U.S. History: 17th Century and Earlier
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American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and SettlementEyewitness accounts of North American exploration from AD 1000 to the early nineteenth century, including Viking sagas, Indigenous narratives, missionary and settler writings from across the continent.
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Beyond the Pilgrim Story (Pilgrim Hall Museum)Digital exhibits about colonial Plymouth, featuring letters, diaries, and materials from Indigenous women, Black women, and other under-represented groups as well as traditional Pilgrim narratives.
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Colonial Charters, Grants and Related DocumentsA collection of U.S. colonial charters, early state constitutions, grants, and related documents that trace the evolution of state-level government and rights from the 1600s onward.
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Colonial Williamsburg: Online CollectionsMore than seventy thousand objects, including art, furniture, textiles, tools, firearms, prints, and maps from the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries.
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Documenting the American SouthPrimary-source texts, images, and audio files relating to the history, literature, and culture of the American South.
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Early Americas Digital ArchiveTexts written in or about the Americas from 1492 to about 1820, offering open access to early American documents for research and teaching.
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Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Culture, and the Environment (via Alexander Street)Search or browse documents related to the relationships among peoples in North America from 1534 to 1850.
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French and Indian Wars ManuscriptsDiaries, letters, and military records from participants in King William’s War through the French and Indian War, documenting the experiences of soldiers from New England and England in North America.
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The Goody Parsons Witchcraft Case: A Journey to 17th Century NorthamptonDigitized primary sources and explanatory essays on Mary Bliss Parsons’ slander suit and witchcraft proceedings in 1656, 1674, and 1678, with downloadable transcripts.
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Guide to the Primary Sources of the Salem Witchcraft TrialsOffers transcribed and facsimile documents, including court records and petitions, that document the witch-trial period in seventeenth-century New England.
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The Plymouth Colony Archive ProjectProvides searchable transcriptions of seventeenth century primary sources including court records colony laws probate inventories wills land divisions and journals along with interpretive essays documenting Plymouth Colony from 1620 to 1691.
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Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription ProjectProvides digitized images and searchable transcriptions of 1692 court records along with contemporary books, letters, maps, and related resources for in-depth study of the trials.
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Samuel Wyllys PapersA set of 88 court documents from the seventeenth and early eighteenth century—including cases of witchcraft, assault, and theft—with context and links to related resources.
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Trial Pamphlets CollectionDigitized, contemporary accounts of notable trials from the late seventeenth through the late nineteenth century, drawn mostly from the United States with some early British examples.
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Virtual JamestownGathers transcribed and digitized documents on early Virginia and the Chesapeake, including letters, narratives, laws, and reports from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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Wisconsin Historical Society Digital CollectionsAccess to historical photographs, documents, maps, and archival materials spanning Wisconsin’s history and culture from the early 19th century onward.
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Witness to the Early American ExperienceDigitized documents, maps, broadsides, and papers from early New York and the American Revolution.
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Worlds of Change: 17th & 18th Century North America (Harvard University)Digitized manuscript and archival pages related to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century North America, including land deeds, college laws, personal manuscripts, and maps.
U.S. History: Slavery
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Amistad Research CenterOnline exhibits, digitised primary-source collections and archival materials documenting African-American history, civil-rights movements and related cultural themes.
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Black Abolitionist Archive (University of Detroit Mercy)Over 800 speeches by Black abolitionists and around 1,000 newspaper editorials from the antebellum period, documenting African-American activism in the fight to end slavery in the United States.
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Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 (Library of Congress)First-person interviews with formerly enslaved Americans gathered in 17 states, enriched by around 500 photographs, and offering rare firsthand accounts of life under slavery.
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Anti-Slavery Collection (Boston Public Library | Internet Archive)Digitized anti-slavery materials, such as reports of abolitionist societies, almanacs, and pamphlets from the nineteenth century.
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Digital Library on American Slavery (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)Public records about enslavement in the American South with detailed personal and property data for over 100,000 individuals.
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Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave TradeData, documents, and digital collections that trace the lives, movements, and networks of enslaved people across the Atlantic world from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries.
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Frederick Douglass PapersSpeeches, correspondence, autobiographical writings, and other documents that trace Douglass’s life as an abolitionist, writer, and statesman.
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The Geography of Slavery in VirginiaMore than 4,000 digitized runaway and captured slave and indentured servant ads from Virginia and Maryland newspapers, with full transcripts, images, and maps and timelines covering 1736 to 1803.
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Secession Era Editorials ProjectTanscribed, searchable newspaper editorials from the 1850s through the Civil War era, enabling comparison of regional perspectives on slavery, secession, and national politics.
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Slavery and Abolition in the U.S.: Select PublicationsA digital collection of nineteenth-century books and pamphlets from Dickinson College and Millersville University that presents first-person narratives, legal records, sermons, and anti-slavery tracts with searchable transcriptions.
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Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new windowAll known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world, as well as materials on free African-Americans in the colonies and the U.S. before 1870. Included are every statute passed by every state and colony, all federal statutes, all reported state and federal cases on slavery, and hundreds of books and pamphlets on the subject.
NOTE: The EMU Library does NOT subscribe to the HeinOnline collection materials listed under the tab Scholarly Articles & Other Documents.
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North American Slave NarrativesDocumenting autobiographical narratives and related works of enslaved and self-emancipated people from the eighteenth through early twentieth centuries.
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Slavery and Abolition in the U.S.: Select PublicationsA digital collection of nineteenth-century books and pamphlets from Dickinson College and Millersville University that presents first-person narratives, legal records, sermons, and anti-slavery tracts with searchable transcriptions.
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Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave LifeHistorical images that document the African slave trade and the lives of enslaved people and their descendants across the Atlantic world.
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Slaves and the CourtsIncludes 105 digitized books and manuscripts totaling about 8,700 pages that document legal cases, statutes, and debates about slavery in the United States and Great Britain.
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Slave Societies Digital ArchiveProvides access to more than 700,000 digitized records from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries documenting Africans and their descendants across the Atlantic world.
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The Texas Slavery ProjectA digital history site on the Republic of Texas (1837–1845) that visualizes the spread of slavery with interactive maps and a searchable database built from surviving tax records.
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Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade DatabaseA research portal with primary datasets on the slave trade across the Atlantic and within the Americas, including more than 36,000 documented voyages, plus maps, visualizations, and tools to explore routes, ships, and people.
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Umbra Search - African American HistoryA portal that aggregates hundreds of thousands of digitized materials on African American history from more than 1,000 libraries and archives.
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Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture: A Multi-Media ArchiveA multimedia archive of primary sources on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel and its impact, including editions of the text, contemporary reviews, songs, plays, films, illustrations, and material culture.
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Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave NamesSearch for legal, estate, court, and other historical records that reflect the lives of free and enslaved African Americans in Virginia, especially from the colonial through antebellum period.
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Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their StoriesFirsthand narratives and interviews with formerly enslaved people recorded between 1932 and 1975, preserving their memories of slavery and its aftermath.
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Yale Slavery & Abolition PortalFind primary sources on slavery, abolition, and resistance across Yale libraries and galleries, with options to browse by repository or search by topic.