United States of America (History)
This Web page provides links to materials that can be used for doing research on the History of the U.S. (American History). It is not comprehensive. Much useful material for history is found in books. Additional resources (articles, etc.) are identified in the bibliographies of these books. Track these resources down for thorough research. See "identifying books" for subject terms used in library catalogs for the history of the United States of America. That said, there is a growing amount of useful research material, including primary resources, on the Web and through proprietary (a library purchases them) databases; a number of these are linked to here.
Timelines | Summaries, Artifacts & Documents (Primary Sources)| Presidents, First Ladies, White House | Reference Books on US History | Identifying Books | Personal Accounts | Indexes and Abstracts | National Representatives & Politicians | U.S. at War | State Governors | Other
Timelines
American History Timeline. Smithsonian. New World to the present.
Flag Timeline. Betsy Ross. Independence Hall Association. Philadelphia.
From Revolution to Reconstruction: An Outline of American History (1994). Alfa-Informatica. Department of Humanities Computing. Groningen, The Netherlands.
Timeline of U.S. Diplomatic History. U.S. Department of State Electronic Archive. Grouped by eras.
Summaries, Artifacts, & Documents (Primary Sources)
America's Story from America's Library. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.
Meet amazing Americans, jump back in time, explore the states, etc. Aimed at a young audience, but it has a lot of information of use to all ages and types of researchers.
American Memory. Library of Congress.
Search for American images by people, places time, topics, and events. Excellent resource for primary research documents.
American State Papers, 1789-1838. CSU affiliates only.
Government materials. Shows scanned images of printed materials. View page by page.
Serial Set: U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980. CSU affiliates only.
Government materials. Shows scanned images of printed materials. View page by page.
Early American Imprints. Series I Evans 1639-1800. CSU affiliates only. Sponsored by Irene Bostrom Endowment in the College of Liberal Arts.
Evans contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over a 160-year period. It contains more than 36,000 printed works and 2.3 million pages. The type of work has a wide range and includes a wide variety of 17th- and 18th-century imprints, such as advertisements, almanacs, bibles, broadsides, catalogs, charters and by-laws, contracts, cookbooks, elegies, eulogies, laws, maps, narratives, novels, operas, pamphlets, plays, poems, primers, sermons, songs, speeches, textbooks, tracts, travelogues, treaties and more. These are valuable primary research materials.
The online collection may be searched by subject and browsed by genre, subjects, author, history of printing, place of publication and language. Topics covered include agriculture, astronomy, auctions, capital punishment, child rearing, commerce, constitution, diseases, education, foreign affairs, French & Indian wars, geography, Latin, lotteries, masonry, medicine, military operations, missionaries, operas, religious thought, revolutionary war, slavery, suffrage, temperance, trials, witchcraft, women, work, yellow fever and more.
National Museum of American History. Smithsonian.
Virtual exhibitions (flash player required for some exhibits; some exhibits require a browser history to get out of), timelines, more. Most of the site promotes resources at the museum.
AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History. Lynn Nelson, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Kansas. Maintained by George Laughead Jr.
Letters from the fifteenth century to the present.
Making of America. University of Michigan Digital Library Text Collections. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
"Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. . . . The collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints." Search by keyword or subject browse, use Boolean operators or proximity search. Browse by broad topic. Search books and/or articles. View results page by page. Two collections, see below.
Making of America. Cornell University. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
"Materials accessible here are Cornell University Library's contributions to Making of America (MOA), a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. . . . This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints." Search books and/or journals. Browse by journal title. Narrow by year (currently 1815-1926). Do Boolean, proximity, frequency, bibliographic (author or title), or index search. Two collections, see above.
WWW-VL History. United States. The World Wide Virtual Library. The University of Kansas.
Listing by topic and chronological. Extensive. Links to sites all over. (See also History from all over.)
Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Gary E. Moulton.University of Nebraska.
Annotated text of the journals of Lewis and Clark. Includes related materials and links to other sites that have information about the expedition.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
Primary source materials. 1855-1875. The collection includes approximately 100,000 pages of published memoirs, letters and diaries from individuals.
The Gilded Age. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
The Gilded Age covers topics that include "[i]mmigration and migration, racism and civil rights, labor and industry, women and universal suffrage, American Indians, and the environment." The collection contains "40,000 pages of full text, photographs, songs for listening online, and other primary materials, along with video interviews and twenty-five critical documentary essays. Each documentary essay poses an interpretive question and then illuminates it with dozens of annotated primary documents, introductions, and essays." Items in this database range from primary sources that were created in 1865 to contemporary (as in 2007) scholarship.
Black Thought and Culture. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
Primary source materials. 1700-1975. Non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. "Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, letters and other fugitive material. The collection also includes biographical essays by leading scholars and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database."
Early Encounters in North America; Peoples, Cultures and the Environment. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
Primary source materials. 1534-1850. The database includes prints, drawings, paintings, maps, bibliographies, letters, photographs, and original facsimile pages.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
Primary source materials. Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories.
North American Indian Biographical Database. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
Materials from the 17th century to the present. More than biographies, it includes the text of treaties, images, related documents, and more.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
Primary source materials. Colonial to 1950. Diaries and letters of 1017 North American women.
Veteran’s History Project. Library of Congress.
Oral histories of veterans. Some material (transcripts, videos) is available online. Check Digitized Collection box in order to find these. If you know specifics, you can search them: name of verteran/civilian, service location, service unit/ship, highest rank, etc. Search by conflict or era (World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and/or Other); limit by branch of service (Air Force, Army, Army Air Forces/Corps, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Merchant Marine, Navy, Civilian, Other Branches); indicate whether or not prisoner of war, gender, digitized collection, and/or transcript. [This entry repeated below in U.S. at War section.]
Reference Books on US History
All of the materials listed here are available online to CSU affiliates. Some of them have print versions, found in the Morgan Library Reference collection.
American Decades. 10 vols. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994- . E169.12 .A419 1994 Reference (Also online via the Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.) 20th century.
American Decades: Primary Sources. 10 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Online via the Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Colonial America Reference Library. 6 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2000. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Dictionary of American History. 3rd ed. 10 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. E174 .D52 2003 Reference (Also online via the Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.)
U*X*L American Decades. 11 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2003. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates. 20th century.
Identifying Books in SAGE, the library catalog
Do a Subject search for these terms in SAGE (and Prospector). Note the divisions by years and major events. Social conditions are an important part of any historical research. After doing a search for the terms, also look at their subdivisions (i.e. United States History 1933-1945 Sources):
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To find items on a specific aspect of U.S. history, do a Word search for United States and that topic or United States and history and that topic. For example:
- United States and slavery
- United States and suffrage
- United States and history and agriculture
- United States and history and children
- United States and history and music
Items may be requested from other libraries in Prospector, the Colorado Union Catalog, by Colorado State University affiliates (establish a PIN in SAGE first).
Personal Accounts of Events (Primary Sources)
Personal accounts (primary sources) of events can be identified with the subdivision "Personal Narratives." Some of these are diaries or other forms of journals. Some are memoirs. For example:
- United States History French and Indian War, 1755-1763 Personal narratives
- United States History Revolution, 1775-1783 Personal narratives
- Mexican War, 1846-1848 Personal narratives
- United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives
- United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives, Confederate Side
- Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863 Personal narratives
- [state] History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives
- Indians of North America Wars 1866-1895 Personal narratives
- Little Bighorn, Battle of the, Mont., 1876 Personal narratives
- Wounded Knee Massacre, S.D., 1890 Personal narratives.
- Spanish-American War, 1898 Personal narratives
- World War, 1914-1918 Personal narratives
- World War 1939-1945 Personal Narratives
- World War 1939-1945 Personal Narratives American
- Korean War, 1950-1953 Personal narratives, American
- Vietnam War 1961-1975 Personal Narratives American
- Persian Gulf War 1991 Personal Narratives American
- September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 Personal narratives
- Iraq War 2003 Personal Narratives
- Iraq War 2003 Personal Narratives American
Many diaries are found under the name of the individual diarist, but they can also be identified collectively by profession, religious group, or geographical area. For example:
- Adams John Quincy 1767 1848 Diaries
- Pioneers West U S Diaries
- Prisoners of War United States Diaries
- Sailors United States Diaries
- Soldiers United States Diaries
- Washington, George, 1732-1799 Diaries.
Letters are found under correspondence. For example:
- Abolitionists United States Correspondence
- Adams Abigail 1744-1818 Correspondence
- Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962 Correspondence.
- Presidents Spouses United States Correspondence
- Presidents United States Correspondence
- Soldiers United States Correspondence
Do a subject search for American letters and American diaries for collected works with commentaries.
Indexes and Abstracts
Identify articles by topic in these sources (these indexes are Step 1 of how to find articles). Some indexes have citations only and others have full text materials.
America, History & Life. 1954- . 1964- online via "Databases." Only one CSU user at a time.
Z 1236 .A48 Reference South (1954-1994).
America: History & Life is a useful index for identifying articles and books to do with U.S. history.
LexisNexis Congressional. CIS. Legislative Histories (1970-present). CSU affiliates only.
Has information on U.S. and state government laws, codes, and statues. Find publications, bills, laws, regulations, members, committees, etc. Links to all kinds of governmental information. LexisNexis Academic locates materials on legal cases.
Historical Abstracts. 1954- . Only one CSU user at a time. Printed version D 299 .H5 Reference South (covers history in years 1775-1945).
History of Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania after 1500. Subject term for United States is: USA.
Humanities Index. 1974-March 1999. AI 3 .I495 Reference South
Abstracting for core journals in the humanities, including many history titles.
JSTOR. Articles at least 3-5 years old. CSU affiliates only.
Full text articles from broad range of subject areas, including history. Search for words in title, author, abstract, or full text. Be certain to select area(s) of journals to complete a search. (E.g. History, African-American Studies.)
Project MUSE. Various starting dates. CSU affliates only.
Full text articles from the humanities and social sciences, including over forty history journals.
See also The History Cooperative. You must be on a CSU computer to access reviews (or via your own library's computer--if it has purchased access). CSU affiliates may validate remotely via one of the title's SAGE record. Otherwise you will not be able to see the reviews.
Presidents, First Ladies, White House
POTUS (Presidents of the United States). Internet Public Library.
This site has "background information, election results, cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of the presidents. Links to biographies, historical documents, audio and video files, and other presidential sites are also included."
Portraits of Presidents and First Ladies.
Images of presidents and their families.
Bibliographical (and biographical) information about first ladies.
Official home page of the first family residence.
National Representatives & Politicians
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Summary biographical information on Congressional politicians from 1774 to the present. Search by name, position, party, state, and/or year/congress. Bibliography.
U.S. House of Representatives.
Includes summaries of floor and committee actions for last 3 legislative days, floor schedule for the week,
directory of e-mail addresses, links to member and congressional member organization home pages.
Links to committee and member home pages, a directory of e-mail addresses, Daily Calendar of Business,
and general information about the Senate and the legislative process.
Political Graveyard: A Database of Historic Cemeteries. Lawrence Kestenbaum.
Includes biographical information as well as "where they are buried." Politicians, judges, diplomats. Many ways to search--alphabetical,
year born/died, awards, religion, how died/killed, etc.
U.S. at War
This section on the US at war has a mixture of free Web sources and proprietary resources available only to CSU affiliates (so noted).
See also World War I, which has a large number of materials specifically related to that war (subject headings, Web sites, reference materials, links to primary documents, etc.).
Military timelines. Enormous number of links under "Military History Links."
American Civil War Reference Library. 5 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2000. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
The American Civil War Homepage. George H. Hoemann. University of Tennessee.
Numerous links to a wide variety of Web sites. Arranged into broad categories such as general, state/local, battles and campaigns, documentary records, etc.
American Home Front in World War II. 4 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2005. Online via Gale Virtual Referenc Library to CSU affiliates.
American Revolution Reference Library. 5 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2000. Online va Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Americans at War. 4 vols. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Cold War Reference Library. 6 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2004. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Library of Military History. 2 vols. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Korean War Reference Library. 2 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2002. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Mexican-American War. Julie L. Detroit: U*X*L, 2003. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
United States Civil War Center.
Links to materials about U.S. Civil war and other research-related links.
U. S. Army in World War II: Series.
Reader's Guide. Links to items that discuss general war history. Not all items online yet.
War of 1812. Detroit: U*X*L, 2002. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
World War I Reference Library. 4 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2002. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
World War II Reference Library. 5 vols. Detroit: U*X*L, 2000. Online via Gale Virtual Reference Library to CSU affiliates.
Veteran’s History Project. Library of Congress.
Oral histories of veterans. Some material (transcripts, videos) is available online. Check Digitized Collection box in order to find these. If you know specifics, you can search them: name of verteran/civilian, service location, service unit/ship, highest rank, etc. Search by conflict or era (World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and/or Other); limit by branch of service (Air Force, Army, Army Air Forces/Corps, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Merchant Marine, Navy, Civilian, Other Branches); indicate whether or not prisoner of war, gender, digitized collection, and/or transcript. [Repeat entry from above in Summaries, Artifacts, and Documents.]
State Governors
National Governor's Association site. Gives names of governors of U.S. states and territories
Other
Library Resources For Political Science. Allison Cowgill. Colorado State University Libraries.
Indexes, Web sites, recommended books. Links include sites that have links to political news, opinion and commentary, political parties, campaigns and candidates, United States (Executive, Legislative, Judicial), foreign governments, international organizations, interest groups, state and local governments, policy issues, etc.
History of Colorado see Colorado History.
See also Women's Suffrage for information of this topic in American (and England and a bit of worldwide) history.
History Resources || How to Do Library Research
Content: Naomi Lederer