What's On This Page?
This page does not attempt to catalog the internet! Instead, I've listed some useful sources and directories to digital collections, etc.
Frequently Used Sites
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British History OnlineDigital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Most of the material is free, but some is not. See this page for a list of material that is NOT free. We have access to some of that subscription material in State Papers Online
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CPI Inflation CalculatorThe CPI inflation calculator uses the average Consumer Price Index for a given calendar year. This data represents changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households. This index value has been calculated every year since 1913. For the current year, the latest monthly index value is used.
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Library of Congress - Archival Finding AidsGuides provide a gateway to the Library of Congress collections. Links are provided to digitized content, when available.
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Library of Congress - Digital CollectionsIncludes digital collections on advertising, culture, photography, and many more subjects.
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Measuring Worth.comIncludes a calculator for determining historical exchange rates.
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National Archives (U.K.) CatalogSearching is free but there may be a fee to download records.
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National Archives (U.S.) CatalogThe National Archives catalog searches across archival descriptions, digitized and electronic records, authority records, and web pages from Archives.gov and the Presidential Libraries. The catalog contains archival descriptions for 95% of the National Archives holdings and over 90 million digitized copies of records.
Materials @ Other Institutions
If you want to see what archival and manuscript materials other institutions hold, try these databases:
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Archive FinderA directory of repositories and collections of primary source material across the United States and the United Kingdom; it includes the entire National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC).
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ArchiveGridContains descriptions of collections from thousands of libraries, museums, and archives worldwide.
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Iter ItalicumThe most comprehensive finding list available of previously uncatalogued or incompletely catalogued Renaissance humanistic manuscripts in libraries and collections all over the world.
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WorldcatA database listing materials, including archival and manuscript materials, from thousands of different libraries.
Western (U.S.) Archives
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Archives WestIncludes repositories in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Alaska.
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Arizona Archives OnlineDescriptions of archival collections, preserved and made accessible by Arizona repositories.
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Mountain West Digital LibraryAccess to over 1,000,000 resources from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, historical societies, and government agencies, counties, and municipalities in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii, Wyoming and other parts of the U.S. West.
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New Mexico Archives OnlineAccess to finding aids for archival collections from 19 repositories across the state of New Mexico.
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Online Archive of CaliforniaMore than 200 contributing institutions.
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Texas Archival Resources OnlineDescriptions of the rich archival, manuscript, and museum collections in repositories across the state available to the public.
Directories of Digital Collections
Many libraries and other institutions have digitized resources on the internet. See these sites for directories of these resources.
Or, try a search in Google with the phrase "digital collections" (including the quotation marks) and keywords that describe your topic.
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Chronicling America: Historic American NewspapersLibrary of Congress site including some digitized newspapers and a directory of newspapers published 1690-present.
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Digital Black HistoryThis website is a free, searchable directory for online history projects that can help further Black History research.
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Digital Public Library of AmericaPortal to libraries, museums, and archives across the United States.
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Discovering American Women's History OnlineAccess to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States.
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ETANA (Ancient Near East)An electronic publishing project designed to enhance the study of the history and culture of the ancient Near East.
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European History Primary Sources (EHPS)Searchable index of scholarly digital repositories that contain primary sources for the history of Europe.
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“Gay Is Good” Digital collections in LGBTQ U.S. HistoryFrom C&RL News
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Guide to Online Primary Sources: SexualityUC San Diego library's guide.
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Internet Ancient History SourcebookProvides and organize texts for use in classroom situations. This site focuses on online texts, which, for the most part, means public domain texts translated more than 75 years ago.
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Latin American and Caribbean Digital Primary ResourcesFrom SALALM (Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials)
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OAIster (catalog of digital resources)Provides access to a union catalog of millions of digital resources including: digitized books and articles, born digital texts, audio files, images, movies, and datasets.
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Old Maps OnlineAllows the user to search for online digital historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search.
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Origins of the Cold War (primary sources)From C&RL News.
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Seventy-one Digital Portals to State HistoryPrimary source materials at the state level.
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Shoah (Holocaust) from EurodocsLinks to materials, including primary sources, about the Holocaust.
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State Digital Resources: Memory Projects, Online Encyclopedias, Historical & Cultural Materials CollectionsA compilation of state and regional digital projects and collaborations.
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Voice of the Shuttle: HistoryA structured and briefly annotated guide to online resources.
National Archives Online Research Tools
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National Archives Online Research ToolsA good starting point / overview of doing research at the U.S. National Archives.
Resources from the Western History Association
In June 2020, librarians and archivists from the Western History Association held a webinar to assist graduate students with research during the COVID pandemic.