American History and American Studies: Historical Text Collections

SEARCH ACROSS MANY DATABASES AT ONCE

  • Gale Primary Sources Icon (Gale)

    Allows you to search across more than thirty databases providing access to primary sources from and/or relating to America, Britain, and countries around the globe. The majority of the documents date from a timespan that begins with the fifteenth and extends through the early 21st century. Databases here that are of high relevance to America include: Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926; Indigenous Peoples of North America; American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society; Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers; Archives Unbound; and Public Health Archives: Public Health in Modern America, 1890-1970.

Selected Noteworthy Databases

 

Searching across many databases at once, as the master platforms listed in the box above enable you to do, can be useful for many research purposes. On the other hand, each of the databases accessible through the master platforms above also has its own distinctive interface and landing page. The landing page and interface of an individual database will provide you with many orientational cues that you will not be seeing when you search across many databases at once through a single plain master platform.

In the links below I provide access to some standalone databases, but also to some databases that are also accessible through master platforms in the box above. When I have singled out databases below that are also accessible through master platforms, it is because I believe that the database itself is especially important--along with the original interface that was designed specifically for it.

  • The American Presidency Project [Open Access]
    Includes: Papers of the Presidents, party platforms, documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary, and many other resources related to the study of the presidency.
  • Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) [Open Access]
    "A digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs." Includes: North American Slave NarrativesLibrary of Southern LiteratureColonial and State Records of North Carolina; and many other collections.
  • ProQuest history vault. Immigration: records of the INS, 1880-1930  Icon
    Covers the investigations made by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during the massive immigration wave of 1880-1930. The files cover Asian immigration, especially Japanese and Chinese migration, to California, Hawaii, and other states; Mexican immigration to the U.S. from 1906-1930, and European immigration. There are also extensive files on the INS's regulation of prostitution and white slavery and on suppression of radical aliens.

Use CLIO to Find More

 

A. Search for Databases that are Collections of Texts Related to American History

Go to CLIO Catalog / Databases:

https://clio.columbia.edu/databases?q=

Enter a search for:

"united states" OR america*  in Subject

Then, in the left margin of CLIO search screen, open Resource Type, and select:

Text Collections

That will lead you to this result:

https://clio.columbia.edu/databases?f%5Bdatabase_resource_type_facet%5D%5B%5D=Text+Collections&q="united+states"+OR+america%2A&search_field=subject

You could also repeat the process, searching for:

canad* OR america* in Subject
 

B. Search More Generally for Compilations of Primary Sources

Add this tag word to your search: sources

The subject headings used in library catalogs make use of a standard tag word
sources
to indicate compilations of primary sources in various formats (including printed compilations, ebooks, and online databases).

Here are some examples of complete subject headings using the "sources" tag word.

It is not necessary to know or guess at entire subject headings. Just enter a few key words PLUS the word "sources" as in the following search:
marriage united states sources    in  All Fields
This search leads to the following result set: