LibGuides: Primary Sources for United States History: Reconstruction to WWI

Starting Points

Image: 1872 American Progress by John Gast

Major Collections:

Library of Congress Digital Collections
Historic photographs, presidential papers, and more from the Library of Congress (migrated from the American Memory project)

Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1841-1902
New York paper from 1841-1902
Chronicling America
Selection of digitized newspapers covering a period ranging from 1836 to 1922
Foreign Language Press Survey
Translations of Chicago ethnic newspapers from 1861-1938
Godey's magazine 1831-1898
19th century women's magazine; some years may be missing

Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers
Correspondence, scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, articles, and photographs documenting the life of Bell
Life and Times of Florence Kelley in Chicago, 1891-1899
Digitized collection includes correspondence, writings by Kelley and other material
Mckinley Assassination Ink
Transcriptions of articles, essays, editorials dealing with the McKinley assassination in 1901
Public Writings of Margaret Sanger
Transcribed articles and speeches by Sanger
Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library
Over 5,000 digitized items, including photographs, cartoons, newspaper articles, and diary entries
Thomas A. Edison Papers
Correspondence and other material dealing with the inventor from 1847 to 1897
Wilbur & Orville Wright Papers
Correspondence and other papers of the aviation pioneers primarily dating from 1900 to 1940; part of American Memory
William F. Cody Archive
Selections of letters, articles, images and more documenting Buffalo Bill
Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes
Diaries and letters from 1834-1893 of the 19th president of the United States.

Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
Congressional records from the Continental Congress through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875
Foreign Relations of the United States
Compilation of state department documents covering foreign relations from Lincoln through Eisenhower

Catt Collection of Suffrage Photographs
More than 1,000 images mostly from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911
Collection of clippings, pamphlets, photographs and other material
Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection
The NAWSA Collection consists of 167 books, pamphlets and other artifacts documenting the suffrage campaign. Part of American Memory.
Woman Suffrage and Feminism Photographs in the Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection
More than 700 photographs especially of the 1913 International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) Congress
Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party
More than 400 digitized photographs dating primarily from 1913 to 1922

Chinese in California, 1850-1925
Collection of images, letters, pamphlets and other material illustrating the history of this community
Fenian Brotherhood Collection
Letters, pamphlets, newspapers and other material from the American branch of the nationalist Irish Republican Brotherhood
Immigration to the United States 1789-1930
Digitized books, photographs, manuscript collections and more with a focus on the 19th century
Promise of America: Norwegian Emigration to America
Collection of photos, letters (most in Norwegian) and other material dating from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries

Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
Over 9,000 images of early advertising
Haymarket Affair Digital Collection
Collection of manuscripts, artifacts, broadsides, photographs, and prints dealing with the 1886 strike
The Triangle Shirt Waist Fire
Collection of excerpts of letters, testimonials, and journalism about the triangle shirt waist fire
Women Working 1800-1930
Collection of manuscripts, books, and photographs

South Texas Border, 1900-1920
Over 8,000 images documenting the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the early 1900s
Chicago Committee of Fifteen Records 1909-1927
"Twenty-six volumes were gathered for an investigation of Chicago crime, focusing on prostitution and the illegal sale of alcohol. Notes are from on-scene investigations, summaries of court records and newspaper clippings."
Evolution of the Conservation Movement 1850-1920
Digitized collection of books, pamphlets, government documents, manuscripts, photographs and other material
Home Economics Archive
Digital collection of books and magazines dealing with home economics from 1850 to 1950
Studies in Scarlet: Marriage & Sexuality in the U.S. & U.K., 1815-1914 (Harvard University)
Collection of trial narratives from U.S., British, and Irish cases from 1815-1915.