American History: Internet Resources

Documents for the study of American history.

Begun in 2007, the National Portal is a massive, multiyear project to provide information on 4,000 historical sites, including easily searchable online access to digital images and descriptions of millions of artifacts housed in the collections of American museums, historical societies, National Parks, and other institutions across the country.

American Memory is a gateway to the Library of Congress’s vast resources of digitized American historical materials. Comprising more than 9 million items that document U.S. history and culture, American Memory is organized into more than 100 thematic collections based on their original format, their subject matter, or who first created, assembled, or donated them to the Library.

Best of History Web Sites, created by EdTechTeacher Inc, is an award-winning portal that contains annotated links to over 1200 history web sites, history lesson plans, history teacher guides, history activities, history games, history quizzes, and more.

PBS’ mission is to create content that educates, informs and inspires. To do this, PBS offers programming that expands the minds of children,documentaries that open up new worlds, non-commercialized news programs that keep citizens informed on world events and cultures and programs that expose America to the worlds of music, theater, dance and art.

Welcome to the new VoS. Started in 1994 as a suite of static Web pages, VoS has now been rebuilt as a database that Old VoS: Dec. 1994 to Oct. 2001serves content dynamically on the Web. Users gain greater flexibility in viewing and searching, while editors are able to work more efficiently and flexibly.

The Avalon Project will mount digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government. We do not intend to mount only static text but rather to add value to the text by linking to supporting documents expressly referred to in the body of the text.

Browse these guides of suggested online primary source collections on the open Web.

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented. Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later. Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are available in original format, in microfilm/microfiche, in digital format, or in published format. Primary sources can be found in nearly all of Yale's twenty-two libraries as well as at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Yale Art Gallery.

Beginning with the Continental Congress in 1774, America's national legislative bodies have kept records of their proceedings. The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress make up a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation and the development of the federal government and its role in the national life. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.

The American State Papers, comprising a total of thirty-eight physical volumes, contain 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.

Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress

Topics include; Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877; Abraham Lincoln; Civil War; and Slavery and Abolition

The exhibition features letters, diaries, photos, maps, petitions, receipts, patents, amendments, and proclamations.

A look at some of the highlights of how the North and the South gathered and used their information, the important missions, and the personalities. From this special view, the focus is not on the battlefield, but on a battle of wits.

Research in Military Records: Civil War

The Selected Civil War Photographs Collection contains 1,118 photographs. Most of the images were made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady, and include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects. The collection also includes portraits of both Confederate and Union officers, and a selection of enlisted men.

Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material related to World War I, including photographs, documents, newspapers, films, sheet music, and sound recordings. This guide compiles links to World War I resources throughout the Library of Congress Web site.

Overview of World War I.

World War I Records

The causes, events and people of the conflict dubbed the 'war to end all wars'.

This guide gathers in one place links to World War II related resources throughout the Library of Congress Web site.

“Code Talkers,” as they came to be known after World War II, are twentieth-century American Indian warriors and heroes who significantly aided the victories of the United States and its allies.

The pictures described in this list are from the holdings of the Still Picture Branch (NNSP) of the National Archives and Records Administration. Most are from the records of the Army Signal Corps in Record Group (RG) 111, the Department of the Navy in RG 80, the Coast Guard in RG 26, the Marine Corps in RG 127, and the Office of War Information in RG 208. Others were selected from the records of 12 additional agencies.

SecondWorldWarHistory.com is a concise look into the significant and those seemingly not-so-significant events that made up the greatest conflict of the 20th Century. Events are offered up in consecutive order by day, date and war year as they happened.

The causes, events and people of the most destructive war in history.

Books & Web Sites About: Korean War

Contents: The Two Koreas; The Korean War and the Cold War; "No Substitute for Victory"?; The Korean War Reaches a Stalemate; Casualties of the Korean War

Military Resources: Korean War

Books & Web Sites About: Vietnam War

Research in Military Records: Vietnam War

Contents: Roots of the Vietnam War; Vietnam War: U.S.; Intervention Begins; Vietnam War Escalates; Strategy of Attrition in Vietnam; Impact of the Tet Offensive on Vietnam War; Vietnam War Ends: From Vietnamization to Withdrawal
Legacy of the Vietnam War

Books & Web Sites About: Persian Gulf War

Of all the policy successes during this era, the Department of State and President Bush are most clearly associated with the successful effort to roll back the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

An in-depth examination of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf Crisis.

Military Resources: Gulf War/Desert Storm

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Department of State

This page was last updated in March 2009 and is archived. There are about 14,000 documents and articles on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan listed and linked to here. For years to come this site should remain one the very best resource sites on these two wars.

Thanks to a major gift from the Citigroup Foundation, the Library launched a five-year effort to add rare and unique items from the Library's vast African-American collections to the National Digital Library.

As the only surviving USO built exclusively for African American soldiers that remains in the United States, the Museum is a cultural and historic landmark, as well as, a place of pride for many in the Pine Belt.

Chronological Topics: Slavery, Abolition, Reconstruction, Segregation and Black Migration, Civil Rights

Articles, videos, images, speeches

The National Park Service celebrates African American Heritage throughout the year. Visit a multitude of park sites dedicated to African American history and culture. View Museum exhibits, go on a travel intineary, or read indepth histories and interviews of famous African Americans and how they shaped the United States.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database has 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.

Tuskegee Institute NHS preserves and tells the history of what is now Tuskegee University. This includes the lives of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. The George Washington Carver museum and the "Oaks" the home of Booker T. Washington are part of the site.

Collections and Exhibitions

Articles, videos, photo galleries

Since the passage of its enabling legislation in 1989 (amended in 1996), the NMAI has been steadfastly committed to bringing Native voices to what the museum writes and presents, whether on-site at one of the three NMAI venues, through the museum's publications, or via the Internet. The NMAI is also dedicated to acting as a resource for the hemisphere's Native communities and to serving the greater public as an honest and thoughtful conduit to Native cultures—present and past—in all their richness, depth, and diversity.

Since 1995, the American Indian Heritage Foundation has been dedicated to, Serving the Tribes, While Sharing the Culture.

The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history and strives to apply the lessons of history to the nation’s most pressing contemporary governance challenges.

Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire.

Biographies of U.S. presidents.

Includes: Briefing Room, Issues, The Administration, About the White House, Our Government

This database provides access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States. These diverse collections range from Ancestral Pueblo pottery to interviews with women engineers from the 1970s.

Biographies of U.S. First Ladies.

Spotlights eight women who succeeded in "coming to the front" during the war.