History Resources

Primary Sources (United States)

What is a primary source? 

Primary sources may be letters, manuscripts, newspapers, clothing, pottery, recorded sound or other items that offer original evidence of a civilization, a person, an event or a place.  Since a single primary source reflects one point of view, consulting various sources is necessary in an attempt to understand different perspectives and distinguish between historical fact and fiction.

Using Primary Sources on the Web  -a guide for use and evaluation of sites
 

Find Primary Sources in the OSU Libraries Catalog:  
      
http://library.ohio-state.edu/search/ 

  • Limit a subject or word search with the following words:  
    sources, archives, correspondence, diaries, personal narratives, interviews, church records and registers, early works to 1800, wills, probate records, sermons

   Sample subject headings:  
   United States – Foreign Relations – Germany – Sources
   Witchcraft -- Europe -- History – Sources
   Slavery -- United States -- Personal Narratives
  

   Sample Keyword search:
   Napoleon* and revolution and "personal narratives"
   Slavery and South Carolina and 
sources

   Kosovo and interviews

   "race relations" and sermons
   "
american civil liberties union" and archives

    catholic* and england and "church records"

Using an * finds Napoleon or Napoleonic etc.
Using quote marks searches for a phrase

OSU Libraries makes available databases of primary sources.  See the various sections of the this subject guide for selected databases that include documents, newspapers, and other source materials.
 

Special Collections at OSU Libraries
 

Special Collections  
Find brief descriptive information on OSU special collections and links to more information.  Link to the specific special collection to find specialists who can assist you with finding primary resources in those collections

 Find manuscript collections using the Discover search - https://library.osu.edu/​   
  -use the default search space; enter keywords; select the Special Collections box.  

 Find books in Special Collections using the OSU Library catalog.
  - go to http://library.ohio-state.edu/ and select the type of search (eg. keyword, subject, author etc.)
  - enter search terms and then click on the box that says "Search Full Catalog" and select Spec Collections & Archives
  - click on the submit button.  All results will be items in Special Collections

Digital Collections  is a searchable database of selected items from three library collections.  The number of images will increase as we add items to the database.  Also use the Discover search - https://library.osu.edu/​  

Special Collections

Rare Books and Manuscripts Contains primary-source materials and related published works from the medieval period to modern literature and the arts.  
    


Byrd Polar Archives - "Historical collections contain papers, records, photographs and other forms of documentation concerning explorers, scientists and other figures and organizations prominent in the advancement of knowledge about polar environments."  Find digital images and documents. Also use the Discover search - https://library.osu.edu/​  

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum - "world’s largest collection of comic strip tear sheets and clippings…unique, original art and manuscript materials"  Find digital images and documents. Also use the Discover search - https://library.osu.edu/​  

Hilandar Research Library  The Hilandar Research Library houses the largest collection of medieval Slavic Cyrillic manuscripts on microform in the world. The Library is a collaboration between the Ohio State University Libraries and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies.

Historic Costume & Textiles (College of Education and Human Ecology)  "scholarly and artistic resource of apparel and textile material culture,"  18th century-present

Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute  This collection focuses on the performing arts and includes personal papers; organizational archives; costume, scene, lighting designs, and technical theatre documentation; costumes; models of stage sets and theatres; photographs; posters; artwork; film, videotape and sound recordings; realia; and other types of documentation.  Find digital images and documents. Also use the Discover search - https://library.osu.edu/​  

Medical Heritage Center - rare books, archives and medical artifacts


Ohio Congressional Archives - "collections of private papers and related materials compiled by or pertaining to members of the Ohio delegation to the United States Congress"

University Archives - historical resources produced by departments and people at Ohio State University; includes manuscripts material and roughly 2 million photos and other images

African American Communities  
Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this collection presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity. Also featured is a rich selection of visual material, including photographs, maps and ephemera.” 

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History

American Antiquarian Society Digital Image Archive (Gigi)
Includes examples of images from the AAS collection, such as cartoons, engravings, lithographs and more

American Broadsides and Ephemera
"...searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900.”  See also American Time Capsule4 references below.

American Civil Liberties Union Papers 1912-1995
"consists of two major collections comprising myriad subseries. The Roger Baldwin Years, 1912-1950, contains subseries with clippings and files on academic freedom; censorship; legislation; federal departments and federal legislation; state activities; conscientious objectors; injunctions; and labor and labor organization correspondence. Years of Expansion, 1950-1990, encompasses foundation project files on the Amnesty Project, 1964-1980; the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee, 1964-1976; and subject files on freedom of belief, expression, and association; due process of law; equality before the law; international civil liberties; and legal case files, 1933-1990.”

American History 1493-1945
Collection of “documents in American History from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century. It is sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the finest archives available for the study of American History.”
Module I Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859
Module II Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945

American Memory from the Library of Congress Home Page  
Documents, photos, sound on wide range of subject in American history
  

American Pamphlets Series I, 1820-1922
"New-York Historical Society’s collection of pamphlets include speeches, orations, debates, sermons, treatises, tracts, narratives, poems, songs, memoirs, announcements, and legal notices. Topics include politics and government, religion and religious movements, art and entertainment, business and economics, health and medicine, education, immigrants and ethnic groups, American Indians, slavery and the Civil War, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and science and technology.

American Political Development (Miller Center for Public Affairs, U of Virginia)  Includes oral history and recordings from selected presidents in the 20th century

American Politics and Society from Kennedy to Watergate
This document collection can be searched individually at Proquest History Vault.  Using the default search will find words in the full text of documents.   Focus your search with phrases or adding keywords.  Also focus by not searching full text using the Advanced Menu and then change the pull down menu.

An American TIme Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera  The collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history

Archives Unbound
Search and examine original images of primary sources from a wide variety of US and international primary source collections.  Search across all collections or limit to specific collections.

Associated Press Collections Online.
Includes decades of wire copy, correspondence, memos, and internal publications from Associated Press Corporate Archives, AP Images, and AP Archive. Content includes the News Features & Internal Communications collection and the U.S. City Bureaus Collection.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications 
1789-present     "Finding tool for electronic and print publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. These publications make up the National Bibliography of U.S. Government Publications. The CGP contains descriptive records for historical and current publications and provides direct links to those that are available online."

Chatham House Online Archive 
Provides over 90 years of research, expert analysis and commentary on international affairs from a premier policy institute.  Find briefing papers, special reports, pamphlets, conference papers and monographs.  Offers full text access to journals International Affairsand the magazine The World Today.  Also includes thousands of hours of audio recordings of Chatham House lectures and their fully searchable transcripts

Civil Rights Digital Library from the Digital Library of Georgia     Documents, photos, audio, video, and articles about events, people, places and topics

Core Documents in U.S. History  (sponsored by US Government Printing Office)

Documents at National Archives web site

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 [Evans Digital Edition]   Based on Charles Evans' American Bibliography], it includes the full text of books, pamphlets, broadsides etc. published before 1800.   

Early American Imprints, 1801-1819 [Shaw Shoemaker]    Keyword access to the full text and facsimile images of books, pamphlets, broadsides etc. published in American 1801-1819.

Electronic Enlightenment  
A “wide-ranging online collection of edited correspondence of the early modern period, linking people across Europe, the Americas and Asia from the early 17th to the mid-19th century.

FBI: The Vault   The Federal Bureau of Investigation provides a searchable database of digital documents on a wide variety of topics and persons for a broad period of time.

From Revolution to Reconstruction  
Selected documents in American history 15th century –
 

Jewish Life in America c1654-1954: Sources from the American Jewish Historical Society, New York.   
The database includes “six organizational collections, twenty-four personal collections, and rare printed books and pamphlets... Also include[s] a selection of American Jewish Year Book articles and complete searchable research guides for the majority of collections.”  There are photographs, a chronology, and other resources.  Register and save your selected collection of documents and photographs from the database.

Making of America  (See also next collection) Full text/search of 19th century books and journals in American history

NYPL Digital Gallery 
Drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books from the New York Public Library

Nineteenth Century in Print: The Making of America in Books and Periodicals (see also previous collection)
This collection comprises books and periodicals published in the United States during the nineteenth century, primarily during the second half of the century. Most of the materials were digitized through the Making of America project.

19th Century United States Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies Online   Links to web sites and texts

Pamphlets from Harvard College Library
This collection includes pamphlets, "government documents, speeches, extracts from journals, reports, manifestos, and various proceedings...[published in the 19th century-mid-20th century]  Areas currently covered in this digital collection include Latin America, World War I, Sociology, the Boer War, and Brittany. As additional pamphlets are cataloged and digitized, they will be added to this online collection."

Political Extremism & Radicalism in the Twentieth Century: Far-right and left political groups in US, Europe and Australia
Compilation of rare and unique archival collections covering a wide range of fringe political movements. It has been sourced from libraries and archives across the world but also contains previously hidden resources.

Proquest History Vault 
PHV is provides document collections in key topics in US history, including immigration, NAACP papers, law and slavery, women's right, Vietnam War and foreign policy, World War II.  Individual document collections can be searched separately.  Using the default search will find words in the full text of documents.   Focus your search with phrases or adding keywords.  Also focus by not searching full text using the Advanced Menu and then change the pull down menu.

Race Relations in America 1943-1970
This resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and
analyses produced by the Race Relations Department and its annual Institute at Fisk University.  Some of its participants were Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.”

The Sixties.  Database on the society, politics, and culture of the 1960s as indicated in diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.

Spain, the United States, & the American Frontier: Historias Paralelas Maps, rare books, manuscripts, prints and photographs, and motion pictures from the Library of Congress illustrating the influence of Spain on North America, the Caribbean, and present-day Mexico between 1492-1898.

The Territorial Papers of the United States24 Vols.  Washington, D.C. : U.S. G.P.O., 1934-.       Official records of the American territories prior to statehood.  For print volume details seehttp://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b3405011 

Trench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War
“Over 1,500 periodicals written and illustrated by serving members of the armed forces and associated welfare organisations published between 1914 and the end of 1919 are included. Magazines have been scanned cover-to-cover, in full colour or greyscale.”

U.S. Military Academy, West Point.  Center for Oral History.  Site under development.  Officially opens in early 2009.  Will include contemporary oral histories from U.S. soldiers.

World War II: U.S. Documents on Planning, Operations, Intelligence, Axis War Crimes, and Refugees
This document collection can be searched individually at Proquest History VaultUsing the default search will find words in the full text of documents.   Focus your search with phrases or adding keywords.  Also focus by not searching full text using the Advanced Menu and then change the pull down menu.

Selected Guide to Oral Histories at OSU and the Web

Find Oral Histories or Interviews using OSU Libraries Resources

OSU Libraries Catalog

Find text and video of oral histories by using the advanced menu search
-Change the first pull down menu to subject and use the word interviews
-On another search line include relevant key word
-Restrict to videos by using the Location menu and select Web E-Video

A different search strategy would be to deploy a keyword search to combine a relevant keyword with “oral history”
    “civil rights” and “oral history”   Note: May find oral histories and works that used oral history as a resource

         Selected Databases with Video and/or Text Available from OSU Libraries

Ohio State University Archives Oral Histories
“The OSU Oral History Program documents the history of The Ohio State University by interviewing faculty members and administrators, as well as former students.”

United States Senate Historical Office Oral History Collection. JK1161 .U65 MICROFICHE 2nd Floor Thompson Library Microform division.

Black Studies in Video Use Advanced Menu; enter keywords/names; scroll down to Content Type and limit only to interviews

HistoryMakers
Oral history interviews with more than 2,687 African Americans.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 Use the Search tab and limit to interviews or oral history using the Document Type limiter

North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories Find video interviews by selecting the Browse tab and then select Showcase. Scroll down to Ellis Island Oral History Project. Also use the Search tab and select Advanced Search. Limit to oral history using Document Type

The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960–1974 Limit to interviews and oral histories by selecting the Search tab and then limiting the Document Type

Selected Resources with Text and/or Audio and Video Freely Available on the Web

Visual History Archive. Los Anegles: USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education. Requires free registration. Search cataloging and indexing data for 54,369 videotaped interviews conducted with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and genocides in the 20th century - The 1937 Nanjing Massacre; The 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda; The 1915 Armenian Genocide; The Guatemalan Genocide, which occurred during the country’s 36-year Civil War; The 1975 Cambodian Genocide. Approximately 27,109 English-language testimony videos can be viewed in VHA Online. For a guide to the collection see http://libguides.usc.edu/vha The VHA at the University of Southern California offers many additional interviews to paying subscribers to the resource. NOTE: This resource contains copyrighted material. See the Terms of Use.

Ellis Island Oral Histories Requires free registration. Includes about 1893 interviews dedicated to preserving the first-hand recollections of immigrants who passed through the Ellis Island immigration station between 1892 and 1954 and the employees who worked there.” NOTE: This resource appears to be searchable only by names of immigrants.

Kent State Shootings: Oral Histories “The Kent State Shootings Oral Histories project collects and provides access to personal accounts of the May 4, 1970, shootings and their aftermath.” There are 123 oral history accounts. On May 4, 1970 13 students were shot by members of the Ohio National Guard at a student demonstration. “The protests at Kent State were part of a widespread spontaneous reaction to the announcement by President Richard M. Nixon of the U.S. incursion into Cambodia [during the Vietnam War,] which had begun only days earlier.”

Columbus Jewish Historical Society Oral Histories Offers transcripts of oral history interviews of persons from the Columbus Jewish community reflecting on their lives and mainly local Jewish events and institutions from the past up to today.

Veterans History Project
The "(VHP) of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center is primarily an oral history program that collects and preserves the firsthand interviews of America's wartime veterans... In addition to audio- and video-recorded interviews, VHP accepts memoirs and collections of original photographs, letters, diaries, maps and other historical documents from World War I through current conflicts."

War Stories
"Represents the experiences of West Texas military veterans and their families from World War I to the present.  These are stories of those who served and those who hoped and prayed for their loved ones’ safe return."

 

Additional Resources for Locating Oral Histories

Columbia Center for Oral History. New York: Columbia University. [CATALOG TO COLLECTION ONLY] Includes “over 10,000 interviews, the CCOH Archives is one of the largest oral history collections in the United States.”

Selected Oral History Projects. UCLA Libraries Links to oral history projects in the United States

Selected General Resources on Conducting Oral Histories
NOTE: OSU Libraries has many books on the subject of oral history. For books that focus on methods of conducting oral histories see Oral history -- Methodology  

Conducting Oral Histories. UCLA Libraries Web site with Information about preparing for and conducting an oral history interview

Catching Stories: A Practical Guide to Oral History. [EBook] Donna DeBlasio, Swallow Press, c2009.

Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide. [Print book] Donald Richie, Oxford University Press, 2003.

Ohio Digital Network. Over 90,000 materials from Ohio Digital Network are now discoverable in Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).  This includes links to texts, graphics, and audio resources

Greater Cincinnati Memory Project    Keyword searchable database of historical images 

Cleveland Memory Project   "Find thousands of historical photographs, as well as a growing collection of ebooks documenting the history of greater Cleveland and the Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio, its industries and its people."

Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery 
Includes documents and images related to the history of Cleveland, the Cleveland Public Library, and many social, cultural and architectural subjects related to the city.

Ohio History Center (ie Ohio Historical Society)  Search the OHC catalog for their primary source collection.  Online Documents from OHC (Civil War, African-American, "Fundamental Documents" on Ohio

 Ohio Memory: An Online Scrapbook of Ohio History  Primary sources contributed by Ohio institutions 

Ohio State University Archives    Manuscripts & photos on the history of OSU; Byrd Polar Research Archive; John Glenn Archive 

Ohio State University Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts  Among the collections are editions of Don Quixote through the ages in various languages, seventeenth-century drama collection; a rich, historical collection of multiple copies of different editions of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs; Anglican, Puritan and Catholic religious books, and important writings of early Protestant reformers. 

The Lantern  (Ohio State University), 1881-1997
Full text search and display of articles from the OSU student newspaper

Makio (Ohio State University student yearbook)  1880-

OhioPix   Selected photographs from the Ohio History Center

Early American Periodicals:

American Periodical Series (1740-1900) Full text search and display of periodical articles.

Early American Books and Pamphlets:

American Pamphlets Series I, 1820-1922
"New-York Historical Society’s collection of pamphlets include speeches, orations, debates, sermons, treatises, tracts, narratives, poems, songs, memoirs, announcements, and legal notices. Topics include politics and government, religion and religious movements, art and entertainment, business and economics, health and medicine, education, immigrants and ethnic groups, American Indians, slavery and the Civil War, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and science and technology.

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 [Evans Digital Edition]   Based on Charles Evans' American Bibliography], it includes the full text of books, pamphlets, broadsides etc. published before 1800.   

Early American Imprints, 1801-1819 [Shaw Shoemaker]    Keyword access to the full text and facsimile images of books, pamphlets, broadsides etc. published in American 1801-1819.

Early English Books Online (EEBO)1475-1700
"Fom the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare, this collection contains over 96,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475 - 1640) and Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and their revised edition. Allows for exhaustive research requirements of graduate scholars in the areas of English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, and the fine arts."  See also EEBO Text Partnership

Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926  
Includes 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law

Early American Newspapers:

America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922) Search & read facsimile text of a growing database of newspapers. Database continues to add titles. Some post 1922 newspapers are included, such as the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Additional early American newspapers in Microforms Rm. in Thompson Library.

19th Century US Newspapers
1800-1899; selected US newspapers full text searchable

Early American Manuscript & Document Collections:

American archives: consisting of a collection of authentick records, state papers, debates, and letters… By Peter Force [Washington, 1837-53].  Collection of documents of the American Revolution from 1774-1776, digitized and searchable.  Sponsored by North Illinois University Libraries.  Original print copy available at Rare Books Rm., call # E203 .A5 

The American Founding Era
Contains the annotated, full-text searchable set of the personal papers and manuscripts of the founders of the American Republic. The collection includes the papers of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Dolley Madison, James Madison, John Marshall, Andrew Jackson, Charles Pinckney, and the People of the Founding Era collection.  Also The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution digital edition -- Founders early access -- People of the Founding Era

Founders Online
Contains searchable manuscripts from early US presidents (also available in American Founding Era above) and also Gallatin, Albert; Knox, Henry; McHenry, James; Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson; Randolph, Edmund; Heath, William; Coxe, Tench; Pickering, Timothy; Lee, Arthur; Lear, Tobias; Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de; Jay, John; Claiborne, William C. C.; Short, William; American Commissioners; Williams, Jonathan, Jr.; Dearborn, Henry; Adams, Thomas Boylston; Humphreys, David; Lincoln, Benjamin; Greene, Nathanael; Smith, William Stephens; Smith, Robert; Morris, Robert; Jefferson, George; Wolcott, Oliver, Jr.; King, Rufus; Livingston, Robert R.; Treasury Department; Lee, William; Bourne, Sylvanus; Peyton, Bernard; Huntington, Samuel; Dumas, Charles-Guillaume-Frédéric; Schuyler, Philip; Dumas, Charles William Frederic; Sullivan, John; Morris, Gouverneur; Jarvis, William; Rush, Benjamin

Archives of Maryland Online (17th century-present)  Provides "access to over 471,000 historical documents that form the constitutional, legal, legislative, judicial, and administrative basis of Maryland's government."  Includes facsimile views.

Colonial America
Colonial America will make available all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 (Colonial Office Record Group 5) series from The National Archives, UK, covering the period 1606 to 1822. CO 5 consists of the original correspondence between the British government and the governments of the American colonies, making it a uniquely rich resource for all historians of the period.

Colonial State Papers
“This collection offers insight into the colonial history of North America and the West Indies. It includes the British National Archives collection CO 1—papers from the Colonial Office that were presented to the Privy Council and the Board of Trade during 1574-1757.  More than 7,000 hand-written documents and more than 45,000 bibliographic records from Calendar of State Papers Colonial consists of bibliographic entries along with transcriptions, extracts and abstracts, in fully keyed XML.  The papers offer fascinating insight into British trade, history and overseas expansion between the 16th and 18th centuries.”  Colonial State Papers is only concerned with the American, Canadian, and West Indian colonies.  Papers and calendars on other regions are not included even though they may relate to American affairs.  A search of CSP will produce calendar entries in CO record groups that were not digitized.  

Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Digital Edition
Enter American Founders Era and select the title.

Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures and the Environment
This database "contains over 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, memoirs, and [published] accounts of early encounters… between different groups or between individuals and the natural environment.  Search texts by keyword or phrase, or browse or search using indexes to encounters, images, peoples, fauna, flora, environment, or cultural events.  The database includes 385 sources with illustrations including color from works such as Audubon’s Birds of America.

Electronic Enlightenment  
A “wide-ranging online collection of edited correspondence of the early modern period, linking people across Europe, the Americas and Asia from the early 17th to the mid-19th century.

The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
"15,000 pages of original historical material documenting the land, peoples, exploration, and transformation of the trans-Appalachian West from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century...Among the sources included are books, periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, scientific publications, broadsides, letters, journals, legal documents, ledgers and other financial records, maps, physical artifacts, and pictorial images. The collection documents thetravels of the first Europeans to enter the trans-Appalachian West."

Legacy of Slavery in Maryland
Documents, records, and case studies.

A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1797-1825
"This will include all 25 states and territories that existed at the time... This project is a work in progress."

Papers of Alexander Hamilton - (National Archives) in Founders Online.  Where you see Project:"Hamilton Papers" combine additional keywords so that it might read Project:"Hamilton Papers" revolution. 

Papers of Alexander Hamilton (Library of Congress) "consist of his personal and public correspondence, drafts of his writings (although not his Federalist essays), and correspondence among members of the Hamilton and Schuyler families. The collection, consisting of approximately 12,000 items dating from 1708 to 1917, documents Hamilton's impoverished Caribbean boyhood (scantily); events in the lives of his family and that of his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton; his experience as a Revolutionary War officer and aide-de-camp to General George Washington; his terms as a New York delegate to the Continental Congress (1782-1783) and the Constitutional Convention (1787); and his careers as a New York state legislator, United States treasury secretary (1789-1795), political writer, and lawyer in private practice. Most of the papers date from 1777 until Hamilton's death in 1804."

Papers of Benjamin Franklin  Sponsored by The American Philosophical Society and Yale University. 
Search and display Franklin's writings and correspondence. See also the published papers in the library at http://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b1133684    

Franklin Papers from the National Archives' Founders Online   
Where you see Project:"Franklin Papers" combine additional keywords so that it might read Project:"Franklin Papers" revolution.

Benjamin Franklin Papers at the Library of Congress
Consist of approximately 8,000 items spanning the years 1726 to 1907, with most dating from the 1770s and 1780s. The collection's principal strength is its documentation of Franklin's diplomatic roles as a colonial representative in London (1757-1762 and 1764-1775) and France (1776-1785), where he sought to win recognition and funding from European countries during the American Revolution, negotiated the treaty with Britain that ended the war, and served as the first United States minister to France.  The papers also document Franklin's work as a scientist, inventor, and observer of the natural world, and his relations with family, friends, and scientific and political colleagues.

Prestatehood Legal Materials: A Fifty-state Research Guide, including New York City and the District of Columbia. M. Chiorazzi, M. Most, editors. New York: Haworth Information Press, c2005. 2 v.  KF240 .P688 2005 at Law

Territorial Papers of the United States, Series 1-4

"From this source comes the official history of the states’ territorial years recorded in primary source documents, many of which are hand-written, that include official correspondence with Washington, Native American negotiations and treaties, military records, judicial proceedings, population data, financial statistics, land records, and more."

The Territorial Papers of the United States. 24 Vols.  Washington, D.C. : U.S. G.P.O., 1934-.  E173 .U582 at Thompson Library.    Official records of the American territories prior to statehood.  For print volume details see http://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b3405011

Tracts and other papers relating principally to the origin, settlement, and progress of the colonies in North America from the discovery of the country to the year 1776. By Peter Force.  (Washington: Printed by P. Force, 1836-46). Part of American Memory at the Library of Congress.  Original print copy available at Rare Books Rm., call # E187.F69 or in reprint in Depository.

See also Congressional Documents and Presidential Documents tabs

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies  Facsimile; keyword search, browse) See also paper copy, E591 .U6 in Library Depository

War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies  Facsimile; keyword search and browse) See also paper copy, E464 .U6 1985 in Thompson Library 

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System  Information extracted from sources about individuals, African-Americans in the war, military units, battles, parks, cemeteries. Sponsored by the National Park Service)

Civil War Service Reports of Union Army Generals
These generals’ reports of service represent an attempt by the Adjutant General’s Office (AGO) to obtain more complete records of the service of the various Union generals serving in the Civil Wa

Civil War in the American South
"Civil War in the American South provides a central portal to access digital collections from the Civil War Era (1850-1865) held by members of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL).

Civil War in Words and Deeds
Individually and collectively, the publication of these regimental histories and personal narratives constitute a source of great historical value. These first-person accounts, compiled in the postwar period and early 20th Century period, chronicle the highs and lows of army life from 1861 through 1865.

American Civil War Collection 1860-1922: From the American Antiquarian Society.
"These diverse materials, all filmed in full-resolution color, include broadsides, lithographs, maps, books, pamphlets, photographs, political cartoons, stereographs, and more.  Coverage extends throughout the Civil War and well beyond into the critical postwar period."

American Pamphlets Series I, 1820-1922
"New-York Historical Society’s collection of pamphlets include speeches, orations, debates, sermons, treatises, tracts, narratives, poems, songs, memoirs, announcements, and legal notices. Topics include politics and government, religion and religious movements, art and entertainment, business and economics, health and medicine, education, immigrants and ethnic groups, American Indians, slavery and the Civil War, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and science and technology.Civil War Diaries (
Western Michigan University)   Includes 8 searchable diaries with facsimile images of originals and transcriptions of all text.  [Find more diaries in the OSU Libraries catalog.]

Crisis of the Union: An Electronic Archive of Documents About the Causes Conduct and Consequences of the US Civil War   Includes documents from the 1850s – 1870s on the Civil War and Reconstruction.  Produced by the Dept. of History, University of Pennsylvania

Documenting the American South   Includes “texts, images, and audio files related to Southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Currently DocSouth includes seven thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.”

Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational and Industrial: 1865 to the present time.Cleveland, Ohio, 1906-1907. 2 vols.  By Walter L. Fleming.  See also paper: E668 .F58 at Depository.  Additional collections of documents on Reconstruction

First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920   Includes the diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives of not only prominent individuals, but also of relatively inaccessible populations: women, African Americans, enlisted men, laborers, and Native Americans

Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867  selected documents;  Complete publication in print at OSU Libraries

Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926 
Includes 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law

Southern Home Front, 1861-1865 
from Documenting the American South at the U of North Carolina

The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War   Includes letters, diaries, newspapers, records from churches, courts and taxes from two communities in Virginia and Pennsylvania during the war and Reconstruction. 

Selected Civil War Photographs
Photos from the Library of Congress

Visualizing Emancipation
"Organizes documentary evidence about when, where, and how slavery fell apart during the American Civil War."

Civil War 150th Anniversary Web site
Links to a variety of resources

Civil War Maps
Selected maps from various sources

Guides and Indexes

Guide to Historical Session Dates .
Historical Leadership in the US House of Representatives

Congressional Directory, 104th Congress (1995-96) -present   Complete guide to committees, district maps, elected officials, executive branch contacts

Proquest Congressional  (1789-present)   Find the full text of Congressional reports and documents and full text for many documents, bills, public laws and hearing testimony from 1789 to the present. Includes bills, laws, legislative histories, committee prints, House and Senate documents and reports; info on members of Congress; federal regulations 

GovInfo
[REPLACES FDSYS] Congressional publications (e.g. hearings, reports, documents), since the mid-1990s and U.S. statutes, regulations (ALL YEARS OF Federal Register, 1996-present of Code of Federal Regulations), and more.

ProQuest Legislative Insight
ProQuest Legislative Insight is a federal legislative history service that makes available thoroughly researched compilations of digital full text Congressional publications relevant to enacted U.S. public laws from 1789-present.   Provides compiled histories of laws enacted from 1789 to the present, including the following document types: bills, reports, documents, hearings, CRS reports, committee prints, Congressional Record sections, presidential signing statements, and statutes. Legislative Insight includes only documents related to the passage of a law. For hearings, reports, bills, etc., that are not part of a legislative history, please use Proquest Congressional.

     1774-1789: Continental Congress & Period of Articles of Confederation

Documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789   The "Broadside Collection (253 titles) and the Constitutional Convention Broadside Collection (21 titles) contain 274 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most Broadsides are one page in length, others range from 1 to 28 pages.  See also Papers of the Continental Congress, 204 reels, E303.U5 Microfilm in MIC and itsIndex in 5 vols. at Z1238B87 in MIC Reference.

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789   "…records of the daily proceedings of the first and second continental congresses. Paper copy in Law Stacks, J10 .A5 1904.

Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. 1787-1789  “The best source for materials about the national government's transitional period between the closing of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787 and the opening of the First Federal Congress in March 1789.”

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.  Compiled by Max Farrand in 1911.

Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789   "Written by delegates that bear directly upon their work during their years of actual service in the First and Second Continental Congresses." Paper edition in Thompson Library  JK1033 .L47.

     1789-present

      Reports and Documents

American State Papers, 1789-1838  See Proquest Congressional orhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsp.html   "Contain[s] the legislative and executive documents of Congress during the period 1789 to 1838. The collection includes documents that cover the critical historical gap from 1789 to the printing of the first volume of the U.S. Serial Set in 1817." Paper copy in Thompson Library (J33) and Depository (KF11 .A48 1832). Sections include Foreign Relations, Indian Affairs, Finances, Commerce and Navigation, Military Affairs,  Naval Affairs, Post Office Department, Public Lands, Claims, and Miscellaneous.

U.S. Serial Set   See Proquest Congressional
"Contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports. The reports are usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation.  Congressional documents are a rich source of information in foreign affairs, politics, finance, business, economics,appointments, environment, safety, transportation as well as social and cultural affairs of the nation.  This set includes the maps and illustrations that appeared with the original documents.  Documents and reports also in CIS microfiche set (J74C55  in MIC).  Committee Prints.  

GovInfo.org  1975-  Contemporary executive, congressional, judicial & regulatory documents

      Bills, Resolutions, Journals

Bills and Resolutions, 1799-1873  [not all years included]  "Bills and Resolutions are available for selected sessions of Congress, beginning with the 6th Congress in the House of Representatives, the 16th Congress in the Senate, and the 18th Congress for Senate Joint Resolutions."

House Journal    1789-1875.  Print volumes for 1966-1983 available in Documents in Thompson Library Grand Reading Rm.  House Journals from 1982-present on microfiche in Thompson Library (KF45 .A22 Microfiche).  HJs for 1953-1965 are not owned.

Senate Journal   1789-1875.  See also McClay’s Journal of the Senate for 1789-1791.  Print volumes for 1954, 1970-1982 available in Documents in Thompson Library.  SJs from 1983-present on microfiche in Thompson Library (KF46 .A22 Microfiche).  SJs for 1953-1965 are not owned.

Senate Executive Journals    Online volumes cover 1789-1875.  For all years from 1789-2001 in print see JK1251 .A3 in Thompson Library  (Journal of the Executive Proceedings…)

Proquest Congressional (Bills & Resolutions: 1789-present; Journals:1817-present)   Find the full text for many bills, laws, legislative histories, info on members of Congress; federal regulations)

        Debates.

Annals of Congress: 1789-1824  ( Find paper copy) 
Register of Debates: 1824-1837  ( Find paper copy) 
Congressional Globe: 1833-1873  (Find paper Copy)
Congressional Record: 1873-2004  (Find paper copy) 
Congressional Record Daily: 1994-present 

Proquest Congressional
 - debates for all years to the present
GovInfo.gov - debates 1994-present

        Hearings

Proquest Congressional  1824-present

GovInfo:   1994-present  

      Additional Resources

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Brief biographical information on all senators and congress persons from the Continental Congress in 1774 to the present. Search by name, state, party, position, or year.

US Statutes at Large, 1789-2005   "Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage." Entire set of statutes in Thompson Library, K42A2.

Congress.gov 
Contemporary
 legislative information from the U.S. Congress

 U.S. Senate Legislative Information Contemporary legislative information

 

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) 1861-1980s: Search all volumes ; Browse volumes
Online full text searchable; Print available at JX233A3 in Thompson Library [2nd floor mezzanine]. FRUS is the US Dept. of State's official collection of foreign relations documents that are publicly available.  Includes "documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy."

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS): 1861-1960  
Online, fulltext searchable; For paper editions 1861- [title varies]: JX233 .A3 in Thompson Library [2nd floor mezzanine]. FRUS is the US Dept. of State's official collection of foreign relations documents that are publicly available

US State Department Bulletin 1933-1989 
Includes the complete test of each issue. Collects public documents produced by the Dept. of State such as press releases, speeches, and articles. Print copy in the Depository JX232 .A26

US State Department Dispatch 1990-1999 
A similar publication to the bulletin but contains less content. Print copy in the Depository JX232 .A26

The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training 
Interviews mostly with Foreign Service Officers but there also are some with political appointees and other officials. While some 1920s-, 1930s-, and World-War-II-era diplomacy is covered, most of the interviews involve post-World-War-II diplomacy, from the late 1940s to the 1990s. Search by keyword or browse by author or subject.

U.S. Department of State web site 
Source of contemporary documents, speeches and press releases on foreign policy

American Foreign Relations: Current Documents 1950-1990 
ONLINE: Available in print: JX1417 .A33: 1956-1967 at Law; Depository; 1981-1990 in Depository; JX1417 .A55: 1950-1955 in Depository

Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training 
"Interview transcripts (at the Library of Congress) from the oral history archives of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST). These transcripts present a window into the lives of U.S. diplomats and the major diplomatic crisis and issues that the United States faced during the second half of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st."

Records of US State Department's Division of Chinese Affairs 1944-1961
inter and intradepartmental memorandums, reports, position papers, summaries, maps, photographs, and despatches (from US Foreign Service officers and military personnel) relating to the internal political affairs of China and United States foreign policy toward China.

Confidential U.S. Diplomatic Post Records (dates vary) Online or Microfilm: Russia; Middle East; Japan; Central America
OSU holdings of digital and microfilm collections cover different countries and regions for various periods in the 20th century.  Additional microfilm collections may be available in Ohiolink.  Includes "correspondence and reports from American diplomats stationed around the world. Diplomatic post records are those kept at the embassies or legations rather than those kept in Washington."

U.S. State Department Central FilesOnline: Africa and Middle East, 1960-1969 ;  Asia ; Microfilm: 1930s-1950s
OSU holdings of digital and microfilm collections cover different countries and regions for various periods in the 20th century.  Additional microfilm collections may be available in Ohiolink.  "The central files are the largest and most important category of Department of State records.  There is at least some documentation in the Department’s central files on almost all topics relating to U.S. foreign policy and relations with other countries.  Perhaps most importantly, the central files are the most inclusive and authoritative repository of reporting by American diplomatic and consular posts overseas. In addition, the files include Department of State communications with foreign diplomatic and consular offices in the United States, correspondence with other U.S. Government agencies and the public, and internal memorandums and reports."

Note:  See additional presidential papers under the "National Security" tab above.  Also, a selected collection of published presidential papers in print is available in the Buckeye Reading Room, room 260 in Thompson Library.

Collected Papers of US Presidents

American Founding Era

Contains the annotated, full-text searchable set of the personal papers and manuscripts of the founders of the American Republic. The collection includes the papers of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Marshall, Andrew Jackson Woodrow Wilson.  Also includes Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Dolley Madison, Charles Pinckney, and the People of the Founding Era collection

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
Herbert Hoover, 1929-1933 through Barack Obama (For FD Roosevelt see under Roosevelt below)

Public Papers of the PresidentsPrint edition for 1945-present available in Thompson Library, Buckeye Reading Room, Rm. 260, J80 .A28 . 

Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents (1992-present) 
Includes Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents 1993-January 2009 and Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents beginning with the administration of Barack Obama. January 2009-

Includes George H.W. Bush (1992-93 only, 1989-91 see Public Papers above), Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump

Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents (New Series)  22 Vols. Keyword searchable database of very selected papers from George Washington through Herbert Hoover. Print copy of v1-20 in Library Depository J81.B96C.

American Presidency Project   Searchable site that contains over 61,00 public presidential documents, such as executive orders, radio addresses, and speeches.  Also included are the texts of presidential debates since 1960, national party platforms since 1840, state of the union addresses since 1793, and historical statistical data on the presidency and presidential elections.

Presidential Speeches in Audio and/or Text (Washington to Obama)   Audio is in mps3 and requires downloading to a hard drive first before playback.

The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004  Video and audio of television commercials during the campaigns

State of the Union addresses

It is possible to find these addresses in various formats and publications.  The link provided gives access to all addresses in a convenient way.  For some original publication format see links above to Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents. Public Papers of the Presidents, the Congressional Record, and collections of presidential papers.  The Compilation of Messages and Papers....above also includes state of the union addresses.



Individual Collections of US Presidents

George Washington

After entering American Founders select The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition.  Encompasses five separate series and the complete diaries.
George Washington Papers  at the Library of Congress
Writings of George Washington 1745-1799 (39 Vols.)  Papers drawn from the collection at the Library of Congress but restricted mainly to letters written by GW and not letters written to GW.  See the paper volumes at E312.7 1931.  

John Adams 
After entering American Founders select The Adams Papers Digital Edition.  Comprises John Adams’s complete diaries, selected legal papers, and the ongoing series of family correspondence and state papers.
John Adams  at the Massachusetts Historical Society (see right sidebars)
Abigail Adams and Abigail Smith Adams at Founders Online

Thomas Jefferson 
After entering American Founders select The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Digital Edition.  Brings together The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University, and The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society includes texts of some writings and architectural drawings.

James Madison 
After entering American Founders select The Papers of James Madison Digital Edition
James Madison Papers at the Library of Congress

James Monroe
Monroe Papers at Founders Online
Microfilm of Virginia State Archives and other repositories in Virginia primarily relating to James Monroe's actions as a state official

John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams Papers at Founders Online
John Quincy Adams diaries 1779-1848 at the Massachusetts Historical Society     

Andrew Jackson
After entering Founders Online select The Papers of Andrew Jackson Digital Edition

Franklin Pierce Papers
Microfilm of papers at the Library of Congress

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Ed. by Roy Basler, 1953)
Lincoln Virtual Library  at the Library of Congress
Abraham Lincoln/Net:  Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project  presents historical materials from Abraham Lincoln's Illinois years (1830-1861), including Lincoln's writings and speeches. Also has video, audio and images
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library   holdings and links

Ulysses S Grant

Ulysses S. Grant Papers at the Library of Congress.    
Papers of Ulysses S. Grant.  Browse digital set of 31 volume collection
Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, Mississippi State University, digital collections

Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center holdings and services

Grove Cleveland
Grover Cleveland Papers
Microfilm of papers at the Library of Congress

William McKinley
William McKinley Papers
Microfilm of papers at the Library of Congress

Theodore Roosevelt
Harvard;  Library of Congress;  TR Center

Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson papers  1856-1924
"Includes the complete contents of the landmark letterpress edition of the papers, with nearly 35,000 documents across 69 volumes, with new material forthcoming from the Library of Congress and the Wilson Presidential Library."
Messages and Papers of Woodrow Wilson. 2 Vols. New York : Review of Reviews Corporation, 1924.  Also available in print.
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum 
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
  Also see Documentary History of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency (40 vols.) 

Harry Truman
Harry Truman Museum and Library-documents
  Also see Documentary History of the Truman Presidency (35 vols.)

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Library-documents

  Also see Documentary History of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidency (9 Vols.)
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy Library-speeches & documents
  Also see Documentary History of the John F. Kennedy Presidency (12 vols.)
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum-documents
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon Library-documents
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford Library and Museum-documents
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter Library and Museum-documents
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library-speeches
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

George H.W. Bush

George H.W. Bush Presidential Library-documents
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

William J. Clinton

William J. Clinton holdings and services
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

George W. Bush

George W. Bush Presidential Library – Research
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Barack Obama

Barack Obama Presidential Library – Research
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States

Donald Trump

Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents 
Trump Twitter Archive (unofficial compilation)

 

Narratives

American Slavery [Narratives]: A Composite Autobiography (Greenwood Press)

First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920  Includes the diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives of not only prominent individuals, but also of relatively inaccessible populations: women, African Americans, enlisted men, laborers, and Native Americans

North American Slave Narratives from Documenting the American South by the U of North Carolina;  Includes narratives drawn from books and articles

Slave Narratives from the Library of Congress

Voices from the Days of Slavery (Audio) Former Slaves Tell Their Stories

Slavery and the Law
Original documents as part of Proquest History Vault database.  Select collection from the "Browse Collection" list after entering the database.

Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantations Records, Part 1
Original documents as part of Proquest History Vault database.  Select collection from the "Browse Collection" list after entering the database.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
"Information on more than 35,000 slave voyages that forcibly embarked over 12 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. It offers researchers, students and the general public a chance to rediscover the reality of one of the largest forced movements of peoples in world history."

Slave Biographies
Offers "an open access data repository of information on the identities of enslaved people in the Atlantic World."

Book, Pamphlet and Manuscript Collections

American Pamphlets Series I, 1820-1922
"New-York Historical Society’s collection of pamphlets include speeches, orations, debates, sermons, treatises, tracts, narratives, poems, songs, memoirs, announcements, and legal notices. Topics include politics and government, religion and religious movements, art and entertainment, business and economics, health and medicine, education, immigrants and ethnic groups, American Indians, slavery and the Civil War, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and science and technology.

Anti-slavery books and pamphlets from Cornell University Libraries  "Numbering over 10,000 titles, [the collection includes searchable full text]...pamphlets and leaflets document[ing] the anti-slavery struggle at the local, regional, and national levels."

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record  "Approximately 1,200 images in this collection have been selected from a wide range of sources"

Black Abolitionist Papers
Details "the extensive work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the massive, international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings and publications of the activists themselves...[Includes] correspondence of major African American leaders; speeches, sermons, and lectures; articles, essays, editorials, and other major writings from more than 200 newspapers: African American, abolitionist, and reform newspapers; and receipts, poems, and other miscellaneous documents.

Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress

From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909  presents 396 pamphlets... published from 1822 through 1909, by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics. The materials range from personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports and legislative speeches.

Digital Library on American Slavery (1775-1867)
A "searchable database of detailed personal information about slaves, slaveholders, and free people of color...[T]he site provides access to information gathered and analyzed over an eighteen-year period from petitions to southern legislatures and country courts filed between 1775 and 1867 in the fifteen slaveholding states in the United States and the District of Columbia."

Slave Societies Digital Archive
SSDA is "dedicated to identifying, cataloging, and digitally preserving endangered archival materials documenting the history of Africans and their descendants in the Atlantic World....[This includes material] generated by the Catholic Church, which mandated the baptism of African slaves in the fifteenth century and later extended this requirement to the Iberian New World. The baptismal records preserved in Slave Societies are the oldest and most uniform serial data available for the history of Africans in the Atlantic World and offer the most extensive information regarding their ethnic origins"

Slavery and the Law
This document collection can be searched individually at Proquest History Vault.  [To search the full text of documents you must use theAdvanced Menu option and change “All fields excluding full text” to “all fields including full text.”]

Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantations Records, Part 1
This document collection can be searched individually at Proquest History Vault.  [To search the full text of documents you must use theAdvanced Menu option and change “All fields excluding full text” to “all fields including full text.”]

Slavery, Abolition, and Social Justice 1490-2007   A "portal for slavery and abolition studies, bringing together documents and collections covering an extensive time period 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is being given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today."

Slavery & Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive
Find books, articles, manuscript collections, supreme court records and briefs, slave narratives, and selected reference articles. Covers transatlantic slave trade; the global movement for the abolition of slavery; the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system; dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions

American Slavery Collection, 1820-1922: From the American Antiquarian Society

"Contains over 3500 digitized print works. Includes books, pamphlets, graphic materials and ephemera."

Slavery and the Courts, 1740-1860    Search and view facsimile or html of pamphlets and documents

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture  Multimedia: texts, moving pictures, audio

Visualizing Emancipation
"Organizes documentary evidence about when, where, and how slavery fell apart during the American Civil War."

Archeological Data

The Digital Archeological Archive of Comparative Slavery
Web-based initiative designed to foster inter-site, comparative archaeological research on slavery throughout the Chesapeake, the Carolinas, and the Caribbean. Our goal is to help scholars from different disciplines use archaeological evidence to advance our historical understanding of the slave-based society that evolved in the Atlantic World during the colonial and ante-bellum periods. 

See also links to presidential speeches under the Presidential Documents tab above.

Gerritsen Collection
The Gerritsen gathers more than 4,700 publications from continental Europe, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand, dating from 1543-1945. The anti-feminist case is presented as well as the pro-feminist; many other titles present a purely objective record of the condition of women at a given time.  The broad scope of the collection allows scholars to trace the evolution of feminism within a single country, as well as the impact of one country's movement on those of the others. In many cases, it also provides easy access to primary sources otherwise available only in a few rare book rooms.

North American Women's Letters and Diaries (colonial times to 1950)    
Experiences of some 200 women, as revealed in more than 28,000 pages of diaries and letters.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600 to 2000
WSMUS is “organized around document projectseach posing a new interpretive question... These publications embrace an astonishing range of issues, employing pamphlets, posters, personal narratives, advice literature, training guides, interviews, and other ephemera that provide snapshots of women’s struggle for equality over time and across regions. The items are rich in personal testimony, chronologies, milestones, biographies, laws and legal challenges, recommendations, training instruction, and self-help guides."

Women and Social Movements, International (1840-present)
“writings of women activists, their personal letters and diaries, and the proceedings of conferences at which pivotal decisions were made.  [From an international perspective, these resources reveal] “how women’s social movements shaped much of the events and attitudes that have defined modern life” relating to issues such as “peace, poverty, child labor, literacy, disease prevention, and global inequality.”   Find photographs and videos of major international events and activists.

Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires since 1820
"Explores prominent themes in world history since 1820: conquest, colonization, settlement, resistance, and post-coloniality, as told through women’s voices. With a clear focus on bringing the voices of the colonized to the forefront, this highly-curated archive and database includes documents related to the Habsburg Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the British, French, Italian."

 

Struggle for Women's Rights, Organizational Records, 1880-1990
This document collection can be searched individually at Proquest History Vault.  [To search the full text of documents you must use the Advanced Menu option and change “All fields excluding full text” to “all fields including full text.”]  Focus your search by combining relevant keywords or by not searching full text. 

Women's Studies Manuscript Collections from the Schlesinger Library: Voting Rights, National Politics, and Reproductive Rights
This document collection can be searched individually at Proquest History Vault.  [To search the full text of documents you must use the Advanced Menu option and change “All fields excluding full text” to “all fields including full text.”]

Archives Unbound primary source collections on womenve (see also many other collections)

  • Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activitist, Political Activist, and Woman
  • Feminism in Cuba nineteenth through twentieth century archival documents
  • Industrial mobilization in Britain and the Ministry of Munitions, 1915-191
  • International Women's Periodicals, 1786-1933: Social and Political Issues
  • Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin: Beyond the Daughters of Bilitis​
  • Politics, Social Activism & Community Support: Selected Gay & Lesbian Periodicals & Newsletters
  • The International Women's Movement
  • The Quest for Labor Equality in Household Work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979
  • Women Organizing Transnationally: The Committee of Correspondence, 1952-1969
  • Women, War and Society, 1914-1918
  • Women's Issues and Their Advocacy within the White House, 1974-1977

Women Working, 1870 - 1930 provides access to digitized historical, manuscript, and image resources selected from Harvard's library and museum

American Civil Liberties Union Archives, 1950-1990, Series 3, Subject Files. Women's rights, 1953-1984 (reels 316-320).  MIcrofilm Dept. Thompson Library 2nd Floor.

Everyday Life & Women in America: c.1800-1920
Provides "access to rare primary source material from the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History, Duke University and The New York Public Library. It comprises thousands of fully searchable images (alongside transcriptions) of monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides addressing 19th and early 20th century political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes."

Formerly known as the Pan Pacific Women’s Association of the U.S.A., the Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women’s Association was founded in 1930 to strengthen international understanding and friendship among the women of Asia and the Pacific and women of the U.S.A. The group promoted cooperation among women of these regions for the study and improvement of social, economic, and cultural conditions; engaged in studies on Asian and Pacific affairs; provided hospitality to temporary residents and visitors from Pacific and Asian areas; and presented programs of educational and social interest, dealing with the customs and cultures of Asian and Pacific countries.
 
Women in the (British) National Archives
"A finding aid to women's studies resources in The National Archives [and] original documents on the suffrage question in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories...The original documents cover the campaign for women's suffrage in Britain, 1903-1928 and the granting of women's suffrage in colonial territories, 1930-1962."
 
Women's Magazine Archive
OSU provides access to part 1 that includes the following periodicals: Better Homes & Gardens (1922 to 2005), Chatelaine (1928 to 2005), Good Housekeeping (1885 to 2005), Ladies’ Home Journal (1883 to 2005), Parents (1926 to 2005), Redbook (1903 to 2005).