US History Sources

National Archives Video Sections: NASA History of Space Flight Motion Pictures, United Newsreel Motion Pictures (1942-1945), Department of the Interior Motion Pictures

A One-Step Portal for On-Line Genealogy by Stephen P. Morse   Use this free search engine to track down family records trough government records and ship manifests.

Our Documents explore 100 milestone documents of American history compiled by the National Archives and records Administration

U.S. Historical Documents "Classic" political documents, some presidential state of the union addresses, and many presidential inaugural addresses. Maintained at the University of Oklahoma Law Center.

American Memory Collection Finder A Guided to the Library of Congress Collections: Search by subject and time period.

Port of Entry Use your detective skills to uncover the stories of immigrants to the United States

Zoom Into Maps Using historic maps from the Library of Congress, help students understand what maps can tell us.

Library of Congress Lesson Index by Theme, Topic, Discipline or Era

It's No Laughing Matter Use this interactive activity to take apart real-world cartoons as you learn how to spot the methods behind the message.

United States Historical Data Census Browser
The data presented here describe the people and the economy of the US for each state and county from 1790 to 1970.

History Matters:  A collection of over 100 lessons based on first person documents in text, image, and audio about the experiences of ordinary Americans from 1876 to 1946

US Presidential Elections: graphs on both Electoral votes and popular for all US Presidential Elections

NY Times Guide to researching your family tree

Within these Walls: The Smithsonian follows the inhabitants of a single house in Massachusetts, over the course of 200 years.

Exploring US History These modules, designed for George Mason University's U.S. survey course History 120, offer relevant exercises that reinforce textbook readings and classroom discussion. They provide an alternate, often entertaining, way of investigating historical concepts and problems

Magazine Art A free visual data base of magazine cover art of the 19th and 20th centuries. Also many other useful magazine links.

Early Advertising Publications: Information about and links to books and pamphlets created by advertising agencies to promote the concept and methods of the advertising industry.

The Branding of America  What are "brand name" products? Why do they endure over the years?

Ad*Access draws on part of a large collection of magazine and newspaper ads mainly from U.S. publications dating between 1911 and 1955.

Emergence of Advertising in America Collection: This collection presents more than 9,000 images relating to the early history of advertising in the United States

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Erie Canal Time Machine
Web resource that examines the Erie Canal from its opening in 1825 to the creation of the Barge Canal System in 1918.

Documenting the American South (DAS) is a collection of sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades.

America's Civil War
Website gallery comprised of historical photos and documents from America's Civil War.

American Slave Narratives, From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration.

The Valley of the Shadow Providing an in-depth view of two communities during the Civil War, this site uses public records, newspapers, letters and other resources to paint the picture of what life was like for typical communities of the Union and the Confederacy.

What Do You See? - Using Selected Civil War Photographs, 1860-1865 In this lesson students analyze a single photograph from the American Memory collection Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865. Using the skills developed, students then find and analyze other images. Conclusions reached will allow students develop links between the Civil War and American industrialization.

Inductive Approaches to History: The Lizzie Borden Case Study: This U Mass course is designed to give students the opportunity to pose and answer questions through careful and intensive reading in a wide variety of primary sources--the opportunity of doing history instead of merely reading it.

Every Picture Tells A Story: Documentary Photography and the Great Depression This interactive exercise allows viewers to examine how some of the the photos of the FSA's Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange were created, which photos were selected for publications, and how they were changed for public presentation.

Using Oral History to Explore the Lives of Everyday Americans Using a collection of interviews and oral histories of Americans from the 1930s, students explore social history in this lesson. Students then learn to conduct oral history interviews of their own.

Legacies Project Web resource that explores the history of Chinese and Latino populations in the Capital District, Buffalo, Syracuse, New York City, and Yonkers.

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Women Pioneers Experience the stories of women who forged ahead to make a better life for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Around the World in 72 Days - Discover the amazing life of reporter and world-adventurer Nellie Bly

The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century - Trace the events of the Great War through interviews with nearly 20 historians, an interactive timeline and a look at the changing face of Europe through the war.

Guts & Glory - Explore the stories and the strategies behind two monumental World War II events -- D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.

Two great collections of WWII Correspondence between husband and wife. Beautiful illustrated covers Goofein Journal and the Samuel Boylston Envelopes  

The 1968 Oral History Project A great model for a student -produced oral history project.

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