History Resources

A partnership between Google, cultural institutions, and artists to make art and culture accessible online. Explore digital and physical exhibits from museums around the world, images of historical figures, art, places, and more.

"HathiTrust is a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries preserving 17+ million digitized items." Use this source to search for publicly available eBooks and potentially primary sources.

"The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, people with print disabilities, and the general public." Internet Archive provides access to millions of publicly available books and text, videos, images, audio recordings, and much more.

Some laws, charters, and capitularies

Medieval manuscripts

Translated documents dealing with warfare in the Middle Ages

Medieval artwork, music, and manuscripts

A collection of letters to and from women in the Middle Ages. You can browse by women and see their social status.

Search through thousands of manuscripts. The Manuscripts Editorial at the bottom of the first page is particularly interesting.

Original documents and manuscripts, many with translations

The most comprehensive website for medieval primary sources

Provides some guidance to primary and secondary sources based on a medieval subject

A current blog by the British Library

MEMSlib is an initiative of the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) at the University of Kent. This student-led project developed out of our shared desire to support academic peers and colleagues during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Full texts of medieval literature

This database provides a searchable bibliography of texts – from private letters, wills, and household accounts to literary works, philosophical treatises, chronicles, court proceedings, church records, and a host of other documents – that were written in the Middle Ages and are now available in printed or online editions and translations.

Original manuscripts and some expert opinions

"Fold3® provides convenient access to military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served." This website also contains the Pennsylvania Archives and allows you to search through the documents for keywords.

"The Cornell University Library Making of America Collection is 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. This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints."

"Readers will find evidence on many subjects in the history of the Early Republic, from the handling of Indian affairs, pensions and procurement to the nature of the first American citizens’ relationship with their new Federal government. The Papers offer a window into a time when there was no law beyond the Constitution and when the administration first worked out its understanding and interpretation of that new document."

"Explore thousands of digitized documents and photographs from unique collections in libraries across Pennsylvania."

Rotunda contains the "American History Collection of documentary editions spanning three centuries, from the earliest surviving writings of George Washington through the presidential correspondence of Woodrow Wilson: more than 20 publications with content from over 550 letterpress and born-digital volumes, for a total of nearly 300,000 documents, diary entries, and editorial essays, all cross-searchable." Accessing these materials as a guest, you are able to read the open-access documents.

"On display from June 5 through September 27, 2003, 'Abolitionism in America' documents our country’s intellectual, moral, and political struggle to achieve freedom for all Americans. Featuring rare books, manuscripts, letters, photographs, and other materials from Cornell’s pre-eminent anti-slavery and Civil War collections, the exhibition explores the complex history of slavery, resistance, and abolition from the 1700s through 1865."

"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."

"The manuscript archives at the Library contains many documents that are of wide interest and may be useful to students and researchers working on historical papers, exhibit projects, media or dramatic performances. Archivists have digitized some of the most popular items, arranged by topic. All of these items are in the public domain."

"Here you may browse archival collections with digitized content, as well as finding aids (guides) and descriptions of collections that are digitized in full or in part."

Provides digital access to important items in its collection

An archived version of the website from the New York Public Library. NYPL Labs extracted data from the Green Books to allow researchers to explore their content in new ways. The Green Book was a travel guide published between 1936 and 1966 that listed hotels, restaurants, bars, gas stations, etc. where black travelers would be welcome.

"Slavery and Abolition in the US: Select Publications of the 1800s is a digital collection of books and pamphlets that reflect the varying opinions and beliefs expressed on the slavery issue throughout the nineteenth century."

Located in The Hague, this museum features artwork primarily created during the Dutch Golden Age.

Located in Amsterdam, this museum is dedicated to maritime history and contains many artifacts associated with shipping and sailing.

Located in Amsterdam, this Dutch national museum is dedicated to arts and history.

"Held at Newcastle University, the Gertrude Bell Archive contains over 10,000 items including correspondence, diaries, photographs (albums and negatives as well as loose prints), notebooks, lecture and photographic notes, and memoranda.... The correspondence, diaries and photographs held within the Gertrude Bell Archive cover complex and crucial periods of geopolitical history, such as the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the First World War, and the creation of the Kingdom of Iraq. The material also provides detailed depictions of diverse landscapes, people, and cultures whilst recording Bell’s movements and experiences in the Middle East, Europe, and East Asia. Included within the Archive are extensive notes, photographs and sketches relating to Bell’s archaeological work, complemented by correspondence between Bell and her contemporaries on the subject."