United States History: Research Guides and Websites

Regarding Websites: Web research can be very useful and lead to much useful and important information. While every effort has been made to list only "reliable" sites, researchers should be aware that control of sites change (often without notice) from time to time and, thus, the reliability and point of view of the website may change (for better or worse). One of the best uses of web information is to locate good primary and secondary sources that should be directly examined. Websites also go out of existence, so, for scholarly work, they are not reliable sources, like a published work which, presumably, will always be available in some library (Library of Congress) for examination. Beware especially of quoting or otherwise relying upon unidentified opinions found on websites.

Basic guide to web research:

Use your library BEFORE you start your web research. You will learn many terms that will be useful in your web research. You should read at least one good, broad secondary source on the subject before starting your research.
Learn how to do web research. Google has a very good set of instructions. USE IT!
Know the site you are using. Find out who is responsible for it. An example of a very good site is the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School (see below).
Find the original printed source of the information given on the site. You may have to use your library sources or a research librarian to help you. Cite both the internet source and the printed source.

General

U.W. Resources

Research Resources

Major Online Journals

Other academic and excellent websites

General history websites:

University of Virginia American Studies Texts (complete texts of famous American activists’ and writers’ works)
American Presidency Project. University of California at Santa Barbara. Text of all State of the Union and inaugural addresses since Washington. Other selected presidential documents and papers.
American Memory: Historical Collections from the National Digital Library. Library of Congress
History links: University of Washington Libraries. Guide to primary and secondary literature in history, both U.W. licensed databases and freely available web sources.
History on the Web: University of Washington Libraries. Selection of websites providing primary Sources.
Women's History Sourcebook
University of Colorado: US History Links
Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy
U.S. Digital History
Museum of San Francisco History
National Archive Exhibits

Colonial (1607-1775)

Adams Family Papers The Massachusetts Historical Society. Includes John Adam's diary and autobiography, as well as correspondence between Abigail and John.
Early Virginia Religious Petitions. Library of Congress. 423 petitions submitted to the Virginia legislature between 1774 and 1802.
Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents. Library of Congress. Drafts of the Declaration of Independence.
Searchable colonial and antebellum newspapers
From Revolution to Reconstruction

Antebellum (1776-1860)

Civil War & Reconstruction (1861-1877)

Age of Industrialization (1877-1929)

The Great Depression (1930-1941)

World War II (1941-1945)

The Cold War At Home and Abroad (1945-1990)

Sixties Project: Primary Document Archive. Manifestoes from Free Speech Movement, Vietnam Vets Against the War, SNCC, SDS, etc.
Cold War International History Project.Woodrow Wilson Int'l Center for Scholars.
Nuclearfiles.org A project of the nuclear age peace foundation
Summary and analysis of famous films

Post World War II America (1945-2000)

WTO Seattle Collection. University of Washington Libraries.
University of Southern Mississippi Oral History Index
American Enterprise Institute For research of Conservative Movement articles dating back to 1980.