled by the Library of Congress National Digital Library Program.
Salem Press Online eBooks This link opens in a new window
Scroll down to Defining Documents in American History: Eras and Defining Documents in American History: Themes.

Websites with American History Sources

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
A comprehensive resource containing primary Historical documents from "The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot" in 837, all the way to Obama's address to congress on health care in 2009. Documents include maps, speeches, and debates from important moments in U.S. history.
Chronicling America - Newspaper Articles by Topic
Articles about topics covered heavily in American newspapers during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Chronicling America, a site produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, provides free, public access to selected digitized newspaper pages and a wealth of information about historic American newspapers held in libraries across the country.
Critical Past
Critical past is a free photo/video gallery of important historical moments. It has over 57,000 videos and over 7 million photos.
Discovering American Women's History Online
Database with photos, letters, diaries, and other primary sources documenting the history of women in the United States.
Documenting the American South: Oral Histories
Oral histories/interviews about major topics in the history of the American South, such as politics and civil rights.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
The Library of Congress has digitized many of its collections. You can look at individual collections, which are organized by topic, or search all of the digital collections.
Making of America
Making of America is a collection of primary sources from American social history. It contains over 10,000 books and over 50,000 journal articles. Primarily between 1850 and 1877.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Photographs, artwork, maps, manuscripts, and other primary sources from the New York Public Library's collections.
Old Boston Photograph Collection
Old Magazine Articles
Privately owned website based in Los Angeles. This website has scans of old magazine articles, poems, cartoons, and photographs.
Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature
Browsable by topic. Historical documents, literary works, and works of art including notes and discussion questions.
The Real Rosie the Riveter Project
Filmed oral histories from women who worked on aircraft production during World War 2.
Smithsonian: Primary Sources
Search for primary sources from the Smithsonian's collection by type (document, artifact, photograph) or by topic.