The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world.
The DPLA contains metadata records—information describing an item—for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Each record links to the original object on the content provider’s website. The DPLA currently contains over 5 million records.
Collections with Items from the American Revolution
Sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, this collection of documents brings to life American history from the times of the earliest settlers until the end of World War II.
It is divided into two modules: Module 1 Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 and Module 2 Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945. Over 60,000 primary source documents split across two modules, including correspondence, diaries, government documents, business records, books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, photographs, artwork and maps. Secondary resources include chronology, essays, video lectures, and interactive features.
Gale Primary Sources searches 18th Century Collections Online (ECCO), 19th Century Collections Online (NCCO), the Making of the Modern World, and Sabin Americana.
Gale enhances the story by combining collections and bringing to the surface new research connections across several centuries—and millions of pages of—newspapers, books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs. Coverage: 1500-1926
Covers over 1,100 periodicals that first begin publishing between 1740 and 1900. The journals cover three broad periods: 89 journals published between 1740 and 1800 offer insights into America's transition from a British colony to an independent nation; more than 900 titles from the first 60 years of the nineteenth century showcase "the golden age of American periodicals;" 118 periodicals published during the Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877) eras.
Deriving from the acclaimed American Periodicals Series microform collection, APS Online features over 1,100 periodicals spanning nearly 200 years-from colonial times to the advent of American involvement in World War I. Titles range from America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal, and include coverage of literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and general interest magazines. Coverage: 1740-1900
Gale NewsVault searches across a range of historical newspaper and periodical collections. It includes over ten million page images spanning four hundred years.
Coverage: 1604-2006
Contains the complete paper cover-to-cover of every issue, with full-page and article images in PDF format. Includes photos, maps, graphics, advertisements, classified ads and obituaries, comics, and political cartoons.
Coverage of the Los Angeles Times with particularly strong coverage in the following areas: in-depth analysis of the development of California and the Pacific Rim; focus on immigration issues and the development of the American West; the early days of the film industry; and unique coverage of Native American culture and society. Coverage: 1881-1986
Offers fully searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900.
The digital American Broadsides and Ephemera is a comprehensive historical collection of primary source materials that range from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters, to official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports. Ephemera includes clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, bill heads, theater and music programs, stock certificates, menus, and invitations documenting civic, political and private celebrations. Coverage: 1760-1900
The Archive of Americana features over 1,375 newspaper titles from all 50 states, more than 100,000 books, broadsides and pamphlets, essential collections of U.S. government publications and more from the following collections: Early American Imprints: Series I: Evans, 1639-1800; Early American Imprints: Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819; American Broadsides and Ephemera; America's Historical Newspapers; American State Papers, 1789-1838; and U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980.
The digital Archive of Americana is a comprehensive historical collection of primary source materials that offer opportunities for students and scholars to make original discoveries and new findings on nearly every aspect of United States history, culture and daily life across three centuries. Coverage: 1639-1980
Daily Congressional news from the National Journal and Congress Daily, Congressional working papers and legislation, information about Congress members, and more
You get complete and thorough access to the full text of congressional working papers and legislation. Plus you get access to a wide variety of information about Congress, including member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, financial data, and the full text of the Congressional Record. In addition, you gain access to the full text of key regulatory and statutory resources. Includes: Daily Congressional News from the National Journal and Congress Daily; Congressional Hearings; Committee Reports; Bills; Committee Prints; Congressional Record; Federal Register; Code of Federal Regulations; Current U.S. Code; Public Laws; and daily Congressional news.
African American Archives provides over one million pages of original historical documents pertaining to the African American experience.
The earliest materials in this collection come from Essential Records Concerning Slavery and Emancipation from the Danish West Indies (1672-1917). There are several other slavery-related collections, including letters, account books, annual reports, and news clippings. Other collections include civil war records, Military Intelligence Division (MID) files relating to "Negro Subversion," Southern Claims Commission records, Court Slave Records for DC, and much more. Files contain detailed narrative accounts of subjects' activities and include information about families, occupations, and general activities.
This collection was developed with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) as part of an effort to preserve serials related to African American religious life and culture.
The African American Historical Serials Collection documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922. Includes more than 170 unique titles, approximately 60,000 pages of searchable primary source content, and reports and annuals from African American religious organizations and social service agencies, as well as African American periodicals.
American Indian Histories and Cultures is a wide-ranging digital resource presenting a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact.
The collection continues through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century. Explore the consequent political, social and cultural impact on American Indian life against the backdrop of an ever-expanding western frontier through a wealth of rare original documents, including: manuscripts, artwork, photographs, maps, printed materials and newspapers as well as other key features to support research and teaching.
Thematic areas include: American Indians and the European Powers; Indigenous Peoples of Mexico; American Indians and the US Government; Military Encounters: Conflicts, Rebellions and Alliances; Observation, Representation and Cultural Encounters; Missionaries and Education; Trade and Indian Economies; Civil Rights Movement; and First Nations of Canada.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries (NWLD) includes the immediate experiences of 1,017 women, as revealed in approximately 150,000 pages of diaries and letters, including 7,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts. The material is drawn from more than 1,000 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings.
The collection includes more than 150,000 pages of primary materials spanning more than 300 years. The database can be used for research in women's studies, history, sociology, literature, genealogy, and other fields.
This archive presents materials covering the social, political, and professional aspects of women's lives and offers a look at the roles, experiences, and achievements of women in society.
Pulling from a wide range of primary sources, including manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more, they provide a close look at some of the pioneers of women's history, a deep dive into the issues that have affected women, and the many contributions they have made to society. Within the archive can be found fascinating historical records from Europe, North and South America, Africa, India, East Asia, and the Pacific Rim with content in English, French, German, and Dutch.
Commercial and governmental news, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries. This collection of video online currently provides access to 5,741 titles, equaling approximately 1450 hours.
As a biographical resource, American History in Video includes hundreds of profiles of American leaders and personalities. As an encyclopedia of history, it provides footage of seminal historic events. Coverage: 1500s-present
The collection currently contains over three million images, including the following collections:
The Art History Survey Collection
The Carnegie Arts of the United States Collection
The Hartill Archive of Architecture and Allied Arts
The Huntington Archive of Asian Art
The Illustrated Bartsch (Old Master European prints from the 15th to the 19th centuries)
The Mellon International Dunhuang Archive (images of wall paintings and sculpture from Buddhist cave shrines in Dunhuang , China )
The MoMA Architecture and Design Collection
Native American Art and Culture from the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
ARTstor provides curated collections of art images and associated data for noncommercial and scholarly, non-profit educational use. ARTstor's definition of art is encompassing. It includes architecture, painting, photography, prints, drawings, sculpture, decorative arts and design, as well as archeological and anthropological objects. ARTstor also provides software tools to enable active use of the images. The tools support a wide range of uses including analyzing images, saving groups of images online, and creating and delivering presentations both online and offline.
Coverage: Prehistory to the present
