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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.

Boston

Atlascope

Atlascope Boston is a tool for exploring historic urban atlases in metropolitan Boston and telling stories about how places have changed over time.


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.

Chicago

In the Vicinity of Maxwell and Halsted Streets: Chicago 1890-1930

"A primary objective of this investigation is to tell the story of the compelling role Chicago’s West Side played in the making of modern America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an era publicized to the world by Jane Addams and the Hull-House Settlement on Halsted Street."

New York City

Archives of The Village Voice

The Village Voice was the nation's first alternative newsweekly, providing coverage of the culture, politics, and street life of New York City. This archive includes issues from 1955-2004.