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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.

Advertising

Ad*Access

"Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements covering five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda - dated between 1911 and 1955."


Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920

"Over 3,300 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States."


The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2020 

Contains more than 300 political commercials from every presidential election since 1952.


Phillip Morris USA, Inc. Advertising Archive

This website contains images of content in the Philip Morris USA Inc. Advertising Archive. These images include print ads, outdoor ads, and marketing materials dating back to the early 1900s, including some materials which may not have been published or publicly displayed.

Broadcast Media

American Archive of Public Broadcasting

Historic programs of publicly funded radio and television across America.

C-SPAN Video Library

Since 1979, C-SPAN has televised the proceedings for the federal government, including congressional sessions, presidential speeches, and more. Browse popular topics or search for something specific.


Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats

A collection of 30 transcriptions of Roosevelt's Fireside Chats, addresses delivered to the American people over the radio during the 1930s and 1940s.


Television Academy Foundation Interviews

Hundreds of oral history interviews with professionals from the television industry which aim to chronicle the evolution of television from its early days to the present.


Understanding 9/11: A Television News Archive

A library of news coverage of the events of 9/11/2001 and their aftermath as presented by U.S. and international broadcasters. Includes over 3000 hours of footage from the week following 9/11/2001.

Journalism

American Indian Digital History Project

A digital collection of Indigenous newspapers and other other publications.


Asian Week

From 1979 to 2009, AsianWeek proudly chronicled the growth and development of Asian Pacific America within American history. Today, the AsianWeek Database Project brings back three decades of news, education, and entertainment surrounding the Asian American community.


The Boston Chronicle Archives

The Boston Chronicle was a daily newspaper founded in 1915 by a group of West Indian immigrants. This relatively understudied and little-known newspaper covered a wide variety of topics including global anti-colonial struggles, leftist activism, critiques of anticommunism, Jim Crow in the U.S., women’s rights, Black activism, transnational Black print culture, structural discrimination in education, labor and housing, and even sports reporting, music and book reviews. This archive includes digitized issues from 1932-1960.


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.


Independent Voices: Alternative Press Publications

An open-access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBTQ+ activists, the extreme right-wing press, and alternative literary magazines in the second half of the 20th century. Available through JSTOR.


Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942-1946

Produced by Japanese-Americans interned at assembly centers and relocation centers around the country during World War II, these newspapers provide a unique look into the daily lives of the people who were held in these camps. They include articles written in English and Japanese, typed, handwritten and drawn.