History: North America: Archival Resources

A primary source database which includes a digital collection of historical documents collected by the FBI. These FBI files provide detailed information on the evolution of AIM as an organization of social protest and the development of Native American radicalism.

Selections from manuscripts, ephemeral material, maps, and printed works relating to frontier life in the American West.

Major collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers and scholars can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, social movements and activism, erotica, and many other interesting topical areas. This growing archival program offers rich research opportunities across a wide span of human history.

Non-fiction writings by major Black American leaders from the 18th century to the present. Includes content such as letters, speeches, essays, interviews, political leaflets, periodicals, and trial transcripts.

“Colonial America will consist of all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series of Colonial Office files held at The National Archives in London, plus all extracted documents associated with them. This unique collection of largely manuscript material from the archives of the British government is an invaluable one for students and researchers of all aspects of seventeenth and eighteenth-century American history and the early-modern Atlantic world.”
Module 1: Early Settlement, Expansion and Rivalries
Module 2: Towards Revolution - focuses on the 1760s through the mid-1770s
Module 3: The American Revolution (scheduled release: August 2017) - charts the upheavals of the 1770s and 1780s

Full-text re-keyed primary sources that document the relationships between people in North America from 1534 to 1850. Includes the perspectives of traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, Indigenous peoples, and officials, both men and women, through sources such as books, letters, diaries, memoirs, and images.

A collection of primary source maps, photos, newspapers, manuscripts, pamphlets, portraits and more. Delve into the lives and history of Indigenous Peoples, British actors and musicians, as well as members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. Includes archived periodicals such as The Economist and The Times.

Includes a wide range of primary resources such as diaries and journals, letters and postcards, scrapbooks and albums, photographs and 360° views of personal items and objects, oral histories, sketches and paintings, sheet music, photographs, war art, cartoons and comics, propaganda and recruiting posters and trench maps.
Module 1: Personal Experiences
Module 2: Propaganda and Recruitment
Module 3: Visual Perspectives and Narratives

Primary source documents from the 17th century to the mid-20th century, covering the regions and colonial frontiers of North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Visual, manuscript and printed materials detailing the history of 15 major global commodities.

Consists of manuscripts, artwork, rare books, photographs, maps, and Indigenous newspapers from the 1960s to the 1990s. These resources document the history of Native North Americans from their first encounters with Europeans through 21st century Indigenous activism. Cross searchable with The American West database.

This resource includes 52 digitized collections of diverse manuscripts, books, periodicals, reports, photographs and newspapers from American and Canadian institutions exploring the political, social and cultural history of Indigenous Peoples and Native-Newcomer relations from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.

Indigenous Peoples of North America, Part II: The Indian Rights Association, 1882-1986, provides a record of the efforts of the first organization to address Native American interests and rights. This collection includes correspondence; organizational records; printed material (including early pamphlets and publications both by the Indian Rights Association and other American Indian and Indian-related organizations); annual reports; draft legislation; administrative files, the papers of Indian Rights Association founder Herbert Welsh, photographs (often from Western field trips), materials from the Council on Indian Affairs, and manuscripts and research notes regarding social and cultural Indian traditions.
Indigenous Peoples of North America, Part II: The Indian Rights Association, 18821986 is available with handwritten text recognition (HTR) technology. This increased search efficiency directs researchers toward relevant material more quickly, saving valuable research time and opening greater research pathways.

Unique primary sources that track the development of the modern, Western world through the lens of history, political science, social conditions, technology and industry, economics, area studies, and more.

Primary source materials about the history of illness and treatment as influenced by wars. Module I, 1850-1927. Module II, 1928-1949.

A collection of personal narratives including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories, providing a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada.

A collection of biographical information on North American indigenous peoples, with over 119,000 pages of diverse content.

A collection of over 150,000 pages of published letters and diaries of women writing in North America.

A collection of English oral history narratives and interviews, plus an index to free online oral histories with links to full-text, audio, or video.

Showcases the development of 'popular' medicine in America during the 19th century, through material aimed at the general public rather than medical professionals.

Primary source materials pertaining to the Civil Rights Movement, segregation, discrimination and racial theory.

An online learning tool for primary source literacy that can be used for classroom-based and online teaching, as well as for independent study.

Covers a broad range of topics relating to the study of human sexuality, its complexity, and its history.

A major resource for historical records of Britain and its former colonies, offering access to official government documents from 1688 to the present. It includes 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st-century papers, plus Hansard debates. The collection originates from the Chadwyck-Healey microfiche edition and includes over 200,000 House of Commons Sessional Papers. The University Library provides access to all HCPP collections, with ongoing releases from current sessions.

Full text of previously classified federal records spanning the 20th and 21st centuries.

A collection of documents, images, and links to other websites, covering the history of women in social movements in the United States.