History

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place.

Looking for Library of Congress primary sources? There are a few different ways to discover the best sources for you.

Oral history of survivors of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki atomic bombs. Available courtesy Michigan State University Libraries.

AODL is an open access digital library of African cultural heritage materials created by Michigan State University in collaboration with museums, archives, scholars, and communities around the world.

Free cartographic library & archive with original rare maps of Africa.

Welcome to the Chinese Text Project homepage. The Chinese Text Project is an online open-access digital library that makes pre-modern Chinese texts available to readers and researchers all around the world. The site attempts to make use of the digital medium to explore new ways of interacting with these texts that are not possible in print. With over thirty thousand titles and more than five billion characters, the Chinese Text Project is also the largest database of pre-modern Chinese texts in existence.

By making the form and content of cuneiform texts available online, the CDLI is opening pathways to the rich historical tradition of the ancient Middle East. In close collaboration with researchers, museums and an engaged public, the project seeks to unharness the extraordinary content of these earliest witnesses to our shared world heritage

Images and translations of 12 scroll fragments.

The Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) is a collection of electronic texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820.

Digitized photographs, negatives, postcards, and slides of colonial Taiwan (1900-45) and occupied Japan (1947-52). The collection is built around core sub-collections of visual materials donated by the family of Gerald & Rella Warner and Michael Lewis.

From Fordham University.

Links to excerpts and full text of Ancient and Modern Indian documents, as well as a number of secondary sources.

Extensive list of links that were compiled by Bowling Green University Libraries and shared with their permission.

A unique resource for the study of modern Iranian history.

Fantastic list of primary source documents from various countries in Latin America. Most are untranslated. Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries.

The Middle Eastern Posters collection comprises posters produced by government offices and private organizations, primarily in Iran and Afghanistan.

Ancient Egyptian documents from Pharonic Egypt to Islamic Caliphate.

American and Japanese accounts of Commodore Matthew Perry's visit to Japan in 1854.

Bibliographies and links to English-language translations of Bushido documents and English-language writings on Bushido in Japan.

Explore the lives of women during the Qajar era (1796-1925) through a wide array of materials from private family holdings and participating institutions. Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran provides bilingual access to thousands of personal papers, manuscripts, photographs, publications, everyday objects, works of art and audio materials, making it a unique online resource for social and cultural histories of the Qajar world.

This collection contains cultural heritage materials gathered during the World Digital Library (WDL) project, including thousands of items contributed by partner organizations worldwide as well as content from Library of Congress collections.

Links to primary source websites for a variety of regions throughout the world. Note: Some links may be old or broken.

Search through primary sources on a variety of topics.

Links to primary source documents in a variety of regions and time periods. Heavy focus on European and American sources.

The Voices of Feminism Oral History Project documents the persistence and diversity of organizing for women in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century. Narrators include labor, peace, and anti-racism activists; artists and writers; lesbian rights advocates; grassroots anti-violence and anti-poverty organizers; and women of color reproductive justice leaders. Interviews average 5-6 hours and cover childhood, personal life, and political...

An exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression.

"African American Perspectives" gives a panoramic and eclectic review of African American history and culture and is primarily comprised of two collections in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division: the African American Pamphlet Collection and the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection with a date range of 1822 through 1909. Most were written by African-American authors, though some were written by others on topics of particular importance in African-American history. Among the authors represented are Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Benjamin W. Arnett, Alexander Crummel, Emanuel Love, Lydia Maria Child, Kelly Miller, Charles Sumner, Mary Church Terrell, and Booker T. Washington, among others.

The Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History online provides access to typescripts of interviews (1967 -1972) conducted with hundreds of Indians in Oklahoma regarding the histories and cultures of their respective nations and tribes.

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School is a major site of memory for many Native peoples, as well as a source of study for students and scholars around the globe. This website represents an effort to aid the research process by bringing together, in digital format, a variety of resources that are physically preserved in various locations around the country. Through these resources, we seek to increase knowledge and understanding of the school and its complex legacy, while also facilitating efforts to tell the stories of the many thousands of students who were sent there.

Children in Urban America is a historical archive developed and maintained at Marquette University. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities

The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s is among the most far-reaching social movements in the nation's history, and it represents a crucial step in the evolution of American democracy. The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale.

A great new site that includes thousands of in-site and linked resources and an Ask the HyperHistorian feature which allows users to pose questions to professional historians.

Meant for K-12 teachers, this site on the NARA website does a great job of effectively organizing many important primary sources.

Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

Documenting voluntary immigration to the United States from the signing of the Constitution to the start of the Great Depression.

Information on the history of the American west from the Library of Congress.

Hosted on Google.

Provides access to digitized monographs and journal articles of the nineteenth century in the areas of education, psychology, history, sociology, religion, and science. Maintained by Cornell University Library.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.

Civil Rights links to resources, compiled by the Archives librarians

Search a variety of primary source types related to the New Deal from DPLA.

This site includes original sources on the fire held at the ILR School's Kheel Center, an archive of historical material on labor and industrial relations.

List of primary source websites created by American Library Association Reference and User Services Association.

Browse the collections of the Spanish Digital Library. The search interface is in English but the majority of the content is in Spanish.

This catalogue lists every series or publication on British History Online. Most of our volumes are part of series; those that are single publications are listed as such.

Search through thousands of translated and transcribed documents relating to history in the British Isles.

The Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts offers a simple and straightforward means to discover medieval manuscripts available on the web. Very much a work in progress, the database will initially provide links to hundreds of manuscripts, which we expect quickly to grow to thousands. Basic information about the manuscripts is fully searchable, and users can also browse through the complete contents of the database. As the project develops, a richer body of information for each manuscript, and the texts in these codices, will be provided, where available.

Collection of translations of Medieval Irish texts into English and other languages.

Selected Transcriptions, Facsimiles and Translations

We share and promote European cultural heritage to be used and enjoyed by everyone for learning, for work, or just for fun.

A variety of primary sources relating to the French Revolution.

Catalog of French writings and manuscripts from the Middle Ages through the 19th century. Interface is in French.

German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) is a comprehensive collection of primary source materials documenting Germany's political, social, and cultural history from 1500 to the present. It comprises original German texts, all of which are accompanied by new English translations, and a wide range of visual imagery. The materials are presented in ten sections, which have been compiled by leading scholars. All of the materials can be used free of charge for teaching, research, and related purposes; the site is strictly intended for individual, non-commercial use.

Links to translations of Ancient Greek documents.

Links to translations of Roman documents and commentaries.

Links to translations of Renaissance era texts.

A variety of resources from the National Archives of Ireland.

Documents from various popes.

Collection of Primary and Secondary sources on various European, Middle Eastern and American topics.

Archives from the Holy See.

This is a collection of materials— mostly from newspapers— about the Great Hunger of Ireland that began in 1845. All of these materials are contemporary and are provided with little or no added commentary. Many of the illustrations here have been re-used in a multitude of other publications, but they are rarely shown in their original written context, as they are here.