US National Archives
National Archives and Records Administration: Founders Online
This site provides the texts of nearly 200,000 historical documents related to six Founding Fathers, including the papers of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. The...
Other
Media History Digital Library: Early Cinema Collection (1855 1930)
A large collection of original trade papers and journals that focused on the early motion picture industry covering periods from 1894 to 1949.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Extending Suffrage to Women
In this activity, students will analyze documents pertaining to the women's suffrage movement as it intensified following passage of the 15th Amendment that guaranteed the right to vote for African American males. Documents were chosen...
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg: The London and Country Brewer (1736)
The text of a publication from 1736 on the practice of brewing beer.
Library of Congress
World Digital Library: Map of Atlantic Coast: Chesapeake Bay to Florida
A historic map of the Atlantic coast of America created by cartographer Joan Vinckeboons around 1639 for the Dutch West India Company. A feature on the page allows the visitor to listen to and read the accompanying descriptive text in...
Library of Congress
World Digital Library: Manhattan Lying on the North River
A historic map of Manhattan created by cartographer Joan Vinckeboons around 1639 for the Dutch West India Company. A feature on the page allows the visitor to listen to and read the accompanying descriptive text in seven different...
Library of Congress
World Digital Library: The First Folio of Shakespeare
The first collection of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623, is available here in its original form. A feature on the page allows the visitor to listen to and read the accompanying descriptive text in seven different languages.
Other
Widener University: The Nat Turner Project
The Nat Turner Project is a digital archive of primary source materials related to the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion, beginning with the experiences and living conditions of slaves prior to the revolt. The archive houses newspaper articles,...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Pocahontas
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this investigation, students use evidence to explore whether Pocahontas actually saved John Smith's life and...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Read Like a Historian: Civil War Reconstruction
[Free Registration/Login Required] In the Civil War and Reconstruction unit, students engage in contentious historiographic debates about the period: Was Lincoln a racist? Was Reconstruction a success or failure? Was John Brown a...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Battle of Lexington
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students solve a problem surrounding a historical question by reading primary source documents. This historical inquiry instructional activity allows students to practice sourcing, corroboration, and...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Thomas Nast
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This document-based inquiry instructional activity allows students to analyze two cartoons drawn by Thomas...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: American Imperialism
[Free Registration/Login Required] The American Imperialism Unit covers the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. The lessons approach historical inquiry from different angles. One asks young scholars to consider...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: The Gilded Age
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding historical questions. The Gilded Age unit highlights the turbulent changes that characterized the end of the nineteenth century.
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Spanish American War
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learners use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this investigation students study the Spanish-American War by watching a documentary video, reading a telegram...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: u.s. Entry Into Wwi
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this historical inquiry instructional activity, students address the question, "What changed between 1914 and 1917 that caused the U.S. to enter WWI?" to corroborate a textbook account with two...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Progressivism
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. This unit explores perspectives on the key issues of the Progressive Era.
Library of Congress
Loc: Leaflet Regarding Women
Leaflet regarding women's suffrage in Wyoming, presented at the World's Fair in Chicago, 1893. View the original document and a transcript of the text.
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: Civil Rights Movement in Context
[Free Registration/Login Required] The two letters presented here are from the archives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and were written over twenty years apart. Students must read the letters...
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: Edison and the Kansas Housewife
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a letter from a Mrs. W.C. Lathrop to Thomas Edison thanking him for inventing her electric appliances and making her life easier. They are then presented with some contextual facts, and...
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: John Brown's Legacy
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students answer questions about a poster for a play written in 1936 that celebrates the abolitionist John Brown, who tried to start a slave revolt in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: Morale After Fredericksburg
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students examine a letter from Joseph F. Green, a soldier in the Union Army, to his friend Julia Reynolds on January 2, 1863. In it he describes low morale among Union soldiers after the Battle of...
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: Opposition to the Philippine American War
[Free Registration/Login Required] Assesses students' ability to use evidence to support a historical argument. Students are presented with two documents that provide different perspectives on the war in the Philippines. Students are...
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: The First Thanksgiving
[Free Registration/Login Required] This history assessment measures students' ability to source a document, in this case a painting of the first Thanksgiving celebration. When historians interpret a document, they look at who wrote it...