One of the primary reasons for colonization of the New World was to escape European religious persecution. This site provides stories of religious nonconformists, militants, zealots, reformers, and the faithful.
The Library of Congress provides a glimpse into work, school, and leisure activities in the United States from 1894 to 1915.
The Library of Congress has over 200 original dance manuals from 1490 to 1920. This resource includes essays and treatises on etiquette, dance theory and history, theatrical dance, music for the dance, and more.
A gateway to a collection of more than 500 prints, from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America, which encompasses several forms of political editorializing. A wonderfully curated collection, with images, a summary of the historical context, date of creation or publication, and additional information of interest.
These maps, historical primary materials, show the early settlements in Liberia that were created by the American Colonization Society as they resettled free black Americans in West Africa. A timeline of the history of Liberia is included.
Set up to assist American families in tracing their family histories, this extensive guide explains how to begin the process, to conduct research, tp take oral interviews, and to locate and analyze documents.
This site provides a collection of U.S. Congressional documents and debates from 1774 to 1873.
This site explores Black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Content includes the work of abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century, depictions of the long journey following the Civil War towards equality in employment, education and politics, strategies used to secure the vote, recognition of outstanding black leaders, and the contributions of sports figures, black soldiers, artists, actors, writers and others in the fight against segregation and discrimination.
An online version of the exhibit, "The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship", on the struggle of African Americans from Slavery to Civil Rights. Information about voting issues can be found under Reconstruction and the Booker T. Washington Era.
Excerpt from the Preface to Alice Henry's book, The Trade Union Woman (1915) in which Henry argues for regulation of wages and working conditions for women. Link to the entire book.
Read the authentic notes on Virginia's selection of their delegates to the Federal Constitutional Convention. The transcript describes the nominations and the final tally - George Washington, Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, George Mason, and George Wythe.
This site features a draft of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible and summarizing text from Library of Congress.
American Memory site documents the historical formation of the movement to conserve and protect America's natural heritage. Browse through literature, books, pamphlets, government documents, and manuscripts drawn from the collections of the Library of Congress.
Read George Washington's observations of the delegates, particularly the Anti-Federalists, at the Constitutional Convention, and the objections the opposition presented, which Washington cites in the letter. View an image of the original letter to James Madison, and read a transcript of the text.
A comprehensive list of links to the original text of the official journals of the proceedings of the First and Second Continental Congresses.
This full-length play script illustrates the life of early American feminist and abolitionist, Lucy Stone, with strong historic perspective.
Read letters from homesteaders in Nebraska and view photographs of prairie life in Nebraska. Visitors can browse by topic, date, or keyword.
The Library of Congress presents primary documents from the 1st session of Congress to the 18th.
Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929 assembles a wide array of Library of Congress source materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition.
Within a larger Library of Congress site about the economy during the Coolidge administration, this page provides reasons for the prosperity in the 1920s.