the Internet Public Library

Historical Documents Resources

Show Me Associations | Serials in this category.

Resources in this category are:

Amendments to the Constitution

http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html

Here are the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution with dates and states ratifing the amendment.

Author: United States

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents--Constitutions & Treaties in Force

Keywords: United States; Constitution; Amendments

American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/

"American Memory historical collections contain documents, motion pictures, photographs, and sound recordings about important places in the history of the United States." This vast collection of digitized historical materials can be searched, or browsed by title, topic, or format. There's also a special Learning section for using the colelction in an educational setting.

Author: Library of Congress (lcweb@loc.gov)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

American Memory: Library of Congress Map Collections, 1544-1996

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html

"The Geography and Map Dvision of the Library of Congress holds more than 4.5 million items, of which Map Collections represents only a small fraction, those that have been converted to digital form. The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection. Map Collections is organized according to seven major catagories.." These catagories include Cities and Towns, Conservation and Envrionment, Discovery and Exploration, Immigration and Settlement, Military Battles and Campaigns, Transportation and Communication, and General Maps. There is also a link to the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress.

Author: Library of Congress Map Collections

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Maps

Archiving Early America

http://www.earlyamerica.com/

Archiving Early America is a source of historical materials from 18th Century America. Collections include original newspapers, maps and writings of the time.

Author: Don Vitale (devcom@devcom.seanet.com)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Maps

Keywords: Early America; 18th Century America

Colonists and Native Americans

http://history.hanover.edu/17th/native.htm

This Website offers historical documents: "Texts and Archives:First Thanksgiving Proclamation (MS State)/ Secondary Sources/ New Meet Old Americans (Knowledge Adventure)/ History of Jamestowne (Jamestowne Society)/ The Real Pocahontas by Jessica Ronky (Times)/ The Chicora Indians (Pride Net)// Resources: Pride Net: Native American Resources/ Native American Legal Resources (WisBar)/" "Texts and Documents" This Website is a part of the Texts and Documents project at Hanover College.

Author:

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Native Americans

Social Sciences--Ethnicity, Culture, and Race--Native American

Keywords: Native Americans; American Indians; Documents; Archives; Colonies; Jamestown; Thanksgiving; Pacahontas; Chicorea Indians; Legal Resources

Constitution of the United States of America

http://www.law.cornell.edu:80/constitution/constitution.overview.html

Includes Preamble, Articles I-VII (The Legislative Branch, the Presidency, the Judiciary, the States, the Amendment Process, Legal Status of the Constitution, Ratification), and Amendments I-XXVII, as well as list of signers. In this hypertext version of the Constitution, provisions that have been amended or otherwise affected by subsequent amendments are linked to the relevant amendments.

Author: United States

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents--Constitutions & Treaties in Force

Keywords: Delegation of Powers

Constitutional Law Center

http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/

"An educational resource site dedicated to the United States Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court... Designed with students and the general public in mind, the FindLaw Constitutional Law Center features an easy-to-read guide that leads visitors through historical documents, biographies, and Supreme Court decisions. Users can browse through the Federalist Papers, read the Constitution, or research the lives of the Founding Fathers or past and present Supreme Court Justices."

Author: FindLaw

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Government--US Federal Government--Judicial

Keywords: Supreme Court; Legal decisions

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/coredocs.html

Texts of historical and current government documents, including: Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the U.S., Articles of Confederation, Gettysburg Address, Supreme Court Decisions, Economic Indicators, Government Manual, Statistical Abstract of the United States, and the federal budget.

Author: U.S. Government Printing Office (wwwadmin@gpo.gov.)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Government--US Federal Government

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents

Keywords: federal government documents and publications; democracy

Daguerrean Broadside

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/7671/

The history of Daugerreotype is interesting as a forerunner to modern photography. This site provides images of Daugerrotypes and its history for researchers and the general public. It includes links to other sites which can aid the interested in learning more about daugerrotypes.

Author:

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--Fine Arts--Visual Arts--Photography

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Documenting the American South: Beginnings to 1920 (DAS)

http://docsouth.unc.edu/

"'Documenting the American South' (DAS) is a full-text database of primary resources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Currently, DAS includes three digitization projects: slave narratives, first-person narratives, and Southern literature. A fourth, based on Confederate imprints, is in development. The Main Library System at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sponsors this database, and the texts come primarily from its Southern collections. An Editorial Board guides its development."

Author: Academic Affairs Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (webteam@www.lib.unc.edu)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Wars--Civil War

Keywords: Southern Literature; Slave Narratives; E-Texts

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/bdsdhome.html

"The Continental Congress Broadside Collection (253 titles) and the Constitutional Convention Broadside Collection (21 titles) contain 274 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most Broadsides are one page in length, others range from 1 to 28 pages."

Author: Library of Congress. Rare Book and Special Collections Division (ndlpcoll@loc.gov)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Wars--American Revolution

Douglass: Archives of American Public Address

http://www.douglassarchives.org/

"Douglass is an electronic archive of American oratory and related documents. It is intended to serve general scholarship and courses in American rhetorical history at Northwestern University." The archive can be browsed by speaker, title, chronologically or by topic, or searched.

Author: Northwestern University School of Speech (dialogue@nothwestern.edu)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents

Keywords: Speeches

The Dred Scott Case

http://www.library.wustl.edu/vlib/dredscott/

"In 1846, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed suit for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court. This suit began an eleven-year legal fight that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a landmark decision declaring that Scott remain a slave. This decision contributed to rising tensions between the free and slave states just before the American Civil War. The records displayed in this exhibit document the Scotts' early struggle to gain their freedom through litigation and are the only extant records of this significant case as it was heard in the St. Louis Circuit Court."

Author: Washington University Libraries (roxanna-herrick@library.wustl.edu)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Keywords: slavery; Dred Scott; Harriet Scott

The Emancipation Proclamation

http://www.nara.gov/exhall/featured-document/eman/emanproc.html

The proclamation by President Lincoln that set slaves free, during the Civil War in the United States.

Author: Abraham Lincoln

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents--Historical

Keywords: Civil War; Slavery; United States; Speech

The Federalist Papers

http://memory.loc.gov/const/fed/fedpapers.html

After the United States Constitution was ratified, The Federalist Papers argued the merits of becoming part of the Union. This site breaks the Federalist Papers into each paper from Federalist Paper No.1 to Federalist Paper No.85.

Author: James Madison

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Keywords: Federalism; United States; Alexander Hamilton; James Madison; John Jay; Political Philosophy

George Washington's Inaugural Address

http://www.nara.gov/exhall/originals/inaugura.html

This is the first U.S. inaugural speech given by George Washington. This site provides the full text and some photos of the original document speech.

Author: George Washington

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Keywords: Speech; United States; Inauguration

The Gettysburg Address

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/

Here you will find images of two of the versions of the Gettysburg Address, the Nicholay Draft and the Hay Draft, and also the text. This is President Lincoln's address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to keep the war going in the effort to keep the Union together.

Author: Abraham Lincoln

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Keywords: Gettysburg; Speech; Lincoln; United States; Civil War

JFK-Dallas, November 22, 1963

http://www.dallasnews.com/jfk/

Provides news stories, personal perspectives, maps and photographs, and audio and video relating to U.S. President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination.

Author:

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--20th Century History

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Keywords: Kennedy; Assassination; President; Oswald; Dallas

Kappler's Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/

Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler, is a seven volume compilation of U.S. treaties, laws and executive orders pertaining to Native American Indian tribes.

Author:

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Native Americans

Law, Government & Political Science--Government--US Federal Government

Keywords: Indians; Treaties; executive; order; law

Library of Congress

http://lcweb.loc.gov/

"The Library of Congress is using the World Wide Web (WWW) to present information about and materials from its collections over the Internet." It's also possible to view Internet exhibits that cover American history, get legislative information, access resources for researchers and information professionals, and find out more about the Library of Congress and what it does. Instructions for searching the Library of Congress catalogs are available in English or Spanish.

Author: Library of Congress (lcweb@loc.gov)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--Libraries--Libraries Online

Law, Government & Political Science--Government--US Federal Government--Legislature

Keywords: Exhibits

Making of America (MOA)

http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa/

"Making of America (MOA) 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. The collection contains approximately 1,600 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints. The project represents a major collaborative endeavor in preservation and electronic access to historical texts. The Making of America collection is made up of images of the pages in the books and journals. When you find something you want to look at, you will see a scanned image of the actual pages of the 19th century volume." The site is searchable and browsable.

Author: Cornell University Library (LIBGATEWAY-L@cornell.edu)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Keywords: antebellum; reconstruction; books

Monroe Doctrine

http://campus.northpark.edu/history/Classes/Sources/Monroe.html

What became known as the "Monroe Doctrine" expressed by President James Monroe at the seventh annual message to Congress, December 2, 1823. Here he asserts that the United States would not recognize any transfer of any non-American power to another non-American power. If that should occur, the U.S. would consult with other American republics and thus would take appropriate actions.

Author: James Monroe

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents--Historical

Keywords: President Monroe; United States Government

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

http://www.nara.gov/

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent federal agency whose mission is to preserve the national history of the United States by overseeing the management of all federal records. The Web site includes a comprehensive list of archival information maintained by various branches of the Federal government, as well as online exhibits, educational material, and information about programs and events sponsored by this agency. Information is also available regarding the agency's support for the professional archival and records management community.

Author:

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--Archives & Records Management

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Government--US Federal Government--Executive--Agencies

Keywords: Census; Historical; Executive; Legislative; Judicial; Public; Preservation

The National Security Archive

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

"The National Security Archive is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)." View selected documents at this site on topics ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Nixon-Elvis meeting.

Author: The George Washington University (www@www.gwu.edu)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Government--US Federal Government

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents--Historical

The Oyez Project

http://oyez.nwu.edu/

"The OYEZ Project contains many hundreds of hours of audio materials..." and "...dozens of panoramic images of the Supreme Court Building. The Project provides abstracts and other materials for leading cases in constitutional law decided by the Supreme Court of the United States." Cases are searchable by citation, title, subject or date.

Author: Jerry Goldman (j-goldman@nwu.edu)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Law, Government & Political Science--Government--US Federal Government--Judicial

Law, Government & Political Science--Political Science--Documents--Historical

Keywords: Supreme Court; audio recording; constitutional law

Pearl Harbor Radiogram

http://www.nara.gov/exhall/originals/fdr.html

"President Roosevelt's famous "Day of Infamy" speech was a call to arms. One day after the attack, he expressed outrage at Japan and confidence in the "inevitable triumph" of the United States. On December 8 the United States declared war against Japan; on December 11 Germany and Italy declared war against the United States." Here you will find images of the speech, the text declaring war by President Franklin Roosevelt, and an image of the radiogram reporting the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Author: U.S. Naval Air Station, Kodiak, Alaska

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Wars--World War II

Keywords: Pear Harbor; War; United States

Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/umhtml/umhome.html

"Portrays the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century through first-person accounts, biographies, promotional literature, local histories, ethnographic and antiquarian texts, colonial archival documents, and other works drawn from the Library of Congress's General Collections and Rare Books and Special Collections Division. The collection's 138 volumes depict the land and its resources; the conflicts between settlers and Native peoples; the experience of pioneers and missionaries, soldiers and immigrants and reformers; the growth of local communities and local cultural traditions; and the development of regional and national leadership in agriculture, business, medicine, politics, religion, law, journalism, education, and the role of women."

Author: Library of Congress (lcweb@loc.gov)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

U.S. Historical Documents Archive

http://w3.one.net/~mweiler/ushda/ushda.htm

Has full text of many historical documents from United States history, as well as speeches and presidential inaugural addresses. Searching is also available. Users can also make recommendations for new documents.

Author: Matthew Weiler (mweiler@one.net or mweiler@tso.cin.ix.net)

Subjects:

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Keywords: United States; Treaties; Constitutions

Unheard Voices: American Women in the Emerging Industrial and Business Age

http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/unheard_voices/

Provides a guide to primary sources related to women entrepreneurs and women and work available at Baker Library at Harvard Business School, with particular focus on the 19th century. Includes a bibliography and links to web sites related to the history of women in business.

Author: Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School (histcollref@hbs.edu)

Subjects:

Business & Economics--Business Administration & Management--Women & Minority-owned Business

Arts & Humanities--History--North America--United States--Historical Documents

Social Sciences--Gender & Sexuality--Women--Careers

Search the IPL Ready Reference Collection

Return to: United States | North America | History | Arts & Humanities | Ready Reference Collection | IPL Reference Center | IPL Lobby