Primary Sources in American History: Other materials

Gale databases

Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound.

• The American Indian Movement and Native American radicalism
• Federal surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984
• Feminism in Cuba nineteenth through twentieth century archival documents
• The international women's movement the Pan Pacific Southeast Asia Women's Association of the USA
• Overland journeys travels in the West, 1800-1880
• Papers of Amiri Baraka, poet laureate of the Black power movement
• Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin beyond the Daughters of Bilitis
• Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin and the Daughters of Bilitis
• Revolution in Mexico, the 1917 Constitution, and its aftermath records of the U.S. State Department
• "Through the camera lens": the Moving Picture World and the silent cinema era, 1907-1927
• Witchcraft in Europe and America
• and more

Vital and census records

• Ancestry Library. Manuscript census records, vital records, directories, photos, and more of individuals from North America, Europe, Australia, and other countries.
• Heritage Quest, via Portland Public Library, Portland, Maine. Your library card number is required for remote access. (Bowdoin students may get a library card.) You can also use the database from within the library. Manuscript census records.
• Heritage Quest, via Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, Maine. Bowdoin students may get a library card. Alternatively, ask at any of the desks for guest access. Remote access from outside of the library is not possible. Manuscript census records.

Government documents

See our guides on U.S. Government, Congressional Documents, Presidential Documents, and Law Research Guide.

Maps

See our guide on Maps.

Statistical data

• See our Statistics guide.
• See our list of Polling databases.

Photographs, films, sound recordings, musical scores

• Digital Collections (formerly American Memory). Library of Congress. "Written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience."

Advertisements

• Ad*Access, Duke University.
  "Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements covering five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda - dated between 1911 and 1955."
• Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920, Duke University
• Find Advertisements and Commercials, University of Texas at Austin
• Advertisements Online, George Mason University
• Business Advertisements Online, University of Pennsylvania
• Also look for ads in Newspapers and magazines.

Cartoons

• Search contemporaneous newspapers for editorial cartoons or comics.
• Search Compass or WorldCat (a national database of library catalog records) for a name, class of persons, or ethnic group, or topic and the quoted phrase "caricatures and cartoons", e.g.

  "Roosevelt, Theodore" AND "caricatures and cartoons"
  politics AND "caricatures and cartoons"
  France AND "caricatures and cartoons"

• Cartoon Prints, American, Library of Congress
• Herblock!, Library of Congress
• Political cartoons, New York Public Library
• Tom Toles, Washington Post
• The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, The Ohio State University

Realia

• American Broadsides and Ephemera. "Searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900." Includes "contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters to official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports. Featuring many rare items, the pieces of ephemera include clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, bill heads, theater and music programs, stock certificates, menus and invitations documenting civic, political and private celebrations." Based on the American Antiquarian Society's collection.
• An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and other Printed Ephemera, Library of Congress. "The collection includes proclamations, advertisements, blank forms, programs, election tickets, catalogs, clippings, timetables, and menus. They capture the everyday activities of ordinary people who participated in the events of nation-building and experienced the growth of the nation from the American Revolution through the Industrial Revolution up to present day."
• For postage stamps portraying a particular subject, search one of our catalogs or WorldCat (a national database of library catalog records) on the subject and the quoted phrase "postage stamps", e.g.

  science AND "postage stamps"
  "United States" AND "postage stamps"