United States History – Research Guides and Websites

Regarding Websites: Web research can be very useful and lead to much useful and important information. While every effort has been made to list only "reliable" sites, researchers should be aware that control of sites change (often without notice) from time to time and, thus, the reliability and point of view of the website may change (for better or worse). One of the best uses of web information is to locate good primary and secondary sources that should be directly examined. Websites also go out of existence, so, for scholarly work, they are not reliable sources, like a published work which, presumably, will always be available in some library (Library of Congress) for examination. Beware especially of quoting or otherwise relying upon unidentified opinions found on websites.

Basic guide to web research:

1. Use your library BEFORE you start your web research. You will learn many terms that will be useful in your web research. You should read at least one good, broad secondary source on the subject before starting your research.
2. Learn how to do web research. Google has a very good set of instructions. USE IT!
3. Know the site you are using. Find out who is responsible for it. An example of a very good site is the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School (see below).
4. Find the original printed source of the information given on the site. You may have to use your library sources or a research librarian to help you. Cite both the internet source and the printed source.

Research Guides and Resources

General

U.W. Resources

• Datasets
• Digital Scholarship
• Electronic Books
• Electronic Journals
• History Resources
• Reference Tools
• More...

Research Resources

U.W. Research Sources U. W. Library -> Research Guide --  Reference Tools -- Top 25 Databases U.W. “Starting Point for Historical Research” U.W. Web Gateway to African American StudiesOther Research Sources

• Library of Congress - Map Collections, 1500-2003
• National Archives (Washington, D.C.)
• National Archives   (Sand Point Way - Seattle, WA)
• Seattle Public Library
• Washington State Library (Olympia)
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Other academic and excellent websites

• The Library of Congress
• The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
• NARA | US National Archives & Records Administration
• Internet Public Library
• Duke University
• Rutgers University Library
• Catholic Encyclopedia -- lots of good information -
• SCHOLARS’ GUIDE TO WWW (Prof. R. Jensen, U. Illinois)
• HISTORY CENTRAL - ALL WEBSITES, ALL TOPICS
• History - Academic Info
• The History Net
• Sites by period
• World Population gateway:
• Primary American Documents

• University of Virginia American Studies Texts (complete texts of famous American activists’ and writers’ works)
• American Presidency Project. University of California at Santa Barbara. Text of all State of the Union and inaugural addresses since Washington. Other selected presidential documents and papers.
• American Memory: Historical Collections from the National Digital Library. Library of Congress
• History links: University of Washington Libraries. Guide to primary and secondary literature in history, both U.W. licensed databases and freely available web sources.
• History on the Web: University of Washington Libraries. Selection of websites providing primary Sources.
• Women's History Sourcebook
• University of Colorado: US History Links
• Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy
• U.S. Digital History
• Museum of San Francisco History
• National Archive Exhibits

• Adams Family Papers The Massachusetts Historical Society. Includes John Adam's diary and autobiography, as well as correspondence between Abigail and John.
• Early Virginia Religious Petitions. Library of Congress. 423 petitions submitted to the Virginia legislature between 1774 and 1802.
• Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents. Library of Congress. Drafts of the Declaration of Independence.
• Searchable colonial and antebellum newspapers
• From Revolution to Reconstruction

• Southern literature
• Complete texts of famous authors and activists
• Afro Louisiana History and Genealogy Database
• Collection of texts on slavery)
• Digital History: Westward Expansion. University of Houston. Documents relevant to westward expansion.
• Trails to Utah and the Pacific, Diaries and Letters 1846-1869. Library of Congress.  
• Making of America
• Library of Congress daguerreotype collection

• Secession Era Editorials Project. Furman University
• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-38. Library of Congress.
• Treasurenet.com: Historical Image Collection (collection from National Archives)    
• Southern literature
• Collection of texts and cartoons from 19th century issues of Harper's.

Age of Industrialization (1877-1929)

• Chicago Anarchists on Trial: Evidence from the Haymarket Affair, 1886-1887. Library of Congress.
• Women's Suffrage. Library of Congress.
• Women in America 1820-1842
• City of Holyoke, Mass.  
• LABOR: History of Work and Workers
• AFL-CIO Culture and History  
• History at the Department of Labor
• Complete categorized texts of famous authors and activists  

• FDR Cartoon Archive. Niskayuna High School
• America in the 1930's. University of Virginia.
• Franklin Delanor Roosevelt Library and Museum Digital Archive  
• National Archives: New Deal

• Camp Harmony Exhibit. University of Washington Libraries. History of internment of Seattle's Japanese American community.
• War Poster Collection. University of Washington Libraries. Posters from World War I and World War II.

• Sixties Project: Primary Document Archive. Manifestoes from Free Speech Movement, Vietnam Vets Against the War, SNCC, SDS, etc.
• Cold War International History Project.Woodrow Wilson Int'l Center for Scholars.
• Nuclearfiles.org A project of the nuclear age peace foundation
• Summary and analysis of famous films  

• WTO Seattle Collection. University of Washington Libraries.
• University of Southern Mississippi Oral History Index  
• American Enterprise Institute For research of Conservative Movement articles dating back to 1980.  

See this site's WEB GUIDE TO AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY