Primary Source Document Websites

American Rhetoric
This web site is dedicated to Public Speeches and provides a Speech Bank, Movie Speeches, Audio Figures of Speech, The Top 100 American Political Speeches of the 20th Century.

Archiving Early America
Understanding Early America through primary source documents-- scenes and portraits from original newspapers, maps and writings.

The Authentic History Center
The Authentic History Center is comprised of artifacts and sounds from American popular culture. It was created to teach that the everyday objects in society have authentic historical value.

Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Resources
Historical content, lesson plans, and audio and video as classroom resources.

Constitution Society Primary Sources
Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History. An invaluable collection of historical works which contributed to the formation of American politics, culture, and ideals.

Institute of American History
The Gilder Lehrman Collection features the more than 60,000 unique historical documents.

The Library of Congress: American Memory
American Memory provides free access to historical images, maps, sound recordings, and motion pictures that document the American experience.

The Library of Congress: For Teachers
The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources in their teaching.

Lincoln Bicentennial
The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC) commemorates the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, emphasizing the contribution of his thoughts, ideals to America and the world.

The National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, that they are kept by us forever.

National History Education Clearinghouse
Funded by the U.S. Department of Ed, the National History Education Clearinghouse (NHEC) is designed to help K-12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom.

Smithsonian Education
Standards based lesson plans, activities, and teaching tools on art, history, science, and technology. Field trips, professional development, and access to Smithsonian museum collections and research.

Teaching with Primary Sources Journal
This publication focuses on pedagogical approaches to teaching. It provides articles, learning activities, and research on using digitized primary sources in with students.

University of Texas Library Map Collection
Any map you can possibly conceive of, many from the CIA.

Yale Law School: The Avalon Project
Colonial Charters, Grants and Related Documents.