U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online

Compilation of links to digital state archives.

Compilation of state and regional digital projects and collaborations by archives, cultural institutions, museums, and libraries of many states. (Library of Congress)

"Collection of California Legislative publications including Senate and Assembly Bills (1911-1988); Statutes and Journals (1849-2009); Final Calendars (1899 - 2011); and other titles." (California Office of Legislative Counsel, Univ. of California, Stanford Univ., and the California State Library)

Documents the history of Stockton (founded in 1849) with an emphasis on the waterfront and downtown areas. Most images are of buildings, streets, and businesses. Many aerial views of the city are also included. Images date from approximately the 1860s to the 1960s. (Univ. of the Pacific)

More than 200,000 digitized items — including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts — reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history. (Univ. of California)

Over 2.2 million photographs from the defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and over 250,000 photographs to the people of Los Angeles, including 60,000 images from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and images from the Hollywood Citizen News publication. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Over 16,000 images from 84 collections held at the Atlanta History Center, documenting the history of Atlanta and the South in general.

79 Dakin maps that document major cities in Hawaii, including Oahu and Honolulu, circa 1891-1906. (Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa)

Articles, book reviews, and commentary from the journal Idaho Yesterdays since 1957.

Newspaper started by William Randolph Hearst in 1902. This (incomplete) collection from 1908-1918 is the longest run of the paper still available. (Chicago Public Library)

Repository for the digital collection of the Illinois State Library and other libraries and cultural organizations. Includes oral histories, complete manuscripts, posters, newspapers, and maps. (Illinois State Library)

Digital access to 1,137,527 pages from 46 newspaper titles, spanning 1831 to 2011. (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Over 400 items, including maps, zoning documents, policy statements, neighborhood organization planning documents, and photographs, which document an ambitious 1960s urban renewal program in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on Chicago's North Side--though it is now a relatively affluent area, by the 1940s it suffered common problems of urban disinvestment. (DePaul Univ.)

Originally created for insurance purposes, these maps provide detailed information about the locations of businesses, the structures they were located in, and other information. They can show the change and development of a city over time. (Univ. of Kansas)

Aerial photos from pre-1950 up to the 1970s, useful for comparing land use change, ground cover, riverine geography, and a number of other topics. (Kansas State Univ. Libraries)

Various 20-century marriage, divorce, and death indexes. Family Search

Photos and documents from the Louisiana Works Progress Administration in the 1930s-1940s, documenting community activities, transportation improvements, Native Americans, and more. (LOUISiana Digital Library)

Over 1,500 float designs from the "Golden Age" of carnival. (Tulane Univ.)

Annual Cambridge business directories 1884-1931 which profile local business leaders, institutions, organizations, and much more. Volumes also contain advertisements, address directories, and other information that document the business community throughout the area. Search through each volume for key words, addresses, names, and dates. (Cambridge Public Library and Internet Archive)

Thousands of maps from 167 atlases in 12 counties and 80+ municipalities, from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Massachusetts State Library)

Harbottle Dorr, Jr. (1730-1794) was a merchant and a member of the Sons of Liberty. Beginning in 1765, Dorr spent more than a dozen years purchasing newspapers, writing comments in margins, inserting reference marks in articles, and assembling indexes. His collection is available digitally on this site. (Massachusetts Historical Society)

Wide variety of documents in Mississippi history, ranging from state constitutions, to Confederate pension applications, to 1927 flood photographs, to papers from the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project in 1964. (Mississippi Department of Archives and History)

"This book, originally published in 1885, is a 1,367 page reference exploring topics such as the exploration and occupation of Montana, Indian history, wars, trading and military posts, mining, newspapers, churches, and societies during the time between 1735 and 1885. ...The book also contains over 500 illustrations of people, buildings, farms, ranches, and natural features of the era. (Univ. of Montana)

Sanborn fire insurance maps of many cities, dating from 1880s to the 1940s. (Dartmouth Univ.)

Provides access to digitized photographs, manuscripts, posters, oral histories, videos, maps, and books from libraries, museums, and cultural centers across the state. (Univ. of New Mexico Libraries)

Over 2,000 maps of New York City, including Manhattan and Brooklyn "fire insurance maps" from the 1850s-1860, showing streets, blocks, tax lots, natural and manmade features, and more. (New York Public Library)

"NCpedia is an online encyclopedia. Its purpose is to highlight North Carolina's unique resources, people, and culture to enrich, educate, and inform."
Includes entries from University of North Carolina Press's Encyclopedia of North Carolina and Dictionary of North Carolina Biography; some entries have audio versions available.

Includes volumes of The Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography published from 1914-1923. Also includes 1904 and 1908 volumes of Who's Who in Pennsylvania. (Penn State Univ.)

Documents, photos, etc. illustrating the history of Rhode Island. (State of Rhode Island)

Digital collections documenting numerous economic, political, and social aspects of the South Carolina coastal region, 18th-20th centuries. (College of Charleston)

Almost 1,000 maps that document the history of the Washington state area. (Washington State Univ.)

Primary source documents for students of Washington State history. Includes letters from local officials, citizen petitions, photographs, etc. (Seattle Municipal Archives)