American History - History - Primary Sources - LibGuides at Cape Fear Community College

Selected Books

American Decades Primary Sources
Call Number: Wilm Reference Books E 169.1 .A471977 2004
Covers 1900-1999.
Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers: Primary Documents on Events of the Period by David A. Copeland
Call Number: Wilm Circulating Books E 187 .C78 2000
ISBN: 0313309825
Publication Date: 2000-08-30
For the Record : A Documentary History of America
Call Number: Wilm Reference Books E 173 .S487 2010
v. 1. From first contact through Reconstruction -- v. 2. From Reconstruction through contemporary times.
Founding the Republic: A Documentary History by John J. Patrick
Call Number: Wilm Circulating Books E 210 .F68 1995
ISBN: 0313292264
Publication Date: 1995-09-30
Milestone Documents in American History: Exploring the Primary Sources That Shaped America
Call Number: Wilm Reference Books E 173 .M62 2008
"In-depth, analytical essays illuminating famous primary source documents from U.S and world history. Each entry includes the full text of the document in question as well as an essay that places the document in its historical context. "
Reading the Twentieth Century: Documents in American History
Call Number: Wilm Circulating Books E 740.5 .R43 2009
Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before It Was History, It was News by Todd Andrlik
Call Number: Wilm Circulating Books E 203 .R44 2012
ISBN: 9781402269677
Publication Date: 2012-11-01
Twentieth-Century America: A Primary Source Collection from the Associated Press
Call Number: Wilm Reference Books E 740.5 .T84 1995
ISBN: 0717274942
Publication Date: 1995-11-01
Voices of Revolutionary America : Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life by Carol Sue Humphrey (Editor)
Call Number: Wilm Circulating Books E 203 .H89 2011
ISBN: 9780313377327
Publication Date: 2011-05-01

Primary Documents on the Web

Take care when using Internet sites for primary sources. Most sources contain both primary and secondary texts. Be sure you have properly identified your document.

19th-Century American Collection
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Part of the Perseus Project at Tufts Univeristy
America's Historical Documents
The National Archives preserves and provides access to the records of the Federal Government from our most celebrated milestones to little-known surprises.
American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement
“Eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.”
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from the Wisconsin Historical Society
American Memory Project
Includes written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music.
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From the Library of Congress
Calisphere (University of California)
"Calisphere is the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources. 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." Not just for California history.
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Sponsored by the University of California
Documenting the American South
Access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. All areas once considered to be part of the region are included; slave narratives include all parts of North America. There are ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral-history interviews, and songs.
Famous Court Cases
Primary documents and trial transcripts.
The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
"Consists of 15,000 pages of original historical material documenting the land, peoples, exploration, and transformation of the trans-Appalachian West from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century."
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From the collections of University of Chicago Library and the Filson Historical Society of Louisville, Kentucky
HyperWar: Diplomatic and Political Documents of WWII
"consists primarily of official documents produced by various agencies of the United States, United Kingdom and British Commonwealth governments."
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From the HyperWar Foundation
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the nation’s first established cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with millions of items including books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library provides Congress, the federal government and the American people with a rich, diverse and enduring source of knowledge to inform, inspire and engage them and support their intellectual and creative endeavors.
Making of America
"A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. "
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Joint project of the University of Michigan and Cornell University
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.
Primary Documents in American History
Covers the period from 1763 to 1877. Each section includes "background information about the document, and a list of links to digital materials concerning that document." From the Library of Congress.
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From the Library of Congress
Primary Source Sets - Digital Public Library of America
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Drawing online materials from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States, the sets use letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide.
ROHO
Oral history collection relevant to California and western United States history, but featuring many interviews with broader relevance.
Smithsonian Institute
US Statutes at Large
Covers the 108th to 110th Congress, 2003-2008
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From the US Government Printing Office
Valley of the Shadow Project
Shows life in two towns, one Northern and one Southern, from 1859 to 1870. Includes letters, diaries, church records, maps, census records and more.
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Project of the University of Virginia and Virginia Center for Digital History
World War II Resources
"Original documents regarding all aspects of the war."
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Originated by the Pearl Harbor Working Group

Historical Census Data

Search the NHGIS for Census Data

Census Data is available from the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) which provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2012.

You can search for data based upon criteria you choose. You will need to create an accoutn (It's free.) to download the tables.

North Carolina Historic Newspapers

Historic North Carolina Digital Newspaper Collection (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Over 1,000 North Carolina newspaper titles going back as far as 1751 including high quality digital images.

Resources From Online Databases

American Slave: North Carolina and South Carolina Narratives
Transcripts of interviews of former slaves in the Carolinas
American Slave: North Carolina Narratives:
Transcripts of interviews of former slaves in North Carolina
Chronicling America
Chronicling America is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC), is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages.
Milestone Documents in American History
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.
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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.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Includes 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters.