du Pont Library: Primary Sources

American Memory is a gateway to the Library of Congress’s vast resources of digitized American historical materials. Comprising more than 9 million items that document U.S. history and culture, American Memory is organized into more than 100 thematic collections based on their original format, their subject matter, or who first created, assembled, or donated them to the Library.

From the editors: By centering on the experiences and perspectives of African Americans, we hope this collection imbues the study of Black history with a deeper understanding of the humanity of people who have pursued the quest for freedom, and the significance of movements like Black Lives Matter.

A great portal to primary sources available on the Internet, courtesy of Bowling Green State University.

A collection of reference and news service databases.

Access to the full-text of Salem Press’award-winning history reference works. Look for the "Milestone Documents" hyperlink.

Collection includes more than 60,000 letters, diaries, maps, pamphlets, printed books, newspapers, photographs, and ephemera that document the political, social, and economic history of the United States.

Thousands of primary source documents to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools from the billions preserved at the National Archives. Use the search field above to find written documents, images, maps, charts, graphs, audio and video in our ever-expanding collection that spans the course of American history.

Established in 1968 at the University of Virginia, The Papers of George Washington is working to publish comprehensive letterpress and digital editions of Washington's correspondence.

Includes over 400 annotated documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, supplemented by primary sources on slavery, Mexican American, Asian American, and Native American history, and U.S. political, social, and legal history; succinct essays on the history of film, ethnicity, private life, and technology; multimedia exhibitions; and reference resources that include a database of annotated links, classroom handouts, chronologies, glossaries, an audio archive including speeches and book talks by historians, and a visual archive with hundreds of historical maps and images.

The initial release of this Web site contains documents from the years 1775 to 1872. Updates will be made on a regular basis, including the addition of documents from the 20th Century.