Primary Sources for American History

100 Milestone Documents
A list of 100 milestone documents, compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, and drawn primarily from its nationwide holdings. The documents chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965

Primary Source Documents for the Study of United States History

American History: Primary Sources

Documents for the Study of America History

American Memory
The Library of Congress's National Digital Library contains more than 40 collections, which feature historical photos, maps, documents, letters, speeches, recordings, videos, prints, and more.

Documenting the American South
This electronic text archive from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill contains primary source slavery narratives and first-person narratives of the South as well as a digitized library of southern literature.

A Hypertext on American History
This site contains over 100 historical documents relating to United States history, from the 1400s to the present. It includes letters, charters, essays, speeches, journal entries, inaugural addresses, autobiographies, biographies, and more. An outline of American history provides context for the primary source materials.

The Library of Congress
Legislative information, historical exhibits, primary source materials, resources for educators, research tools, and more are available from the Library of Congress.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
NARA preserves historically valuable archives of the U.S. government, including documents, photographs, images, maps, audio clips, letters, speeches, and films. Check out the
Exhibit Hall for fascinating primary sources on such topics as the Lincoln assassination and World War II propaganda posters.

The Papers of Jefferson Davis
Learn about Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, through his writings. You can also find background information on his life and family.

Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution offers access to primary sources and other resources on a wide variety of topics, including military and political history.

The University of Oklahoma Law Center: A Chronology of US Historical Documents
This site offers an extensive directory of historical documents from pre-colonial days to the present. Many presidential inaugural addresses are included, as are some songs, poems, letters, and more.

The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
American History: A Documentary Record 1492- Present

Archiving Early America.
Documents representing milestone events in 18th century America are presented here in their original formats as they actually appeared in the 1700s.