Primary sources for history

Covers a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history.

The vast majority of the material is unique and unpublished manuscript in the form of correspondence, diaries, land records, and business records.

Includes a variety of material types: monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more--in one cross-searchable location.

A compilation of rare and unique archival collections covering a wide range of fringe political movements.

Primary source documents and reference material including an interactive map, scholarly essays, tutorials, a visual sources gallery, chronology and bibliography.

Primary source materials from the Smithsonian's museums, libraries, and archives.

Documents the revolution and war that created the United States of America, from the earliest protests in 1765 through the peace treaty of 1783. The archive contains a diversity of original documentary material, allowing the reader to examine economics and international relations, contemporary religion and science, and the strategies and battlefield realities of combatants on both sides of the conflict.

This project documents key aspects of the history of slavery in America from its origins in Africa to its abolition, including materials on the slave trade, plantation life, emancipation, pro-slavery and anti-slavery arguments, the religious views on slavery, etc.

The digital archive documents the war's battles and campaigns, political and religious aspects, the experiences of its leaders and common soldiers, the home front and the military campground, from its causes to its consequences. The archive includes personal narratives and memoirs, pamphlets and political speeches, sermons and songs, regimental histories and photograph albums, legal treatises and children's books.

Documents the dynamics of Western trade and wealth that shaped the world from the last half of the 15th century into the beginning of the 20th century. It offers new ways of understanding the expansion of world trade, the Industrial Revolution and the development of modern capitalism. The collection provides full-text searching of an abundance of rare books and primary source materials, including: Monographs; Serials; Political pamphlets and broadsides; Government publications; Proclamations; a wide range of Ephemera; and more.