Research Guides
- University of Washington Libraries
- Library Guides
- UW Libraries
- History : American
- Primary Sources: 20th c.
History : American: Primary Sources: 20th c.
A research guide to primary and secondary sources for American history. Also see the African American & Asian American history guides.
All Centuries
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North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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Women and Social Movements in the United States This link opens in a new window
20th Century
These collections span most of the 20th century.
Major collection:
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American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1990 This link opens in a new windowACLU records include news clippings, correspondence & subject and case files covering major civil liberties issues.
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Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection, Series 1-2 This link opens in a new window
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Public Health Archives: Public Health in Modern America; 1890-1970 This link opens in a new window
20th Century: Pre WWII
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Immigration: Records of the INS, 1880-1930 This link opens in a new window
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Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies This link opens in a new window
20th Century: Post WWII
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Archives of Sexuality & Gender: Parts I - IV This link opens in a new window
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Political Extremism and Radicalism: Far-Right Groups in America This link opens in a new window
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Power to the People: Counterculture; Social Movements; and the Alternative Press. This link opens in a new window
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Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960 - 1974 This link opens in a new window
Event: World War I
For additional sources see the WWI section of the Military history guide.
Major collection:
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Trench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War This link opens in a new windowNewspapers & magazines written by and for armed forces, includes publications from American, Australian, British, Canadian, French, German forces & New Zealand forces.
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World War History: Newspaper Clippings, 1914 to 1926Digitized version of the 400-volume, 80,000-page set, World War History: Daily Records and Comments as Appeared in American and Foreign Newspapers, 1914-1926.
Event: World War II
These sources focus on the home front, for additional sources see the WWII section of the Military history guide.
Major collection:
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Densho Digital RepositoryOral histories, historic photographs, documents, newspapers, and letters focused on the Japanese American experience during WWII
Topic: Civil Rights
Major collections:
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History Vault: Civil Rights & the Black Freedom StruggleMajor collections related to the civil rights movement including the NAACP records, other organizations (e.g., Congress of Racial Equity, Southern Christian Leadership Conference), key individuals (e.g, Bayard Rustin, Mary McLeod Bethune) & federal documents (e.g., Records of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, 1958-1973)
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Civil Rights Digital LibraryPortal to civil rights documents, video, oral histories & more from collections nationwide.
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Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman. This link opens in a new window
Vietnam War
Major collection:
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Virtual Vietnam ArchiveMassive collection of digitized material dealing with the war from the American perspective.