Primary Sources

1. Library of Congress – American Memory
   A vast digital archive of historical collections related to American history and culture, including photographs, letters, maps, audio, and government documents.
   
   

2. National Archives – DocsTeach
   An educational tool from the U.S. National Archives with thousands of primary source documents and interactive teaching activities.
   
   

3. Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
   A searchable portal to millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, and more from libraries, museums, and archives across the U.S.
   
   

4. Chronicling America (Library of Congress)
   Access to historic American newspapers from 1789–1963, ideal for exploring public opinion and events as they unfolded.
   
   

5. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History 

Contains more than eighty-seven thousand items documenting the political, social, and economic history of the United States from 1493 to the end of the twentieth century.                                                                                                             

6. Avalon Project (Yale Law School)
   Primary source documents in law, history, and diplomacy, including founding documents, treaties, and presidential speeches.
   
   

7. American Memory Timeline (LOC)
   A teacher-friendly timeline that organizes key primary sources from different eras in U.S. history.
   
   

8. Founders Online (National Archives)
   Searchable writings of key Founding Fathers like Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Adams, all in their original form.
   
   

9. Civil Rights Digital Library
   Primary source material focusing on the Civil Rights Movement, including video footage, oral histories, and photographs.
   
   

10. Making of America (Cornell University & University of Michigan) [UMich site]
    A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.

11. Presidential Libraries and Museums
    A list of presidential libraries and their websites from the Hoover administration through today.

1. EuroDocs

Hosted by Brigham Young University, EuroDocs provides direct links to primary documents relating to European history. It includes transcriptions, facsimiles, and translations, organized by country and time period.

2. British National Archives – Discovery

The UK’s official archive holds over 1,000 years of historical documents. The "Discovery" tool allows users to search for digitized documents, including military records, government correspondence, and maps.

3. German History in Documents and Images (GHDI)

Managed by the German Historical Institute, GHDI offers a comprehensive collection of primary source texts, images, and maps from early modern to contemporary Germany, many with English translations.

4. Gallica (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

The digital library of the BnF (National Library of France) offers millions of digitized items, including manuscripts, books, maps, and photographs from French and European history.

5. Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Hosted by Fordham University, this collection includes the Ancient History, Medieval, and Modern History Sourcebooks, which contain public domain and copy-permitted texts from around the world.

6. World Digital Library (via UNESCO/Library of Congress)

A project of UNESCO and the U.S. Library of Congress, this multilingual site features cultural treasures and historical documents from libraries and archives worldwide, emphasizing global primary sources.

7. Digital Scriptorium

A consortium of American libraries hosting digitized medieval and Renaissance manuscripts from across Europe, especially Latin, French, and Italian sources.

8. Europeana

Europeana aggregates cultural heritage content from European museums, archives, and libraries, including millions of digitized artworks, texts, and primary historical documents.

9. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica (Spain)

Spain’s National Library offers digitized collections of books, maps, and manuscripts significant to Spanish and Latin American history.