History: North America: Archival Resources

A broad range of manuscripts, artwork, rare books, photographs, Indigenous newspapers from the 1960s to the 1990s, and maps drawn from the Edward E. Ayer Collection at the Newberry Library in Chicago. These selected resources document the history of Native North Americans from their first encounters with Europeans through 21st century Indigenous activism and highlight both the myths and realities of Indigenous cultural identity and of the West. Cross searchable with The American West database.

A primary source database which includes a digital collection of historical documents collected by the FBI.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 original manuscripts, ephemeral material (trade cards, wanted posters, photos, claim certificates, news-sheets etc), maps, and rare printed works regarding frontier life in the American West, from Texas and Mexico, through the Pacific NorthWest and Canada, including content related to aboriginal history and culture.

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.

“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

Explore History is your gateway to a world-class collection of primary sources maps, photos, newspapers, manuscripts, pamphlets, portraits and more. Explore the lives and history of Indigenous Peoples, British actors and musicians, as well as members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. Check out 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. Includes correspondence, diaries, government papers, business records, land transactions, legal documents, speeches, books, and pamphlets.

Visual, manuscript and printed materials sourced from over 20 key libraries and more than a dozen companies and trade organisations around the world about the history of 15 major commodities.

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 near complete record of the efforts of the first organization to address Native American interests and rights. This collection includes incoming and outgoing correspondence; organizational records; printed material (including early pamphlets and publications both by the Indian Rights Association and other American Indian and Indian-related organizations); Indian Rights Association 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, 1882–1986 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.

Medical Services & Warfare is a collection of digitized primary source materials about the history of illness and treatment as influenced by wars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Module I, 1850-1927. Module II, 1928-1949.

This unique collection showcases the development of 'popular' medicine in America during the nineteenth century, through an extensive range of material that was aimed at the general public rather than medical professionals. Explore an array of printed sources, including rare books, pamphlets, trade cards, and visually-rich advertising ephemera.

Race Relations in America is a collection of digitized primary source materials on the Civil Rights Movement, segregation, discrimination and racial theory. Based at Fisk University from 1943-1970, the Race Relations Department and its annual Institute were set up by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict.

AM Research Methods, formerly Research Methods Primary Sources, is an online learning tool for primary source literacy that can be used in classroom-based and online teaching, as well as for independent study.

Sex & Sexuality covers a broad range of topics and is drawn from leading archives around the world. From papers of leading sexologists, to LGBTQI+ personal histories, the collection is an essential resource for the study of human sexuality, its complexities and its history.

U.K. Parliamentary Papers constitutes a major resource for the historical record of Britain, its former colonies including Canada and the United States, and the wider world. It facilitates researchers exploration of the British perspective on historical and contemporary events through a vast and authoritative archive of official government documents from 1688 to the present. Through U.K. Parliamentary Papers, researchers can seamlessly access the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st century papers, plus the Hansard parliamentary debates.

The origins of the online U.K. Parliamentary Papers are found in the Chadwyck-Healey microfiche edition of the nineteenth century House of Commons Sessional Papers (Murray Library Government Publications Stacks at: UK1 XD 1: P16), and the accompanying five volume print index: Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1801-1900, which was the first thematic listing of the complete set of parliamentary papers (Murray Library Government Publications Stacks at: UK7 CH :1988S71). HCPP brings these two resources together for the 19th century, unlocking 100 years of policy making, investigation, correspondence and reporting for researchers of all kinds. Microfiche for the twentieth century (107,965 papers, over 5.2 million pages) was subsequently produced, and scanning continues, taking coverage right up to the latest parliamentary session. HCPP includes over 200,000 House of Commons Sessional Papers for the period 1715 to the present. The resource also incorporates The Eighteenth Century Parliamentary Papers Collection from the British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service (BOPCRIS).

The University Library has purchased and provides access to all of the HCPP collections:
18th century (1688-1834)
19th century (1801-1900)
20th century (1901-2003/04 session)
21st century module 1 (2004/05 2009/10 sessions)
21st century module 2 (2010/12 2013/14 sessions)
Hansard (1803-2005)
There will be ongoing regular releases of papers from current sessions of Parliament

Formerly House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.