Research Guides: HIS 401: History Seminar (Civil War & Reconstruction): Primary Sources

Michael Schwartz Library

Primary Sources: Civil War & Reconstruction

Documenting the American South
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - Primary sources for the study of Southern history, literature, and culture
The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865
UNC Chapel Hill, Documenting the American South
Library of Southern Literature
UNC Chapel Hill, Documenting the American South
Civil War in the American South
A central portal to access digital collections from the Civil War Era (1850-1865) held by members of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL).
Civil War Primary Sources
Civil War Trust
Digital History: Civil War
A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln
Eric Foner, Columbia University
Making of America
A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction
A Companion to the Civil War
A comprehensive historiographical collection of essays covering all major military, political, social, and economic aspects of the American civil war (1861-1865).

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938
Library of Congress
First Person Narratives from the American South
UNC Chapel Hill, Documenting the American South
North American Slave Narratives
Books and articles that document the individual and collective story of African Americans struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.
Library of Southern Literature
UNC Chapel Hill, Documenting the American South
Civil War Diaries & Letters
University of Iowa Libraries

Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents centered on the study of slavery, the African American experience and world history spanning from 1490 to 2007. Includes original manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings, maps, and images.

Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Cornell University
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938
Library of Congress
North American Slave Narratives
Books and articles that document the individual and collective story of African Americans struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.
The Abolition Seminar: 50 Essential Documents
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Primary Sources on Slavery
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - History Now: American History Online

General History

MIT Visualizing Cultures
World History Matters
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
A collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use
World Digital Library
Large, well-organized collection of print and visual primary sources from ancient to current times.
Contentdm Collection of Collections
Try a keyword search for "United States Civil War." Collections that contain materials from this time period will come up as results.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
Information on almost 36,000 slaving voyages
H-Net
Research sources, bibliographies, and answers from experts in the humanities.

Library of Congress Digital Archives
"Written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience."
Archiving Early America
In-depth background that allows you to understand this country's formative years
Avalon Project - Confederate States of America
Ullyses S. Grant Presidential Library
15,000 linear feet of correspondence, research notes, artifacts, photographs, scrapbooks, and memorabilia

Michael Schwartz Library