Subject and Course Guides: U.S. History Up To 1865: Primary Sources

Primary Sources - Databases

African American Communities This link opens in a new window
It is highly recommended to utilize full tunnel VPN for Wi-Fi and off-campus access. See information here for VPN installation with Ivanti (formerly known as Pulse Secure). Details to establish the full-tunnel connection can be found here.
A diverse range of primary source material is showcased in this collection that focuses on race relations across social, political, cultural and religious arenas.
Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, Brooklyn, and towns and cities in North Carolina this collection presents multiple aspects of the African American community.
African American Heritage This link opens in a new window
1/9/25 - We are actively aware that this database is inaccessible via off-campus. As a temporary resolution, please utilize full tunnel VPN for off-campus access. See information here for VPN installation with Ivanti (formerly known as Pulse Secure). Details to establish the full-tunnel connection can be found here. We are communicating with the vendor for support and provide updates when available. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
ProQuest® African American Heritage is a groundbreaking digital resource exclusively devoted to African American family history research.

It provides users a dedicated resource that not only brings together records critical to African American family research; but also connects them to a community of research experts, whose mentoring and assistance can frequently be the difference between research success and futility.

There were more than 480,000 free blacks living in the United States and territories at the time of the 1860 Census. Explore the 1860 U.S. Federal Census in the ProQuest African American Heritage database to learn more!
African American Newspapers (Parts I-XIV) This link opens in a new window
A collection of African American newspapers contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s and is rich with first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day, including the Mexican War, Presidential and Congressional addresses, Congressional abstracts, business and commodity markets, the humanities, world travel and religion.
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 This link opens in a new window
Compilation of nearly 400 Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. This collection offers a diversity of unabridged voices, ranging from intellectuals and literary notables to politicians, union organizers and grassroots figures.
Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window
The standard source for the quantitative facts of American history, a compendium of statistics from over 1,000 sources. Includes over 37,000 data series and topics ranging from migration and health to crime and the Confederate States of America are each placed in historical context by a recognized expert in the field. Users can graph individual tables and create customized tables and spreadsheets reflecting their own particular areas of interest.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories This link opens in a new window
This collection includes 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information, so providing a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950.
Composed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives, the series provides a rich source for scholars in a wide range of disciplines. In selected cases, users will be able to hear the actual audio voices of the immigrants. The collection will be particularly useful to researchers, because much of the original material is difficult to find, poorly indexed, and unpublished; most bibliographies of the immigrant focus on secondary research; and few oral histories have been published.
This work in progress is composed of the personal narratives of immigrants to North America, including Canada
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
This database includes diaries, journals, and letters written by women visiting or living in North America between the years 1700 and 1950.
This work in progress, when completed, will be the largest collection of women's diaries and correspondence ever assembled and include the personal experiences of 1,500 women from all social classes.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851 - 2019) This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2019) Historical Papers: The New York Times (1851-2019) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue
ProQuest Historical Newspapers---The New York Times is a full-image archive that brings the entire historical run of The New York Times, the definitive voice of American journalism since 1851.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture and Law - HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
This collection brings together a multitude of legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. It includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery.
American County Histories: Texas This link opens in a new window
Primary sources in 18th, 19th, and early 20th Century of Texas County Histories
Texas Digital Sanborn Maps This link opens in a new window
1/13/25 - We are actively aware that this database is inaccessible via off-campus. As a temporary resolution, please utilize full tunnel VPN for off-campus access. See information here for VPN installation with Ivanti (formerly known as Pulse Secure). Details to establish the full-tunnel connection can be found here. We are communicating with the vendor for support and provide updates when available. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
A collection of digitized maps that provide detailed property and land-use records that depict the architecture of Texas towns and cities throughout the past one hundred years
Collection features large-scale maps of 436 Texas towns and cities. These maps are valuable historical tools for urban specialists, social historians, architects, geographers, genealogists, planners, and environmentalists. The scale for these maps is 50 feet to an inch.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade This link opens in a new window
Contains records of 27,233 trans-Atlantic slave ship voyages made between 1595 and 1866
Contains records of 27,233 trans-Atlantic slave ship voyages made between 1595 and 1866. Format allows users to track information by time period and geographic region, and includes interactive maps that allow viewers to chart the trans-Atlantic connections. The accompanying data contains materials about people on board, owners and captains, ships' characteristics, and the geographic trajectory of each voyage.

Vermont History - The Underground Railroad Project

Online Resources

Black Abolitionist Archive
The Black Abolitionist Digital Archive is a collection of over 800 speeches by antebellum blacks and approximately 1,000 editorials from the period. These important documents provide a portrait of black involvement in the anti-slavery movement; scans of these documents are provided as images and PDF files.
Digital Library on American Slavery
Documenting the American South
Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
Georgetown University - Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation
Internet Archive - James Birney Collection of Anti-Slavery Pamphlets
The collection contains materials gathered by James Birney in the course of his anti-slavery labors, and items gathered by William Birney while preparing a biography of his father.
The Revised Dred Scott Case Collection
Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves.
Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture
University of Alabama - Antebellum Materials
This digital collection contains materials relating to the antebellum period, from multiple archival collections. Click on the Browse button to view the digital collection, or to find out more about a specific archival collection, click on the name of the collection to view the finding aid.