Research guides: Primary Sources: United States: Collections: broad scope & themes

American collections

AMDOCS
Documents for the study of American History
Coverage: 800 - present
American Digital Collections: all categories
This Library of Congress site contains written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music.
Digital History
Find sources on slavery, Mexican American and Native American history, and U.S. political, social, and legal history.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
National Archives and Records Administration

Themes & Eras

American Influenza Epidemic of 1918
A digital encyclopedia. University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine.
Coverage: 1918 - 1919

Archives of Sexuality and Gender
Research sexual and gender norms, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, social movements, and more. Includes newsletters, government documents, posters, and pamphlets.
Coverage: 1600s - present
We have access to these four collections within this archive:
LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part I
LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II
Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century
International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism and Culture
Black Thought and Culture
Non-fiction works by leading African-Americans. Includes monographs, essays, articles, speeches, letters and interviews.
Coverage: 1700s - present
Black Women's Suffrage Digital Collection
Find correspondence, speeches, event programs, oral histories, photos, and more relating to Black women’s rights, voting rights, and civic activism.
Coverage: 1850s - 1960s
Geographic focus: mainly United States but also Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and
Africa. This collection is part of the DPLA (Digital Public Library of America).
Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture
Covers law, criminology, popular culture, phrenology, fiction, and more.
Coverage: 1790 – 1920
Contains books, broadsheets, manuscripts, and periodicals. Also included are court transcripts, prison records, petitions, and police advertisements. Documents are from Europe, North America, India, and the Antipodes.

Deac Martin's Book of Musical Americana by Claude Trimble Martin
Publication Date: 1970

This publication contains folk song titles, some lyrics and scores. Also included are coloured reprints of sheet music covers for 32 songs.

Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures and the Environment
Diaries, letters, and memoirs documenting the relationships among peoples and with the environment.
Coverage: 1534 - 1860

Independent Voices: an Open Access Collection of an Alternative Press
Periodicals by feminists, student radicals, Indigenous peoples, anti-war activists, Black rights advocates, two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual (2SLGBTQ+) activists, extreme right-wing press, and more.
Coverage: 1950s - present
Indigenous Peoples of North America
Facilitates the study of invasion and colonization. Find materials relating to customs, dance, music, warfare, peace treaties, removal grants, legends, and myths.
Coverage: 1600s - 2000s
Search manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, images of artwork, and more. Included are "Iroquois Indians: a documentary history of the diplomacy of the Six Nations and their league" and the Javitch Collection (University of Alberta)

Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives
Find diaries, letters, biographies, oral histories, government documents, videos, and periodicals, and more originating from the United States, Canada, and Europe. Scholarly commentary also included.
Coverage: 1960-1974
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Primary and secondary materials about the history of women in social movements.
Coverage: 1600 - 2000
Women's Studies Archive
Find primary sources relating to women’s activism. Featured are female-authored literature and women’s periodicals.
Coverage: 1800s - 2000

Women Working, 1870-1930
Amiri Baraka: Papers of a Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement
This collection of Amiri Baraka materials was made available by Dr. Komozi Woodard. Dr. Woodard collected these documents during his career as an activist in Newark, New Jersey.The collection consists of rare works of poetry, organizational records, print publications, over one hundred articles, poems, plays, and speeches by Baraka, a small amount of personal correspondence, and oral histories.
Coverage: 1913-1998

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