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US History Free Primary Sources

This is a guide with links to digital primary sources, mainly archives and other organizational collections.

General Digital Resources

AIMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History

A large and growing directory of links to historical documents on the web, organized chronologically.


Chronicling America

Hundreds of digital newspapers published 1777-1963, available through the Library of Congress National Digital Newspaper Program. Good for smaller or more local papers and perspectives.


Digital Public Library of America

Primary source material sets on many and varied US History topics, collected and curated from educational and cultural institutions across the country.


DocsTeach

Digital sources from the National Archives. Sources are grouped into 9 historical eras.


Evans Early American Imprint Collection

A collection of over 5,000 digitized American documents from before 1800.


Harvard Digital Collections

Harvard Digital Collections provides free, public access to over six million digital objects - from ancient art to modern manuscripts and even audio/visual material.


HathiTrust

An amazing resource for public domain art, books, reports, and other primary sources.


Internet Archive: eBooks and Texts

A collection of over 42 million books and other documents, including both secondary and primary sources.


Library of Congress Digital Collections

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.


Massachusetts Historical Society Digital Collections

Digital collections organized either around a common topic, such as the American Revolution, or highlighting a specific collection, such as the papers of the John Adams and the Adams family. Most useful for Massachusetts-based topics.


The National Archives and Records Administration

The National Archives holds historical US documents that are created or received by the Federal government, including by the President and his staff, by Congress, by employees of Federal government agencies, by the Federal courts, and by the military.


The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Over 900,000 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections, including sources on many and varied topics.


Smithsonian Digital Library

Smithsonian Digital Library includes over 35,000 digitized books, manuscripts, and catalogs. Good if you are researching publishing, illustration, or any topic that might benefit from visual primary sources.