Web Resources for History Students

Start here:

Best of History Web Sites: http://www.besthistorysites.net/
Go here and type in anything historical--the Civil War--a person--a treaty, etc. and you will get reputable web pages.

General Sites to Begin a Search:
 
Best of History Web Sites: http://www.besthistorysites.net/
Best History Sites: http://www.edu.aceswebworld.com/best_history_sites.html
Digital Librarian: Best of the Web for History: http://www.digital-librarian.com/history.html
Google: http://www.google.com

Information About Primary Sources:

What Are Primary Sources: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/psources/source.html

Professional Corporate and Media Resources:

The History Channel: http://www.history.com/
Public Broadcasting System: http://www.pbs.org/
See the PBS list of American History sites: http://www.pbs.org/history/history_united.html
National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/
National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
The American Historical Association: http://www.historians.org/
History Net: A National Online History Magazine; http://www.thehistorynet.com/

Archives and Documentary Resources:

American Memory: Library of Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Prints and Photographs Reading Room: Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalogabt.html
An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/time-capsule/history6.html
Primary Documents from American History: Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/PrimDocsHome.html
British National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
National Archives and Records Administration of the United States: http://www.archives.gov/
Yale University Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/
University of Oklahoma American Historical Documents: http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/
Fordham University Modern History Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
Perry Castañada Library Map Collection: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/hist_sites.html
National Museum of American History: http://americanhistory.si.edu/
CIA Electronic Reading Room (Documents): http://www.foia.cia.gov/
Experiencing War (great stories from vets): http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/
MTC Library "history subject" databases: http://www.lib.midlandstech.edu/?Subject%20Guides:History

United States Government Resources:

U.S. Air Force History: http://www.airforce.com/learn-about/history/
U.S. Army History: http://www.army.mil/info/history/
U.S. Coast Guard History: http://www.uscg.mil/history/
U.S. Marine Corps History: http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/HD/
U.S. Navy History: http://www.history.navy.mil/
History of the Department of State: http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/dephis.html
History of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/historymain.htm
History of the Whitehouse: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/history
History of the United States Treasury: http://www.ustreas.gov/education/history/
Art & History of the United States Senate: http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/art/a_three_sections_with_teasers/art_hist_home.htm
History of the United States House of Representatives: http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/index.html
History of the Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/

American History:

Digital History: American History Text: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/hyper_titles.cfm
History Matters: The U.S. Survey: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
American History Org: http://www.ushistory.org/
American Heritage: http://www.americanheritage.com/
President and The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/
The Miller Center for Public Affairs: The American President: http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident
HyperText in American Studies, University of Virginia: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hypertex.html
African American Odyssey: American Memory, Library of Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/
Chronology of American History (documents), Avalon Project: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/chrono.asp
A Chronology of United States Historical Documents: http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/
New Deal Network: http://newdeal.feri.org/
National Museum of American History: http://americanhistory.si.edu/
National Museum of American Art: http://nmaa-ryder.si.edu/
Famous Supreme Court Decisions from Cornell University School of Law: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/name.htm (use search button in the
     first paragraph)
Digital History: Landmark Supreme Court Decisions: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/supreme_court/supreme_court.cfm
 

The American Civil War:

The American Civil War Homepage: http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/
Eyewitness to History: Civil War: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/cwfrm.htm
Civil War Net: http://www.civil-war.net/
American Civil War EText Center: http://etext.virginia.edu/civilwar/
Selected Civil War Photos: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
Fordham Univ. American Civil War: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook27.html
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, American Memory, Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
Primary Sources: Civil War Effects on Kentuckians: http://www.ket.org/civilwar/primary.html
Civil War Women: Primary Sources on the Internet: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/bingham/guides/cwdocs.html
American Civil War Collection at the Electronic Text Center: http://etext.virginia.edu/civilwar/
Primary Documents in American History: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/CivilWarRecon.html
Confederate States of America: Documents (Avalon Project): http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/csapage.asp
Library of Congress, Journal of the Senate of the United States, war years: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsjlink.html#anchor36
Library of Congress, Journal of the House of Representatives, war years: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwhjlink.html#anchor36
Library of Congress, Journal of the Confederate States of America, war years: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcc.html
Library of Congress, Band Music of the Civil War Era: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwmhtml/cwmhome.html
Cornell University Library, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/ofre.html
The University of Tennessee Libraries, The Henry Pippitt Diaries, 1862-1865: http://dlc.lib.utk.edu/pippitt/pippitt.html
The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Documenting the American South,
     The Diary of a Confederate Tar Heel Soldier, Louis Leon (Electronic Edition): http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/leon/leon.html
University of Miami Libraries, The Calvin Shedd Papers, http://scholar.library.miami.edu/shedd/
Edward Ayers, Virginia Center for Digital History and the University of Virginia, Valley of the Shadow: http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/
Duke University Libraries, Civil War Women: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/collections/digitized/civil-war-women/
The Civil War Preservation Trust: Primary Sources in the Civil War: http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/
Cornell University Library, War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/waro.html
Frank Eldredge Civil War Diary: http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/letters/eldredge/default.cfm
Civil War Letters: William Samuel Craig: http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/letters/craig/default.cfm
Civil War letters of the Fox Brothers: http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/letters/fox/index.cfm
Robert Cruikshank Letters: http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/letters/cruikshank/index.cfm
The Civil War History of John Ritland: http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/letters/ritland/index.cfm
James M. Randall Diary: http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/letters/randall/index.cfm
Ulysses S. Grant, Memoirs (online edition): http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/grant.html
United States Military Academy, Maps of the Civil War: http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/web03/atlases/american_civil_war/index.htm
University of Georgia Libraries, Hargrett Rare Books Collection, The American Civil War (maps): http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/civil.html
The Library of Congress, Civil War Maps: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps/
Fordham University Modern History Sourcebook, American Civil War: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook27.html
Library of Congress, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/

British History:

The National Archives of the United Kingdom: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Official Website of the British Monarchy: http://www.royal.gov.uk/
The Institute for the History of Parliament, University of London: http://www.royal.gov.uk/
Official Site of Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk/
British History Research Guide, Yale University: http://www.library.yale.edu/rsc/history/british/indcalen.html
Shakespeare Research Center: http://www.bardweb.net/england.html
Documents of British History: http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/
History of the United Kingdom: Primary Documents: http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_the_United_Kingdom:_Primary_Documents
Catalogue of Internet Resources for British History: http://bubl.ac.uk/link/b/britishhistory-general.htm
The Victorian Web: http://www.victorianweb.org/

World History:

Documents in World History: http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/World_History_Documents.pdf
Internet Modern History Source Page: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
Links to World History Documents: http://www.edteck.com/dbq/basic/world_%20links.htm
World History Archives: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/
World History Sources: http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/whmdocuments.html
Chauvet Cave: http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/
The History Net: http://www.thehistorynet.com/
Perseus Project, Ancient World, Tufts University: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
Institute of Egyptian Art and Artifacts: http://academic.memphis.edu/egypt/artifact.html
World War I Documents Archives: http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page
The First World War, A Multimedia History: http://www.firstworldwar.com/
Hyperwar, A Hypertext History of the Second World War: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/
Primary Sources of African History: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/history/hisprimary.html
Historical Documents of Modern China: http://lrc.cornell.edu/asian/courses/ch/chin425a
Primary Documents of Russian History: http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Russia:_Primary_Documents
Sourcebook for Colonial Latin America: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook08.html
Documents Relating to the Modern Middle East: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/meres.htm
Middle East & North Africa Internet Resource Guide: http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jwr9311/MENA.html
The National Archives of Mexico: http://www.agn.gob.mx/

Research and Writing History:

Bowdoin University: Reading and Writing for History: http://www.bowdoin.edu/writing-guides/
Purdue University Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
A Student's Guide to History: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/history/research/student/intro.htm
Chicago Manual of Style: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
MLA Manual of Style, 2009 from Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
APA Style: http://www.apastyle.org/
MTC Library, Evaluation Checklist (for evaluating a web page): http://www.lib.midlandstech.edu/?Evaluation%20Checklist

Starting the Search

If you wish to go to speakeasies of the 1920s, "Google" for "history of American prohibition"; or "historical speakeasies".

You can also "Google" for "documents about World War I". Using this phrase with any topic usually produces good results. The first three results are all excellent sites about the war complete with primary documents--one from Mount Holyoake College; one from the Brigham Young University Library; and one from "firstworldwarcom".

If you  Goggle "civil rights" you get several online dictionaries--which must be avoided. But if you Google "history of the American Civil Rights Movement" you get pages from CNN, PBS, and the American Civil Right Museum--all reputable web pages.

For some history searches you need information before you begin. For example sports history is hard to find because there are some many types of sports. You can Google "NFL History" and the a great history page on the National Football League. To find pages about women's sports, African-American sports, city leagues, etc you must know a team name, team player, or other information to search well.

Searching for world history? Key in this phrase: "national archives of...blank..." and insert the country, region, kingdom you are interested in.

Just think about your interest and key in the phrase "history of...blank..."; or the phrase "documents about...blank..."; and you'll be good to go!

All local libraries have searchable databases! Make libraries your friend.