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- THIST 410 Early American Politics and Law: The Civil War Era, 1819-1896
- Primary Sources: Letters, Diaries, & more
THIST 410 Early American Politics and Law: The Civil War Era, 1819-1896: Primary Sources: Letters, Diaries, & more
Useful links and starting points for locating primary and secondary resources.
UW Libraries Search
UW Libraries Search
General Primary Source Collections
- American Memory ProjectMajor database of historic photographs, government documents, pamphlets, etc. from the Library of Congress.
- Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and DiplomacyDiverse collection of materials from Yale University with an emphasis on U.S. and diplomatic history.
- Gilder Lehrman Institute of American HistoryMore than 60,000 documents detailing the political and social history of the United States held at the NY Historical Society.
- North American Women's Letters and DiariesTranscriptions of letters and diaries. Most previously published.
Use UW Libraries Search to locate letters, diaries, and more
To locate resources written during a specific time period, collections of correspondence, memoirs, government documents, etc. start with a search in the UW Libraries Search box above.
Combine terms such as journals, diaries, interviews, sermons, documents, letters, or correspondence with place names, personal names, years, etc.
Sample Searches:
- sources and 1864 and civil war
- letters and women and civil war
- correspondence and Lincoln
Examples of Results:
Diary of a Union Lady, 1861-1865UW Tacoma Library Stacks
E601 .D155 2000
A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United StatesUW Tacoma Library Stacks
E185 .A58 1990 v.1-7The Loyal West in the Times of the Rebellion
Available online.
Reluctant Witnesses: Children's Voices from the Civil WarUW Tacoma Library Stacks
E468.9 .W47 1998
Government Documents
- Century of LawmakingCongressional records from the Continental Congress through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875.
- Congressional PublicationsFull text of bills & laws, 1789-2013, hearings, 1824-1979, and more.
- Hein Online This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Full text of the Congressional Record, Supreme Court decisions, U.S. Statutes, and other federal legal materials; many from the 1700s to date. - U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Full text of House & Senate journals, reports, documents, etc. from 1817-1972.
