Primary Sources: U.S.

Selected Primary Document on the United States

Archives--General Document Collections--Ohio--Early America--

Civil War & Reconstruction--Congressional Documents--Foreign Affairs--

National Security--Presidential Documents--Slavery-- Speeches--

Supreme Court/Federal Courts--Women

What is a primary source?
Primary sources may be letters, manuscripts, newspapers, clothing, pottery, recorded sound or other items that offer original evidence of a civilization, a person, an event or a place.  Since a single primary source reflects one point of view, consulting various sources is necessary in an attempt to understand different perspectives and distinguish between historical fact and fiction.

Using Primary Sources on the Web  -a guide for use and evaluation of sites

Check OSU library catalog  for primary sources owned by the  Libraries

Sample subject headings: 
   United States – Foreign Relations – Germany – Sources
   Witchcraft -- Europe -- History – Sources
   Slavery -- United States -- Personal Narratives

Keyword search:        Napoleon* and revolution and personal narratives
                                  Slavery and South Carolina and sources

Using an * finds Napoleon or Napoleonic etc.

Also, you may limit a subject or perform a word search with the following words in the subject headings:  sources, archives, correspondence, diaries, personal narratives, interviews, church records and registers, early works to 1800, wills, probate records, sermons

Archives

Archive Finder (formerly ArchivesUSA) 
Guide to primary source collections from thousands of repositories in the US, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland.  Includes the National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections (Library of Congress, 1951-1993) Z6620U5N3 in ISD; Also includes the National Inventory of Documentary Sources - United States that provides the text of finding aids to collections.  Use fiche number and find at CD3065N38 in MIC.  Also includes National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United Kingdom and Ireland.  Use the fiche number and find at CD1042 .N37 Microfiche in MIC.National Archives (U.S.)  (homepage) 

Archival Research Catalog (keyword search)  online catalog of National Archives' nationwide holdings in the   Washington, DC area, Regional Archives and Presidential Libraries.

Access to Archival Databases (Identify holdings of electronic records at the National Archives)   
  See also Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States, 3 Vols.:  CD3026 1995 .U54 1995 in Library Depository

Electronic Records Archive

General Document Collections

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History

American and British History Resources on the Internet (Rutgers University Libraries)

American Political Development (Miller Center for Public Affairs, U of Virginia)
Includes oral history and recordings from selected presidents in the 20^th century

American Memory from the Library of Congress Home Page
Documents, photos, sound on wide range of subject in American history

Civil Rights Digital Library from the Digital Library of Georgia
Documents, photos, audio, video, and articles about events, people, places and topics

Core Documents in U.S. History  (sponsored by US Government Printing Office)

An American TIme Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
the collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history

Diplomatic Document Collections at OSU Libraries
Western Europe, US, and Canada

Documents at National Archives web site

From Revolution to Reconstruction
Selected documents in American history 15^th century –

Images of the American West and Civil War

Making of America  (See also next collection)
Full text/search of 19th century books and journals in American history

Nineteenth Century in Print: The Making of America in Books and Periodicals (see also previous collection)
This collection comprises books and periodicals published in the United States during the nineteenth century, primarily during the second half of the century. Most of the materials were digitized through the Making of America project.

19th Century United States Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies Online
Links to web sites and texts

Primary Sources in US History,
Guides to some primary source collections and text of selected primary sources in African-American studies and other topics)

Spain, the United States, & the American Frontier: Historias Paralelas 
Maps, rare books, manuscripts, prints and photographs, and motion pictures from the Library of Congress illustrating the influence of Spain on North America, the Caribbean, and present-day Mexico between 1492-1898.

The Territorial Papers of the United States. 24 Vols.  Washington, D.C. : U.S. G.P.O., 1934-.  E173 .U582 at ACK
Official records of the American territories prior to statehood.  For print volume details see http://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b3405011

U.S. Military Academy, West Point.  Center for Oral History.
Site under development.  Officially opens in early 2009.  Will include contemporary oral histories from U.S. soldiers.

Ohio

Digital Media Center (Ohiolink)
Collections of digital pictures, archives, and oral histories from Ohio history.  Includes Kent State Shootings Oral Histories, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center documents, and Wright Brothers photos documenting the invention of the airplane, and more.

Greater Cincinnati Memory Project
Keyword searchable database of historical images

Ohio Historical Society
Search the OHS catalog for their primary source collections

Ohio Memory: An Online Scrapbook of Ohio History
Primary sources contributed by Ohio institutions

Ohio State University Archives
Manuscripts & photos on the history of OSU; Byrd Polar Research Archive; John Glenn Archive

Ohio State University Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts
Among the collections are editions of Don Quixote through the ages in various languages, seventeenth-century drama collection; a rich, historical collection of multiple copies of different editions of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs; Anglican, Puritan and Catholic religious books, and important writings of early Protestant reformers.

OhioPix
Selected photographs from the Ohio Historical Society

Early America: Books, Periodicals and Documents

American Periodical Series (1740-1900)
Full text search and display of periodical articles.

America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922)
Search & read facsimile text of a growing database of newspapers. Database continues to add titles.  Additional early American newspapers in Microforms Rm. in Thompson Library.

American archives: consisting of a collection of authentick records, state papers, debates, and letters… By Peter Force [Washington, 1837-53].  Collection of documents of the American Revolution from 1774-1776, digitized and searchable.  Sponsored by North Illinois University Libraries.  Original print copy available at Rare Books Rm., call # E203 .A5 

Archives of Maryland Online (17th century-present)
Provides "access to over 471,000 historical documents that form the constitutional, legal, legislative, judicial, and administrative basis of Maryland's government."  Includes facsimile views.

Early American Newspapers Digital (1690-1875)
See under America's Historical Newspapers above

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 [Evans Digital Edition]
Based on Charles Evans' American Bibliography], it includes the full text of books, pamphlets, broadsides etc. published before 1800.  See also microprint edition, Early American Imprints, 1639-1800, Evans Numbers 1-49197, filed by Evans Bibliography (EB) numbers as indicated in OSCAR and OhioLink: AC1 .E2 Microprint in Microforms Rm. The microprint and electronic editions do not include newspapers.

Early American Imprints, 1801-1819 [Shaw Shoemaker]
Keyword access to the full text and facsimile images of books, pamphlets, broadsides etc. published in American 1801-1819.  Publications based on American Bibliography, a Preliminary Checklist for 1801-1819, comp. by  RR Shaw and RH Shoemaker.
Z1215 .S4 in REF.  Also available on microprint: AC1 .E22 Microprint in MIC.

Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926
Includes 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law

Papers of Benjamin Franklin  Sponsored by The American Philosophical Society and Yale University.  Digital edition, search and display Franklin's writings and correspondence. See also the published papers in the library at http://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b1133684

Prestatehood Legal Materials: A Fifty-state Research Guide, including New York City and the District of Columbia. M. Chiorazzi, M. Most, editors. New York: Haworth Information Press, c2005. 2 v.  KF240 .P688 2005 at Law

The Territorial Papers of the United States. 24 Vols.  Washington, D.C. : U.S. G.P.O., 1934-.  E173 .U582 at ACK
Official records of the American territories prior to statehood.  For print volume details see http://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b3405011

Tracts and other papers relating principally to the origin, settlement, and progress of the colonies in North America from the discovery of the country to the year 1776. By Peter Force.  (Washington: Printed by P. Force, 1836-46). Part of American Memory at the Library of Congress.  Original print copy available at Rare Books Rm., call # E187.F69 or in reprint in Depository.

Civil War and Reconstruction (See also Congressional Documents and Presidential Documents below)

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies
Facsimile; keyword search, browse) See also paper copy, E591 .U6 in Library Depository

War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Facsimile; keyword search and browse) See also paper copy, E464 .U6 1985 in Thompson Library 

American Civil War Collections at the [U of Virginia] Electronic Text Center

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System
Information extracted from sources about individuals, African-Americans in the war, military units, battles, parks, cemeteries. Sponsored by the National Park Service)

Civil War Diaries (Western Michigan University)
Includes 8 searchable diaries with facsimile images of originals and transcriptions of all text.

Crisis of the Union: An Electronic Archive of Documents About the Causes Conduct and Consequences of the US Civil War
Includes documents from the 1850s – 1870s on the Civil War and Reconstruction.  Produced by the Dept. of History, University of Pennsylvania

Documenting the American South
Includes “texts, images, and audio files related to Southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Currently DocSouth includes seven thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.”

Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational and Industrial: 1865 to the present time. Cleveland, Ohio, 1906-1907. 2 vols.  By Walter L. Fleming.  See also paper: E668 .F58 at Depository.  Additional collections of documents on Reconstruction

First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920
Includes the diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives of not only prominent individuals, but also of relatively inaccessible populations: women, African Americans, enlisted men, laborers, and Native Americans

Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867  selected documents
Complete publication in print at OSU Libraries

Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926
Includes 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law

Southern Home Front, 1861-1865 from Documenting the American South at the U of North Carolina

The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War
Includes letters, diaries, newspapers, records from churches, courts and taxes from two communities in Virginia and Pennsylvania during the war and Reconstruction. 

Congressional Documents

    Guides and Indexes

Guide to Historical Session Dates of Congress
Guide to Previous Congressional Leadership & Officers

Congressional Directory, 104th Congress (1995-96) -present
Complete guide to committees, district maps, elected officials, executive branch contacts

Lexis/Nexis Congressional  (1789-present)
Find the full text of Congressional reports and documents (1789-1969) and full text for many documents, bills, public laws and hearing testimony from the 1990's to the present. Includes bills, laws, legislative histories, committee prints, House and Senate documents and reports; info on members of Congress; federal regulations)

     1774-1789: Continental Congress & Period of Articles of Confederation

Documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789
The "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.  See also Papers of the Continental Congress, 204 reels, E303.U5 Microfilm in MIC and its Index in 5 vols. at Z1238B87 in MIC Reference.

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
"…records of the daily proceedings of the first and second continental congresses. Paper copy in Law Stacks, J10 .A5 1904.

Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. 1787-1789  “The best source for materials about the national government's transitional period between the closing of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787 and the opening of the First Federal Congress in March 1789.”

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.  Compiled by Max Farrand in 1911.

Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789
"Written by delegates that bear directly upon their work during their years of actual service in the First and Second Continental Congresses." Paper edition in Thompson Library  JK1033 .L47.

     1789-present

      Reports and Documents

American State Papers, 1789-1838  See Lexis Nexis Congressional or http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsp.html
"Contain[s] the legislative and executive documents of Congress during the period 1789 to 1838. The collection includes documents that cover the critical historical gap from 1789 to the printing of the first volume of the U.S. Serial Set in 1817." Paper copy in Thompson Library (J33) and Depository (KF11 .A48 1832). Sections include Foreign Relations, Indian Affairs, Finances, Commerce and Navigation, Military Affairs,  Naval Affairs, Post Office Department, Public Lands, Claims, and Miscellaneous.

U.S. Serial Set   See Lexis Nexis Congressional; also see http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/index.html (1995-present)
"Contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports. The reports are usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation.  Congressional documents are a rich source of information in foreign affairs, politics, finance, business, economics, appointments, environment, safety, transportation as well as social and cultural affairs of the nation.  This set includes the maps and illustrations that appeared with the original documents.  Documents and reports also in CIS microfiche set (J74C55  in MIC).  Committee Prints.  

 GPO Access 1995-
Contemporary executive, congressional, judicial & regulatory documents

      Bills, Resolutions, Journals

Bills and Resolutions, 1799-1873  [not all years included]
"Bills and Resolutions are available for selected sessions of Congress, beginning with the 6th Congress in the House of Representatives, the 16th Congress in the Senate, and the 18th Congress for Senate Joint Resolutions."

House Journal    1789-1875. 
Also see Lexis/Nexis Congressional’s “Historical Indexes” section for index to 1817-1952 with CIS reference number to microfiche set in Microfilms Rm.  Search by title for “house journal.”  Print volumes for 1966-1983 available in Documents in Thompson Library Reference Dept.  HJs from 1982-present on microfiche in MIC (KF45 .A22 Microfiche).  HJs for 1953-1965 are not owned.

Senate Journal   1789-1875. 
See also McClay’s Journal of the Senate for 1789-1791.  Also see Lexis/Nexis Congressional’s “Historical Indexes” section for index to 1817-1952 with CIS reference number to microfiche set in Microfilms Rm.  Search by title for “senate journal.”  Print volumes for 1954, 1970-1982 available in Documents in Thompson Library.  SJs from 1983-present on microfiche in MIC (KF46 .A22 Microfiche).  SJs for 1953-1965 are not owned.

Senate Executive Journals  
Online volumes cover 1789-1875.  For all years from 1789-2001 in print see JK1251 .A3 in Thompson Library  (Journal of the Executive Proceedings…)

Lexis Nexis Congressional (1969-present)
Find the full text for many bills, laws, legislative histories, info on members of Congress; federal regulations)

        Debates.

Annals of Congress: 1789-1824

  Find paper copy

Register of Debates: 1824-1837
  Find paper copy

Congressional Globe: 1833-1873
  Find paper Copy

Congressional Record: 1873-2004
  Find paper copy

Congressional Record Daily: 1994-present

Lexis/Nexis Congressional,1881-present
expanding back to 1789

        Hearings

Lexis Nexis Congressional (1789-present)
Find the full text of Congressional reports and documents (1789-1969) and full text for many documents, bills, public laws and hearing testimony from the 1990's to the present. Includes bills, laws, legislative histories, committee prints, House and Senate documents and reports; info on members of Congress; federal regulations)

GPO Access   1995-present  Full hearings

      Additional Resources

US Statutes at Large, 1789-2005
"Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage." Entire set of statutes in Thompson Library, K42A2.

 Thomas
Contemporary legislative information from the U.S. House of Representatives

 U.S. Senate Legislative Information Contemporary legislative information

Foreign Affairs (See also Treaties below)

Diplomatic Document Collections at OSU Libraries - Western Europe, US, and Canada

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) (FULL TEXT)  For paper ed. 1861-  [title varies]: JX233 .A3 in Thompson Library
1861-1960 [Wisconsin FRUS project]
1861-1976 [Heinonline service]

American Foreign Policy Current Documents.  1956-1967 (JX1417 .A33 at Law; Depository); 1981-1990 JX1417A33 in Depository

US State Department Bulletin, 1939-1989. Includes the complete test of each issue.  Collects public documents produced by the Dept. of State such as press releases, speeches, and articles.  Print copy in the Depository JX232 .A26

US State Department Dispatch. 1990-1999. A similar publication to the bulletin but contains less content.  Print copy in the Depository JX232 .A262.

The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
Includes transcripts of interviews at the Library of Congress.  The interviews... are mostly with Foreign Service Officers but there also are some with political appointees and other officials.  While some 1920s-, 1930s-, and World-War-II-era diplomacy is covered, most of the interviews involve post-World-War-II diplomacy, from the late 1940s to the 1990s.  Search by keyword or browse by author or subject.

National Security

Declassified Documents Reference System early 20th century-present
Search the full text of selected U.S. government documents obtained from presidential libraries. These libraries receive declassified documents from various government agencies, including the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, and others. As researchers visit these presidential libraries and request documents, the libraries...[provide the documents for DDRS]. The result is a collection of more than 75,000 documents, consisting of more than 465,000 pages, that has literally been built by researchers themselves for nearly two decades.

Digital National Security Archive
"The most comprehensive collection available of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945."  Additional, related documents are available at the National Security Archive at George Washington Univ.

Homeland Security Digital Library
Homeland security strategy, policy and research documents published by governments and private institutions

Presidential Documents

George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress
John Adams documents from the Massachusetts Historical Society (see right sidebar)
Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
Jefferson Digital Archive at the Univ. of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society
James Madison Papers at the Library of Congress
John Quincy Adams diaries 1779-1848 at the Massachusetts Historical Society
Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Ed. by Roy Basler, 1953)
Lincoln Virtual Library  at the Library of Congress
Abraham Lincoln/Net:  Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project  presents historical materials from Abraham Lincoln's Illinois years (1830-1861), including Lincoln's writings and speeches. Also has video, audio and images.

Presidential Library Collections sponsored by the National Archives.
Sites listed below include selected online documents.  All sites include guides to their collections.
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library  describes holdings and gives links to Lincoln related web sites.
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center describes archive holdings and services
Franklin D. Roosevelt documents from the FDR Presidential Library and Museum
Harry Truman documents from the Truman Museum and Library
Dwight Eisenhower documents from the Eisenhower Presidential Library
John F. Kennedy speeches and press conferences from the JFK Library
Lyndon B. Johnson documents from the LBJ Library and Museum
Richard Nixon documents from the Nixon Library
Gerald Ford documents from the Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum
Jimmy Carter documents from the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
Ronald Reagan speeches from Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
George H.W. Bush documents from the George Bush Presidential Library
William J. Clinton describes archive holdings and services
George W. Bush in the planning stage (12/09)

Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents (New Series) 22 Vols.
Keyword searchable database of selected papers from George Washington through Herbert Hoover. Print copy of v1-20 in Library Depository J81.B96C.

Public Papers of the Presidents (keyword searchable)    Print edition for 1945-present available in Thompson Reference J80 .A28 .
Herbert Hoover, 1929-1933  (Print edition in Thompson Library, E801.H79)
 Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-1945  (Print edition in Thompson Library, E806 .R78)
 Harry Truman, 1945-1953 through George W. Bush, 2001-    
 George H.W. Bush,1992 --  (Includes GHW Bush, Bill Clinton, and GW Bush)

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993-- ) (1965-- ) Updated weekly
Print edition for 1965-2001 available in the Reference Dept. in Thompson Library, J80 .A75.

American Presidency Project 
Searchable site that contains over 61,00 public presidential documents, such as executive orders, radio addresses, and speeches.  Also included are the texts of presidential debates since 1960, national party platforms since 1840, state of the union addresses since 1793, and historical statistical data on the presidency and presidential elections.

Presidential Speeches in Audio and/or Text (Washington to Clinton)
Audio is in mps3 and requires downloading to a hard drive first before playback.
The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004
Video and audio of television commercials during the campaigns

Slavery 

     Narratives

American Slavery [Narratives]: A Composite Autobiography (Greenwood Press)

First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920
Includes the diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives of not only prominent individuals, but also of relatively inaccessible populations: women, African Americans, enlisted men, laborers, and Native Americans

North American Slave Narratives from Documenting the American South by the U of North Carolina
Includes narratives drawn from books and articles

Slave Narratives from the Library of Congress

Voices from the Days of Slavery (Audio) Former Slaves Tell Their Stories

    Book, Pamphlet and Manuscript Collections

Anti-slavery books and pamphlets from Cornell University Libraries
"Numbering over 10,000 titles, [the collection includes searchable full text]...pamphlets and leaflets document[ing] the anti-slavery struggle at the local, regional, and national levels."

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record
"Approximately 1,200 images in this collection have been selected from a wide range of sources"

Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress

From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909  presents 396 pamphlets... published from 1822 through 1909, by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics. The materials range from personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports and legislative speeches.

Race and Slavery Petition Project (1770s-1860s) a the History Dept., University of North Carolina, Greensboro
"Designed to locate, collect, organize, and publish virtually all surviving legislative petitions, and a large selected group of county court petitions concerning slavery in the South."

Slavery, Abolition, and Social Justice 1490-2007
A "portal for slavery and abolition studies, bringing together documents and collections covering an extensive time period 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is being given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today."

Slavery and the Courts, 1740-1860
Search and view facsimile or html of pamphlets and documents

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture
Multimedia: texts, moving pictures, audio

Speeches

History and Politics Out Loud
Hear parts of speeches

Presidential Speeches in Audio and/or Text (Washington to Clinton)
Audio is in mps3 and requires downloading to a hard drive first before playback.

Supreme Court/Federal Courts Decisions and Analysis

CQ Supreme Court Collection  1789-present
Search for history and analysis about cases and background on justices.  Search by keywords, select cases by popular subject headings, and analyze opinions and bloc voting.  For the full text of opinions, CQ links to the text in Findlaw and also provides links to related cases.

Hein Online 1754-present
Includes volume number arrangement and search capability, and includes some colonial courts.

Landmark Supreme Court Cases
Includes the text of the case decisions and materials for teachers and students

Lexis Nexis Academic1790-present
Search by keyword and read decisions; Includes access to other federal court decisions.

Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926
Includes 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law

U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs  1832-1978
The records and briefs are documents submitted to the court before a decision is handed down.   Cases submitted to the court but not heard are also included.

Women

North American Women's Letters and Diaries (colonial times to 1950)
Experiences of some 200 women, as revealed in more than 28,000 pages of diaries and letters.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1775-2000
Documents, images, and links to websites

Women Working, 1870 - 1930 provides access to digitized historical, manuscript, and image resources selected from Harvard's library and museum