General Research and Reference Sites to Expand Your Knowledge of U.S. History and Literature

Constitutional Rights Foundation Great links!

Digital History Cool online textbook along with links to online exhibits, primary documents, interactive timelines and other multimedia resources.

A Biography of America The history of the U.S. from its early settlement through the 20th century. It has videos!

The National Archive The place for primary source documents. There are approximately 9 billion pages of textual records; 7.2 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings; more than 20 million still photographs; billions of machine-readable data sets; and more than 365,000 reels of film and 110,000 videotapes. All of these materials are preserved because they are important to the workings of Government, have long-term research worth, or provide information of value to citizens.

Library of Congress: American Memory Provides free and open access to historic maps, photos, documents, audio and video. Collections are arranged by topic.

PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide Comprehensive survey of American Literature and its major movements. Links to 449 author pages.

Term One: Forging a Nation: Colonization, Revolution, and Westward Expansion

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
This online exhibit "explores the role religion played in the founding of the American colonies, in the shaping of early American life and politics, and in forming the American Republic [covering the 1600s through the 1800s]." Includes annotated images of "books, manuscripts, letters, prints, paintings, [and] artifacts." From the Library of Congress.

We Shall Remain
This award-winning PBS American Experience series spans over 300 years of U.S. history from a Native American perspective. Watch all five episodes online.

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Term Three: The American Other

The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database Contains information about almost 35,000 slave voyages that forcibly displaced nearly 10 million Africans to the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries.

American Slave Narrative: An Online Anthology Transcriptions of interviews with former American slaves taken by writers and journalists working for the WPA from 1932-1938. Includes photographs and some sound recordings.

Emancipation Proclamation
Small exhibit on the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Abraham Lincoln at the beginning of 1863 during the Civil War. Includes an essay about Lincoln and slavery, timeline, and images of versions of the document. Part of a Library of Congress American Memory Project presentation about the papers of Abraham Lincoln. Click on the link “Abraham Lincoln papers” at the bottom left of the page for access to a wide variety of documents about this president.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
An online version of one of the primary sources of the U.S. Civil War (70 volumes, published in 1880-1901 by the War Records Office). Searchable. Part of the "Making of America" series by Cornell University Library.

Secession Era Editorials Project
A collection of primary source material, including documents, editorials, speeches, and articles from 19th century American history. Sections include Early National Politics, Slavery and Sectionalism, Nebraska Bill, Sumner's Caning, Dred Scott Decision, John Brown and Harper's Ferry, 1850s Statistical Almanac, 1860 Election, Secession and War, and Post Civil War. Some of the texts are searchable. From Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina.

Crisis at Fort Sumter
An "interactive historical simulation and decision making program" that allows the user to make decisions just as President Lincoln had to at the beginning of the Civil War. With an explanation of events and advice from the official advisors, the user chooses a course of action based upon the information provided. A fascinating exercise in history, public policy, and the political process. From a history professor at Tulane University.

American Civil War Collections
Civil War letters and diary entries include transcriptions and digital images of the manuscripts. Each collection is annotated and tells whether the letters are from spouses, sweethearts, relatives, or others. The site also includes speeches, fictional writings, spirituals, and legal texts relating to the war. The newspaper collection is for students at the University of Virginia only. From the University of Virginia Library's Electronic Text Center.

Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War
"The Valley Project details life in two American communities, one Northern and one Southern, from the time of John Brown's Raid through the era of Reconstruction." Contains photographs, maps, "thousands of original letters and diaries, newspapers and speeches, [and] census and church records, left by men and women in Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania." Many of the sources are searchable.

Term Four: The Great Depression

Riding the Rails
Brief essay about the "more than two million men and perhaps 8,000 women [who] became hoboes" during the Great Depression. Includes illustrations, a short list of people who rode the rails and later became famous, and an oral history from one man who became a hobo during this period. From Wessels Living History Farm, a project devoted to the history of American agriculture.

Teenage Hoboes in the Great Depression
Small presentation about the "over 250,000 young people [who] left home [during the Great Depression] in hope and desperation and began riding freight trains or hitchhiking across America." Topics include railroads during the Depression era, the Civilian Conservation Corps, food and shelter, and art related to hobo life. Includes a bibliography. From the National Heritage Museum, an American history museum founded and supported by Scottish Rite Freemasons.

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