United States History Chronological and Thematic Listing

Gateway sites chosen by the OWH reference librarians for authority and quality of content.

Colonial
• Africans in America
  Expands the PBS series with a variety of navigation choices, including people and documents.

Revolutionary
• Massachusetts Historical Society
  A variety of manuscripts with transcriptions, engravings, maps, online exhibitions and seasonally themed displays makes this a great site to browse as well as search for specific documents. Repository for the Adams Papers.

Nation Building
• Do History
  Uses Doctor Martha Ballard's A Midwife's Tale: the life of Martha Ballard, based on her diary, 1785-1812 to study primary sources. Use this site to investigate New England history and use of primary sources in research. Makes a fascinating book even more interesting. The award-winning book is in the OWHL collection.
• Monticello: The Home of Thomas Jefferson
  Much more detail here than floor plans, including the daily life on the plantation of both slaves and free workers.

Antebellum/Abolition

• Abolition
  A Library of Congress online exhibition from the African-American Mosaic, this site contains a number of primary sources and links to more information.
• The Amistad Case
  A lesson plan which explores the Amistad Revolt of 1839-1842 through court documents, diaries and other primary sources at the National Archives.
• Documenting the American South
  This University of North Carolina site contains colonial to early 20th Century southern Literature and history including first person narratives. slave narratives, Civil War homefront and church in the southern black community.
• Gold Rush! Calilfornia's Untold Stories
  There are a variety of online exhibits here focusing on the environment, ethnic groups and women during the California Gold Rush which began in 1848. Life in the camps is explained through narratives and artifacts, both of which are carefully documented. There are various ways to navigate through the site depending on your area of interest.
• Making of America
  A collection of primary sources covering the ante-bellum period through the reconstruction. A joint venture by the University of Michigan and Cornell University.
• Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture: A Multimedia Archive
  A multimedia archive from the University of Virginia and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, CT, this site contains images, films, audio and text describing not only the anti-slavery response to Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin but also the impact on the popular culture from 1830-1930. Use the "Interpret Mode" button for a timeline and overview essays.

Civil War
• Nineteenth Century Documents Project
  Primary source documents from some of the United states most notable events of the 19th century. Includes: editorials, the 1850 Statistical Almanac, civil war documents, letters, transcripts of debates, and a selection of related links for more information.
• African-American Women On-line Archival Collections
  Duke University manuscripts from its special collection library have been scanned and placed on line to give an unparalled look at African-American life during and after slavery. They are: Elizabeth Johnson Harris: Life Story, born in 1867 to former slaves, Vilet Lester Letter, 1857, and Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson: Slave Letters.
• The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War
  A University of Virginia site which tells the story of the Civil War as seen by the people of two communities, one northern and one southern, Franklin County, Pennsylvania and Augusta County, Virginia. The site contains letters and diaries, newspapers, church, military and public records, maps, and other primary sources.

Reconstruction
• The African-American Mosaic

A Library of Congress exhibition including the American Colonization Society to send freed slaves to Liberia, abolition, migration and materials from the WPA.
• Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World
  Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina has documented the change of life style and economy after the Civil War.

Gilded Age
• 1896: the presidential campaign--cartoons and commentary
  A Vassar history faculty member and several students produced this site which includes cartoons, platforms and background. A good example of use of the web as a teaching and learning tool.
• Gilded Age and Progressive Era Resources
  General resources on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Links to statistics, culture and society from 1880 to the Great War.
• Thomas A. Edison Papers
  A huge archive at Rutgers University from the inventor with over a thousand patents in his name, including the telephone and motion picture projector.

Progressive Era

• The Emma Goldman Papers
  A nicely organized site from the University of California at Berkeley, unfortunately only samples of her life and work are here along with a request for money.

 

World War I

• AFS
  PA alum Alan Albright's site dedicated to the American volunteers in France who drove ambulances. He writes: "Phillips Academy was the only secondary school to send an ambulance unit to France (April 1917)! And later, it was very much involved in AFS's post WWII efforts to promote high school student exchanges. During the '40's, possibly as a tip of the hat to PA's 1917 involvement, an AFS French exchange student was always assigned to Andover." An excerpt from Claude Fuess' Andover in the Great War is here. The library owns this book.
• The Great War, PBS Series
  Includes interviews with historians, maps, images and a timeline.
• World War I Document Archive
  A massive collection of World War I primary documents compiled by members of the WWI-L, a history listserv. Treaties, images and documents by year are some of the many categories to search.
• World War I Reference Library
  Contains a small poster collection.

Interwar and the Great Depression

• By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943

Search or browse from this main page, or look at the Collection Highlights.
• New Deal Network:The Great Depression, the 1930's and the Roosevelt Administration
  A huge archive of letters, speeches, government documents, images and special exhibits. Read the helpful information on the search engine page to make the best use of this resource.

World War II
• Ad•Access
  A selected look at popular culture through advertising, primarily in the United States, from 1911-1955, in 5 areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II using the files of the J. Walter Thompson Competitive Advertisements Collection (clipping files of their competitors' ads).
• The Decision To Evacuate the Japanese From the Pacific Coast
  Chapter 5 of a 1958 military report by Stetson Conn.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Digital Archives
  A huge digital archive of documents, speeches and photographs relating to the FDR presidency, including diplomatic correspondence to Britain, Germany and the Vatican. Citation information is provided.
• Historic Government Publications from World War II: a digital library
  Southern Methodist University's interface lets you search or browse an alphabetical contents list. Advanced searching lets you search by keyword or [Library of Congress] subject heading. Some fine tuning may be necessary, as a subject search for "propaganda" brought up "protective clothing."
• Navajo Code Talkers of World War II
  Department of Defense fact sheet with links to a Code Talkers Dictionary and Native American Medal of Honor winners.
• Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers and Broadcasters during World War II
  A Library of Congress exhibition focusing on the lives of eight women (Therese Bonney Toni Frissell Marvin Breckinridge Patterson Clare Boothe Luce Janet Flanner Esther Bubley Dorothea Lange May Craig ) with examples of their work.

  

Cold War Era
• Cold War International History Project
  CWIHP, from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., "disseminates new information and perspectives on the history of the Cold War, in particular new findings from previously inaccessible sources on "the other side" -- the former Communist world. " Browse by topics or use the search engine on the left side.
• The Literature and Culture of the American 1950's
  A University of Pennsylvania English Course by Professor Alan Filreis, this site has a very thorough and interesting reading list with related links.
• Truman Presidential Museum and Library
  Documents include 500 interviews from HST contemporaries.

Vietnam War Era
• The Sixties Project
  This UVA site focuses on the Vietnam War and contains a number of primary documents plus issues of the VIET NAM GENERATION. Though not updated in several years, it is worth a long visit.
• The Wars for Vietnam: 1945-1975
  This Vassar College site contains an overview, historical documents and additional links.

Contemporary
• Sweatshop Watch
  This site contains both domestic and global information on sweatshops.

  

THEMES

Propaganda

• World War I Reference Library
  Contains a small poster collection.

United States Foreign Policy

• Foreign Relations of the United States 1945-1968
  The Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State has combined documents from the Truman through Johnson administrations from a variety of government sources. Only some are available online, and some external links may not work. See the librarian to find additional resources.
• Foreign Relations of the United States 1900-1918
  The University of Wisconsin has taken a different approach with FRUS and made an outstanding digitized database which can be searched for a single word, as well as browsed chronologically. Additional search forms for Boolean and Proximity searching.

Women

• Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection 1848-1921
  Part of the Library of Congress American Memory collection, there are 167 primary documents here, an easy-to-navigate interface, a timeline and more. Use the Learning Page for some critical thinking exercises on a variety of themes.
• Women and Social Movements in the United States 1775-2000
  "Organized around a collection of almost 900 primary documents, the Women and Social Movements website offers new ways for students, teachers, and scholars to study American History." Browse through the excellent PROJECTS section for history paper topic ideas.