Libraries: Primary vs Secondary Sources: American History Sources

Historical Databases

You can find these secondary sources through the HCC library. If you're off campus, you will need to sign in using your w# and password.

Note: Some of these databases have collected primary sources - primarily the Gale and MAS databases.

Biography Databases

American National Biography Online
Reference biographies of men and women from all eras and walks of life whose lives have shaped the United States, with illustrations, hyperlinked cross-references, links to select web sites, and search and browse capabilities. (Full text)
Biography Reference Bank
This biographical database offers in-depth profiles from Current Biography and World Authors, the periodical coverage of Biography Index and specialist content of Junior Authors & Illustrators. It provides full-text articles, images and abstracts from today’s leading magazines and journals.

If you experience issues accessing this database, just click here to preview the new EBSCOhost experience!

History Databases

Gale In Context: U.S. History
Uncover information on hundreds of the most significant people, events, and topics in U.S. history from a variety of sources.
Gale OneFile: U.S. History
Search balanced coverage of events in U.S. history. Best for novice historians and academic researchers. Updated daily.
Gale OneFile: World History
Access balanced coverage of events in world history and scholarly work being established in the field.
MAS Complete (Formerly MAS Ultra)
Designed specifically for high school libraries, MAS Complete is a full-text database providing hundreds of popular high school magazines and reference books. It also includes thousands of biographies and primary source documents, plus over a million photos, maps and flags.

If you experience issues accessing this database, just click here to preview the new EBSCOhost experience!
Portal to Texas History
The Portal to Texas History is a gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas. Created and maintained by the University of North Texas Libraries, the Portal leverages the power of hundreds of content partners across the state to provide a vibrant, growing collection of resources.

Images

Pictures of the Revolutionary War
From the National Archives, these are photographic copies of works of art.
Encyclopedia Virginia - Media
Entries are accompanied by primary documents and media objects, including images, audio and visual clips, and virtual tours of historic sites.

Online Collections of Primary Sources

ALA RUSA - Primary Sources for United States History
ALA RUSA - Primary Sources on the Web: Finding, Evaluation, Using
AVALON Project
"Documents in law, history, and diplomacy" from Yale Law School. Browse by time period or search."
Civil Rights Digital Library
"The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s is among the most far-reaching social movements in the nation's history, and it represents a crucial step in the evolution of American democracy. The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. "
The Colored Conventions
From 1830 until well after the Civil War, African Americans gathered across the United States and Canada to participate in political meetings held at the state and national levels. A cornerstone of Black organizing in the nineteenth century, these “Colored Conventions” brought Black men and women together in a decades-long campaign for civil and human rights.
Documented Rights
In this exhibit "Documents in the National Archives give voice to our national struggle for personal rights and freedoms. From the Emancipation Proclamation to the five cases that comprised Brown v. Board of Education, this exhibit features a sampling of documents from all regions of the National Archives."
Making of America : Cornell University Library
"The Cornell University Library Making of America Collection is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction."
A New Nation Votes
"A New Nation Votes is a searchable collection of election returns from the earliest years of American democracy. The data were compiled by Philip Lampi. The American Antiquarian Society and Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives have mounted it online for you with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities."
On the Books: Jim Crow and the Algorithms of Resistance
Discover Jim Crow and racially-based legislation signed into law in North Carolina between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement (1866-1967). This website lists and contextualizes North Carolina segregation laws for educators and researchers interested in Southern and African American History during the Jim Crow era.
Slave Voyages
The Slave Voyages makes publicly accessible records of the largest slave trades in history. Search these records to learn about the broad origins and forced relocations of more than 12 million African people who were sent across the Atlantic in slave ships, and hundreds of thousands more who were trafficked within the Americas. Explore where they were taken, the numerous rebellions that occurred, the horrific loss of life during the voyages, the identities and nationalities of the perpetrators.
World Digital Library
Over 15,000 digitized manuscripts, photos, books, and more covering World History and other subjects in the Social Sciences.

American Government & Presidential Documents

America's Founding Documents
"These three documents, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom, have secured the rights of the American people for more than two and a quarter centuries and are considered instrumental to the founding and philosophy of the United States."
Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
"he papers of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), lawyer, representative from Illinois, and sixteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 40,550 documents dating from 1774 to 1948, although most of the collection spans from the 1850s through Lincoln’s presidency (1861-1865). "
Library of Congress: Digital Collections
National Archives: DocsTeach
The online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives - Includes activities that you can use as well as tools to create new activities.
U.S. Census Bureau
"The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the nation's leading provider of quality data about its people and economy. "
National Archives

Oral Histories

Oral Histories are a recording containing information about the past obtained from in-depth interviews concerning personal experiences, recollections, and reflections and are considered primary sources.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
"In 1964, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library began conducting oral history interviews of people whose lives or work intersected with John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and/or the major events and issues of their times. The John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection now holds roughly 1,300 interviews, while the Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection houses about 275 interviews. Many of the transcripts have been digitized and are available for viewing online."
Library of Congress: September 11, 2001, Documentary Project
"The September 11, 2001 Documentary Project captures the reactions, eyewitness accounts, and diverse opinions of Americans and others in the months that followed the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93. "
Oral Histories of the American South
"Oral Histories of the American South is a three-year project to select, digitize and make available 500 oral history interviews gathered by the Southern Oral History Program (SOHP)."

Primary vs Secondary Sources: American History Sources

Historical Databases

Biography Databases

History Databases

Images

Online Collections of Primary Sources

American Government & Presidential Documents

Oral Histories

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