Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Resources: Religion, Gender, Ethnicity and Immigration

Primary Sources for US Religion

Religions of America This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search for primary sources and scholarly articles on United State's new religious and spiritual groups, churches, temples, and associations.
Content type: Articles, manuscripts, pamphlets, newsletters, ephemera, images
Coverage dates: 1800-1990
Language: English

Primary Sources for US Gender History

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore a treasure trove of primary sources that provide insights on women's history, focusing on women in social movements in the U.S.
Content type: Primary sources, pamphlets, correspondence, interviews
Coverage dates: 1600-2000
Themes include human rights, social reform and activism, work and class identity, peace, Women of Color and Indigenous Women, immigration, education, religion, and more
Language: English, Spanish
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Letters and diaries written by women living in North America, along with biographies of people that wrote the documents.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, diaries
Coverage dates: 1700s-1950
While titled "North American," the documents mostly come from the United States.
Language: English
Gerritsen Women's History Collection of Aletta H. Jacobs‎ This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore this large women's history collection to trace the evolution of feminism and wome's rights in various countries over the span of five centuries.
Content type: Primary sources, books, pamphlets, periodicals, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1543-1945
Publications originate from continental Europe, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand.
Language: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, etc.
Everyday Life & Women in America, c.1800–1920 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources, including broadsides, pamphlets, rare books, and peridoicals, about women in the United States, covering a wide variety of topics from politics to medicine to fashion.
Content type: Primary sources
Coverage dates: 1800-1920
Language: English
Keywords: AM Explorer
Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore major women's magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Better Homes & Gardens, Essence, and Seventeen.
Content type: Magazine articles
Coverage dates: 1922-2005
Full digitization of the magazine, meaning all articles, illustrations, and advertisements are included. Full text of: Better Homes & Gardens (1922 to 2005), Chatelaine (1928 to 2005), Cosmopolitan (1926-2004), Essence (1970-2005), Good Housekeeping (1885 to 2005), Ladies' Home Journal (1885 to 2005), Parents (1926 to 2005), Redbook (1903 to 2005), Seventeen (1944-2005), WIN News (1975-2003), and Women's Day (1937-2001).
Language: English
Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search for primary sources about LGBTQ life around the world from political, social, and governmental organizations.
Content type: Primary Sources, books, images, documents, pamphlets, magazines, government records, letters
Coverage dates: 1500s- 1900s
Language: English
LGBT Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search for LGBT magazines and popular sources from the United States and United Kingdom on topics such as activism, arts, culture, health, literature, politics, and social life.
Content type: Magazines, news articles, newsletters, print interviews
Coverage dates: 1954-2015
All publications are both browsable and searchable. The library provides access to the LGBT Magazine Archive Collections 1-2.
Language: English
LGBT Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search for primary sources on LGBT topics that illuminate the political and social lives of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual individuals.
Content type: Primary sources, magazine articles, correspondence, government documents, ephemera, flyers, pamphlets
Coverage dates: 1900-2012
Language: English
Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore this major American fashion magazine, which also covers popular culture.
Content type: Magazine articles
Coverage dates: 1892-present
Only includes American Vogue. Full digitization of the magazine, meaning all articles, illustrations, and advertisements are included.
Language: English

Primary Sources: Ethnicity

GENERAL

Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for full text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles, dissertations and theses, conference proceedings, blogs
Coverage dates: 1959-present
Includes unique community publications as well as top scholarly journals on ethnicities and ethnic studies.
Language: English, Spanish, French, etc.
Keywords: News Watch
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Race Relations, 1933-1945 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for materials from FDR's Official File to learn more about the early development of the Civil Right's Movement including texts on segregation, race riots, and employment discrimination.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents
Coverage dates: 1933-1945
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound

NATIVE AMERICAN

American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new window
A major database of primary sources from the history of Native Americans.
Covers themes such as Native American and U.S. Government relations, military encounters, Indigenous peoples of Mexico, First Nations of Canada, and more, including topics such as early American and European colonialism, European and inter-Tribal alliances, U.S. boarding schools for Native Americans, and political activism.
Language: English
Keywords: Edward E. Ayer Collection Newberry Library AM Explorer
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore primary sources covering the political, social, and cultural history of native peoples of North America from the sixteenth century well into the twentieth century.
Content type: Primary sources, newspaper articles, dictionaries, religious texts, correspondence, reports, photographs
Coverage dates: 1600s - 1986
This resources includes access to both Part I and Part II: The Indian Rights Association, 1882-1986.
Language: English, German, French, Micmac, Cherokee, etc.
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore primary sources written by and about Indigenous peoples of North America to learn more about their histories and varied cultures.
Content type: Primary sources, diaries, correspondence, Indigenous publications, oral histories, biographies
Coverage dates: 1784-2006
Language: English
Keywords: Biographical Database
American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for finding first-hand accounts of the interactions between Native Americans, white settlers, and the U.S. government, with coverage of the American Indian Wars and the forced westward migration of Native Tribes.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, correspondence, diaries
Coverage dates: 1809-1971
Includes the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Records from the Major Council Meetings of American Indian Tribes collections.
Language: English
Keywords: History Vault
American Indian Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore nearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism by searching national, local, and student newspapers published in the United States and Canada.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1828-2016
Topics include community news, public health, education, cultural promotion and language revitalisation, activism and protest, natural resources and environmentalism, Tribal laws, sovereignty, land cession, property and land rights, war and conscription, and media representation.
Language: English, Chinuk Wawa, Dakota, Diné Bizaad, Lakota, Sm'algyax, Ōlelo Hawaiʻi, Tsalagi Gawonihisdi
Keywords: AM Explorer
Indian Claims Insight This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for gaining insight into the treatment of individual Native American Tribes as seen through docket histories from Court of Claims and Indian Claims Commissions.
Content type: Primary sources, docket histories, treaties, maps, court documents
Coverage dates: 1763-present
Language: English

AFRICAN AMERICAN

African America, Communists, and the National Negro Congress, 1933-1947 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for primary resources on the National Negro Congress to learn more aout its efforts to secure the right of the African American people to be free from discrimination and oppression.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, conference proceedings, meeting minutes, newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1933-1947
This collection includes material related to the National Negro Congress, the Negro Industrial League (1933), the Joint Committee on National Recovery (1933-1935), and the Negro Labor Victory Committee (1942-1945).
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
African American Experience: The American Mosaic This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources and background information related to African and African-American history and culture, ranging from ancient civilizations to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, speeches, court documents, images, reference materials, biographies, statistics
Coverage dates: 1800s-present
Also includes some audio and video contents, as well as full access to the WPA Slave Narrative Collection by the Federal Writer's Project, which documents narratives from formerly enslaved individuals of 17 states.
Language: English
African American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access articles from prominent African American newspapers for a glimpse of Black life in the U.S. during the 19th and early-20th centuries.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1827-1919
Includes the following titles: Freedom's Journal, The Colored American, The North Star, The National Era, Provincial Freeman, Frederick Douglass Paper, The Christian Recorder, Freedmen's Record, and The Negro Business League Herald.
Language: English
Keywords: Accessible Archives
Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore primary sources related to the National Negro Business League, including documents by its founder Booker T. Washington as well as other leaders and on various league activities.
Content type: Primary sources, newspaper articles, correspondence, annual reports, meeting minutes
Coverage dates: 1901-1928
This collection comprises the National Negro Business League files in Part III of the Booker T. Washington Papers in the possession of the Library of Congress.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore primary sources related to the National Negro Business League, including documents by its founder Booker T. Washington as well as other leaders and on various league activities.
Content type: Primary sources, newspaper articles, correspondence, annual reports, meeting minutes
Coverage dates: 1901-1928
This collection comprises the National Negro Business League files in Part III of the Booker T. Washington Papers in the possession of the Library of Congress.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access FBI documentation regarding the Black Liberation Army (BLA) to learn more about this underground, Black nationalist-Marxist militant organization.
Content type: Primary sources, FBI reports, correspondence, pamphlets
Coverage dates: 1970-1983
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access FBI documentation regarding the Black Liberation Army (BLA) to learn more about this underground, Black nationalist-Marxist militant organization.
Content type: Primary sources, FBI reports, correspondence, pamphlets
Coverage dates: 1970-1983
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good source for primary souces on the Revolutionary Action Movement, as well as on other lesser-known Black nationalist movements.
Content type: Primary sources, newspaper articles, magazine articles, ephemera, correspondence, meeting minutes
Coverage dates: 1962-1999
From the collection of Maxwell Curtis Stanford, Jr., known since 1970 as Muhammad Ahmad, a civil rights activist and founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a Black power organization active during the 1960s.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good source for primary souces on the Revolutionary Action Movement, as well as on other lesser-known Black nationalist movements.
Content type: Primary sources, newspaper articles, magazine articles, ephemera, correspondence, meeting minutes
Coverage dates: 1962-1999
From the collection of Maxwell Curtis Stanford, Jr., known since 1970 as Muhammad Ahmad, a civil rights activist and founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a Black power organization active during the 1960s.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore scholarly journals, essays, and primary sources that provide an introduction to the major topics and figures in Black Studies.
Content type: Primary sources, scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, reference materials, images, indexes
Coverage dates: 1893-present
Includes full-text of The Chicago Defender (1910-1975), the online index to Black Literature (1827-1940), the Black Studies Periodicals Database, and the content from the African American Biographical Database.
Language: English
Keywords: BSC
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore this collection for non-fiction writings from prominent Black leaders covering many areas of the last 250 years of American history.
Content type: Primary sources, newspaper articles, correspondence, speeches, diaries, interviews, trial transcripts, scholarly commentary, monographs
Coverage dates: 1800s-present
Language: English
Chicago Defender, Historical This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Main newspaper for the African-American community in Chicago.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1910-1975
Full digitization of the newspaper, meaning all articles, illustrations, and advertisements are included.
Language: English
Keywords: ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources that shine light on the life and work of the voting rights activist and civil rights leader, Fannie Lou Hamer.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, financial records, programs, newspaper articles, images
Coverage dates: 1966-1978
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources that shine light on the life and work of the voting rights activist and civil rights leader, Fannie Lou Hamer.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, financial records, programs, newspaper articles, images
Coverage dates: 1966-1978
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
FBI Surveillance of James Forman and SNCC This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore government documents and FBI reports related to the investigations of James Forman and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which was active in voter registration for disenfranchised Black populations throughout the South.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1961-1976
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here to learn more about the federal scrutiny, harassment, and prosecution of African American individuals and organizations in the U.S. during the twentieth century.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, correspondence, memos
Coverage dates: 1920-1984
The collection includes files on individual leaders, including Malcolm X, and on Black-led organizations, including the NAACP.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access records of the Civil Rights Congress to learn more about the spirit and tactics of this early civil rights organization and its efforts to fight discrimination against labor leaders, African Americans, and other minorities.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, case files, transcripts, legal briefs
Coverage dates: 1946-1955
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
NAACP Papers This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for information on the NAACP and its leadership, structure, annual conferences, major speeches, and campaigns.
Content type: Primary sources, speeches, correspondence, press releases, organizational records, government documents, newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1900s
Language: English
Keywords: History Vault
Quest for Labor Equality in Household Work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore labor history and the women's rights movement through the records of the United Domestic Workers Union, including minutes, legal documents, financial records, and extensive correspondence.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1965-1979
The subject files illustrate the Union's involvement in the Black community, the Manpower Program, the Career Learning Center, the Homemaking Skills Training Program, Maids Honor Day, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and various federal agencies.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore documents, pamphlets, books and newspaper articles by African-Americans active in the anti-slavery/abolitionist movement prior to the Civil War.
Content type: Primary sources, pamphlets, correspondence, books, newspaper articles, speeches
Coverage dates: 1830-1865
Language: English
Keywords: Abolitionism
Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915: Plantation Records This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore documents to learn more about how major southern plantations operated before and after the civil war, with insights on the economics of and life in a society based on slavery.
Content type: Primary sources, diaries, correspondence, notebooks
Coverage dates: 1775-1915
Includes access to Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915: Plantation Records Parts 1-2.
Language: English
Keywords: History Vault
Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for learning about the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the transatlantic slave trade and the institution of slavery, as well as the global abolition movement and the dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and parts of Europe.
Content type: Newspaper articles, correspondence, pamphlets, legal documents, court records, books
Coverage dates: 1600s-1800s
Language: English, French
Slavery and the Law This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Find petitions on race, slavery, and free Blacks submitted state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775-1867 and a complete record of laws governing American slavery.
Content type: Primary sources, legal documents
Coverage dates: 1775-1867
Language: English
Keywords: History Vault

Enslaved.org
A database of individuals who were enslaved, owned slaves, or participated in the historical trade.

Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore materials by and about Amiri Baraka, a prominent African American writer and activist, gathered together by Dr. Komozi Woodard in the course of his research.
Content type: Primary sources, poetry, organizational records, plays, speeches, correspondence, oral histories
Coverage dates: 1913-1998
The materials cover Baraka's involvement in the politics in Newark, N.J. and in Black Power movement organizations such as the Congress of African People, the National Black Conference movement, the Black Women's United Front, as well as Baraka's increasing involvement in Marxism.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound

ASIAN AMERICAN

Final Accountability Rosters of Japanese-American Relocation Centers, 1944-1946 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Main database for alphabetical lists of evacuees at Japanese-American relocation centers, including such demographic information as name, family number, sex, date of birth, citizenship status, alien registration number, method of original entry.
Content type: Government reports
Coverage dates: 1944-1946
Includes rosters from the following internment camps: Central Utah, Colorado River, Gila River, Granada, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Manzanar, Minidoka, Rohwer, Tule Lake.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access primary sources documenting Japanese American incarceration experiences during WWII.
Content type: Primary sources, newspaper articles, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1942-1945
Includes 25 relocation camp newspapers, such as Rohwer Outpost, Poston Chronicle, Gila News Courier, Tulean Dispatch, Granada Pioneer, Minndoka Irrigator, Topaz Times, Manzanar Free Press, Denson Tribune, and Heart Mountain Sentinel.
Language: English, Japanese
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Personal Justice Denied: Public Hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment, 1981 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore transcripts and reports from public hearings detailing the experience of those who lived through WWII and internment as described by over 750 witnesses, including Japanese Americans, Aleuts, political officials, and historians.
Content type: Primary sources, Government reports, press releases, photographs, newspaper clippings.
Coverage dates: 1981
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound

Primary Resources in Immigration

Immigration: Records of the INS, 1880-1930 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore records of the investigations made by the Immigration and Naturalization Service during a large immigration wave to the U.S. from Asia, Mexico, and Europe.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents, memoranda, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1880-1930
This database also contains files on the INS’s regulation of prostitution and white slavery, and on suppression of individuals deemed to hold radical views.
Language: English
Keywords: History Vault
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for finding digitized primary sources on the experience of immigrants to the United States and Canada in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Content type: Primary sources, diaries, correspondence, interviews, oral histories
Coverage dates: 1800-1950
Language: English