Research Guides: HIS 581: Research Seminar in American History: Digitized Archival Collections through Princeton University Library

Digitized Archives and Primary Source Collectionws

Princeton University Library subscribes to many databases that contain digitized archives and primary sources. Please talk to a librarian for more details. The databases shown below are among the most popular and relevant to the research interests of this seminar.

Popular Collections of General Interest

History Vault This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of U.S. history primary sources. Includes government documents, personal papers and organizational records.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Digital collections of historical material on many topics. Includes manuscripts, printed books and periodicals, and government documents. The material comes from the U.S. National Archives, the U.K. National Archives, and many other libraries and archives.
Gale Primary Resources This link opens in a new window
Cross-searching tool for Gale primary source collections (including Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Indigenous Peoples: North America, and Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture). Also allows users to analyze content using frequency and term-relationship tools.

Colonial archives

Colonial America This link opens in a new window
Digital edition of the documents in Colonial Office (CO) 5 at the UK National Archives. CO 5 constitutes the original correspondence of the colonial governments with the Board of Trade, the Secretary of State for the Southern Department and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, together holding responsibility for the British possessions in mainland North America and the Caribbean.
Colonial Caribbean This link opens in a new window
Stretching from Jamaica and the Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago, Colonial Caribbean makes available materials from 27 Colonial Office file classes from The National Archives, UK. Covering the history of the various territories under British colonial governance from 1624 to 1870, this extensive resource includes administrative documentation, trade and shipping records, minutes of council meetings, and details of plantation life, colonial settlement, imperial rivalries across the region, and the growing concern of absentee landlords.
Colonial State Papers This link opens in a new window
Digital edition of material from the British National Archives, CO1 and other collections, from 1574-1759, including images of many original manuscript documents. Also includes a digital edition of The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies 1574-1739.

Native American

American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new window
Wide variety of materials relating to American Indian history in the United States, Canada and Mexico, from the Newberry Library's Edward E. Ayer Collection. Covers pre-contact through the mid-20th century.
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Integrates autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files. Presents the entire spectrum of native peoples' experiences from their own point of view.

Legal

Hein Online Library This link opens in a new window
Contains several libraries containing government information including Congressional Documents, Attorney General Decisions, Presidential Documents, and others.
WestlawNext Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive database of legal materials, including cases, statutes, and regulations of the U.S. government and the various state governments; includes the legal encyclopedia American Jurisprudence 2nd and American Law Reports; case law from 1789 to present; current statutes and regulations. Documents can also be accessed through broad subject categories such as Civil Rights, International Law and Environmental Law.
If Westlaw Campus asks for a password, please click the refresh button on your browser. This should allow access to the database without putting in a password.
Proquest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Indexes publications of the U.S. Congress such as hearings 1824+ (including previously unpublished hearings: Senate 1824-1992 and House 1833-1982), committee reports, documents and prints. Material is available in microfiche and/or electronic. Essential tool for doing legislative history research. Includes Congressional Research Reports from 1916+, Bills & Laws 1789+, U.S. Serial Set from 1789+, Annals of Congress from 1789-1824, Register of Debates from 1824-1837, Congressional Globe from 1833-1873, and Congressional Record from 1873+. Also includes Executive Branch Documents 1789-1948 and Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations 1789+.

Slavery

Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Brings together original manuscript and rare printed material from dozens of libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. It includes significant coverage of slavery today, US court records from the local, regional and State Supreme Court level, documents on the Islamic slave trade, as well as sources on urban slavery, interracial education, the Day Law in Kentucky, desegregation and social justice. Also includes material examining European, Islamic and African involvement in the slave trade.
Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Collections on the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery, the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system, and the dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions.

Immigration

Migration to New Worlds This link opens in a new window
Showcases unique primary source material recounting the many and varied personal experiences of 350 years of migration. Includes Colonial Office files on emigration, diaries and travel journals, ship logs and plans, printed literature, objects, watercolors, and oral histories supplemented by carefully selected secondary research aids.
Border and Migration Studies Online This link opens in a new window
Primary sources, maps, videos, and multimedia providing historical background on more than thirty key worldwide border areas, including: U.S. and Mexico; the European Union; Afghanistan; Israel; Turkey; The Congo; Argentina; China; and Thailand.

Urban Planning

Policy Commons: North American City Reports This link opens in a new window
Preserves and provides access to over 1.5 million publications—including budgets, surveys, statistical records, case studies, planning documents, training manuals, policy guidelines, and annual reports—from over 600 cities and urban agencies in North America. It also includes select reports from municipal and regional associations and other agencies or NGOs that focus on municipal affairs. Includes documents from the former Index to Current Urban Documents from 2000+.
Urban Land Institute Development Case Studies This link opens in a new window
Case studies on real estate development.