Historical Documents and Sources

Resources in this category:

The Avalon Project at Yale University Law School
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm

Searchable archival legal documents - electronic texts.

The Avalon Project: World War II Documents
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/wwii.htm

This site collects electronic, full text versions of important political documents from the World War II era. Included are Germany's declaration of war, papers on the Yalta and Quebec Conferences, the Potsdam Declaration, the Master Lend-Lease Agreement, and many more. Documents are provided in HTML format.

Democracy at War: Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/newspapers/intro_e.html

An online searchable collection of over 144,000 newspaper articles relating to all aspects of the Second World War. Most newspapers are Canadian, and each article can be downloaded using Adobe Acrobat. The site also created fifty-five short historical articles about key topics.

Documents of Diplomatic History
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/irhistry.htm

Electronic texts connected with history, international relations, and diplomacy. Scope ranges from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to early twentieth century Mongolia, Austro-Hungary, and Finland. Also has links to World War I resources and international relations theory.

DScriptorium
http://www.byu.edu/~hurlbut/dscriptorium/

"DScriptorium is devoted to collecting, storing and distributing digital images of Medieval manuscripts (D is for Digital)". Browsable site containing links to a number of online exhibits featuring medieval manuscripts. Includes both descriptive text and images.

Encyclopedia of Chicago History
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/

The Encyclopedia of Chicago is a web site run by the Chicago Historical Society, the Newberry Library, and Northwestern University. It is filled with a deep and exhaustive look at the history of Chicago, and includes numerous photos and authentic documents available for perusal by users. There is also a listing of historical sources, maps, and special features – including Galleries and Interpretive Digital Essays. This is a great resource for anyone trying to learn more about the history of the city of Chicago.

EyeWitness to History
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

"Your ringside seat to history - from the Ancient World to the present. History through the eyes of those who lived it." This website highlights excerpts from primary source material, articles, and photographs about important people and events throughout history.

A Guide to World War I Materials
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/wwi/wwi.html

This site is an excellent resource for students and researchers interested in the history of World War I. The Library of Congress provides a list of links to materials that appear on their website that pertain to this historic event. There are links to photos, recordings, newspaper articles, online exhibitions and a bibliography for further reading.

HistoryWorld
http://www.historyworld.net/

"An ever expanding history resource helping to make history make sense. Everybody's articles and images can be set in a world, national and local context."

Internet Medieval Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html

Directory of primary source material for medieval studies that is availble on the Net. Browse by type of source or search. Includes special sections for , Maps and Images, and secondary sources. A large number of the texts on this site are religion-related, chiefly Christianity and Islam.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html

"The Internet Modern History Sourcebook is one of series of history primary sourcebooks. It is intended to serve the needs of teachers and students in college survey courses in modern European history and American history, as well as in modern Western Civilization and World Cultures. Although this part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project began as a way to access texts that were already available on the Internet, it now contains hundreds of texts made available locally." Offers links to a large number of online texts covering almost every aspect of modern history. Browsable by topic and searchable.

Jerusalem in Old Maps and Views
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/history/early+history+-+archaeolog...

"We love history. We love maps. And we think Jerusalem's kinda nifty, too. Imagine how delighted we were to find the Israeli government's Jerusalem in Old Maps and Views page. From the earliest known image of the city - a sixth-century mosaic - to a 1905 mizrach (a wall decoration indicating east), these maps depict Jerusalem with flair and symbolism. Symbolism, in fact, means more to these mapmakers than geography; were we lost in Jerusalem with one of these maps contemporarily in hand, we'd still be lost in Jerusalem. To be fair, we should say that most of the maps depict more the country than the city, but Jerusalem, being what it is, always seems to be a focal point. "

McKinley Assassination Ink: A Documentary History of William McKinley’s Assassination
http://mckinleydeath.com/

MAI is dedicated to collecting full-text primary resources relating to William McKinley and his assassination. Also included are resources concerning Roosevelt’s succession, materials on the assassin, Leon Czolgosz, and various quotes concerning the time period. Documents are searchable by title, author, type and keyword allowing for better access.

National Constitution Center
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/

The National Constitution Center is a non-profit organization that works to increase understanding of the U.S. Constitution. The site includes the full text of the Constitution, including a variety of interactive tools designed to explain the document. Also includes links to information about other U.S. historical documents, resources for teachers, and a section for kids.

The Negroponte File
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB151/

This site contains recently de-classified documents from John Negroponte’s tenure as Ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, an era of Central American civil wars and controversial U.S. foreign policy in the region. Negroponte is currently the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Documents and site are maintained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

Polar Bear Expedition Digital Collections
http://polarbears.si.umich.edu/

University of Michigan faculty and students at the School of Information in collaboration with the Bentley Historical Library created this site that provides virtual access to the largest collection of primary source and published materials related to the "Polar Bear Expedition," the U.S.'s military intervention in northern Russia near World War I's conclusion. The site includes digitized images, letters, journal entries, maps, military records, oral histories, and a movie related to these U.S. service men who ended up fighting Bolshevik revolutionaries months after fighting in France ended.

Primary Documents in American History
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/PrimDocsHome.html

This site offers a list of some of the most important documents in American history from 1763 to 1877. Each document has a page with background information, links to digital material associated with the documents, and bibliographies for both adult and young readers.

Realms of the Sacred: Early Written Records of Mesoamerica
http://www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/exhibits/meso/sacred.html

This site contains pictures and descriptive explanations of codices from the major ancient Mesoamerican civilizations. Analysis focuses on texts from the Maya, Aztec, and Mixtec civilizations, with additional information on architecture, culture, landscape, and learning. There is also some treatment of codices from the colonial era. This is an online library exhibit from the University of California-Irvine.

Speech & Transcript Center
http://www.freepint.com/gary/speech.htm

Links for Real Audio and text transcripts of speeches and TV and radio programs. Speakers include politicians and world leaders (present and historical), government representatives, business executives, and representatives of professional, trade, and social justice associations.

Turning the Pages on the web
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

The British Library has digitized important historical works, such as Caxton's Chaucer, Beowulf, Gutenberg Bible, Lindisfarne Gospels, Da Vinci's notebook, Sherborne Missal among others. User can "turn the pages of rare books or manuscripts in a highly realistic way. They can zoom in on the high-quality digitized images and read or listen to notes explaining the significance of each page."

U.S News Archives on the Web
http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/internet/archives.html

This contains links to United States news archives available on the Web arranged by state and provides the dates of the archives along with the cost to retrieve the item. Over 100 archives of international news sources are also available in this site.

UNESCO/IFLA Directory of Digitized Collections
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/digicol/

"This site aims to offer a listing of major digitized heritage collections and on-going digitization programmes worldwide. It is hoped that this will provide a single focal point of information on digitized collections. This site will act as the 'Memory of the World' virtual library offering direct access to those collections, where permission to link has been granted." Search or browse the database.

US Historical Documents
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/

This site includes a chronology of US historical documents from pre-colonial era to the present. There are links to text-only versions of the documents and speeches.

Vindolanda Tablets Online
http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/

Online edition of the Vindolanda writing tablets, excavated from the Roman fort at Vindolanda in northern England. Contains an introduction to the tablets and their context, a guide to aspects of the tablets' content, and a searchable online edition of the tablets (volumes I and II).

The World War I Document Archive
http://www.gwpda.org/

"This archive of primary documents from World War I has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). The archive is international in focus and intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War." Documents include conventions, treaties, official papers, memorials, personal reminiscences, and images. There's also a WWI biographical dictionary.

WW II Resources
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/

Searchable collection of government documents relating to World War II. Most are US documents concerned with the attack on Pearl Harbor, but there are European intelligence and diplomatic documents , and material on the conduct of the Pacific, some written by Japanese military sources.

Yale University Map Collection
http://www.library.yale.edu/MapColl/index.html

"The Map Collection has the largest collection of maps in Connecticut and one of the largest university collections in the United States. Its collections are geographically comprehensive and consist of over 200,000 map sheets, 3,000 atlases, and 900 reference books. The Collection also houses approximately 15,000 rare (pre-1850) sheet maps. " Site does not include all of the library's maps but does include a good selection from its Antiquarian and Historical City maps to name a few.