HIS 600 - Early American Encounters
What are primary sources?
Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons.
Taken from the American Library Association / Reference and User Services Association
https://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/primarysources This link opens in a new window
Early American History
The following is a list of selected digital collections that include images, manuscripts, maps, and government documents.
- American Memory This link opens in a new windowMaintained by the Library of Congress, American Memory has well over 5 million primary source documents related to American history online.
- The Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy This link opens in a new windowThis collection of documents covers the 17th century, 1600 - 1699.
- David Rumsey Historical Map Collection This link opens in a new windowThe David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has over 20,000 maps and images online and focuses largely on North and South America.
- Documenting the American South This link opens in a new windowDAS is maintained by the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and is dedicated to "providing access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture.
- Documents for the Study of American History This link opens in a new windowLegislation, speeches, policy statements, documents, and maps from 1400 - 1750
- Fordham University Modern History Sourcebook - Colonial North America This link opens in a new windowThe Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use.
- Native American History Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowThis guide to Yale University primary source collections supports teaching and research in Native American History.
- WWW-VL: History: United States: Native American Bibliography This link opens in a new windowResearch tools, timelines, documents and secondary sources on Native American topics.