What are these sources?
This page recommends collections of sources likely to be of particular use for HIS 375.1 Aspects of War: The Civil War and Reconstruction. There are many such collections available freely on the Web. In general, it's better to look initially for a broad category (e.g. Florida history primary sources) than for a specific name or event. Once you've located a useful collection using Google or another search engine, you can use that site's search tools to locate more specific information.
Newspaper Databases
- Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new windowFull text access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the Civil War, African-American culture and history, and Western migration, among others.
- Historical New York TimesContains full text of The New York Times from 1851 to 2002 - an excellent place to find primary sources for your topic.
- Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
With over 12 million articles available, the archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest, including business, humanities, political science, and philosophy, along with coverage of all major international historical events.
- Chronicling AmericaThis collection of newspaper pages from 1836 to 1922 is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
- Wikipedia: List of Online Newspaper Archives - United StatesThis Wikipedia entry provides a useful list of online newspaper archives in the U.S.
Sources in U.S. History on the Web
- The Library of Congress - American MemoryThis resource from the Library of Congress contains multiple collections featuring millions of historical photos, maps, documents, letters, speeches, recordings, videos, prints, and other materials.
- Documenting the American SouthA digital publishing initiative from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that provides access to twelve thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs related to southern history, literature, and culture.
- Historical Census BrowserFrom the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center. Using data drawn directly from historical volumes of the U.S. Census of Population and Housing, this site allows you to search and map characteristics from US Census data from 1790 to 1960.
- Sources in U.S. History: The Civil WarThis digital collection contains nearly personal narratives, monographs, regimental histories, collected essays, sermons, songs, legal tracts, and political speeches of the Civil War era.
- Oberlin College Anti-Slavery Collection (via Internet Achive)Oberlin has made a large portion of their anti-slavery collection freely available through the Internet Archive. The collection covers the moral, religious, economic, political, and legal aspect of the slavery debate as expressed in pamphlets, newspapers, and books (including children's literature). It is searchable via the search tool for all the Internet Archive content; to limit your search to this collection, enter "collection:oberlincollege AND [your topic]" into the search box.
Primary Sources in Reference Books
American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and journals by Call Number: Reference CT214 .A75 1983An index of published diaries. Many of the items indexed here will not be found in the Rollins collection, but are likely to be available through interlibrary loan.Volume 1 indexes diaries written from 1492 to 1844; volume 2 indexes diaries written from 1845 to 1980.- Historic DocumentsCall Number: Reference Overflow E 839.5.H57 (1st Floor)Multiple volumes from 1972 – present, plus Index
