Murrell Library Research Guides: History: Websites & Digital Collections

Websites & Digital Collections

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
provides access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
Federal Websites For and About American Indians
A guide to federal agency websites that feature information for or about Native Americans.
H-Net, Humanities and Social Sciences Online
History.com
-hundreds of topics covered from the areas of Science & Technology, Colonial America, World War II, Civil War, Native American History and much more
History On-Line
From the Institute of Historical Research, part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London.
History on the Web (Brian E. Coutts)
Lists major history gateways, professional sites, regional sites, web sites by period, history web rings and major digital projects. Created by Western Kentucky University Librarian Dr. Brian E. Coutts.
Making of America (Journals)
-a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
Missouri State University Digital Collections
The Missouri State University Digital Collections mainly include historical information about Missouri State University and the Ozarks region in general.
MSSU Archives & Special Collections
-meet with a professional archivist to learn how to locate, interpret and effectively evaluate the various collections stored in the MSSU Archives.
MSSU Newspapers and other News Resources LibGuide
-find current and historical news from newspapers and news sources from around the world.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
The mission of the NUCMC program is to provide and promote bibliographic access to the nation's documentary heritage. This mission is realized by NUCMC production of cataloging describing archival and manuscript collections held by eligible repositories located throughout the United States and its territories.
Our Documents - 100 Milestone Documents
-a list of 100 milestone documents, compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, and drawn primarily from its nationwide holdings. The documents chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965.
Primary Sources on the Web: Finding, Evaluating, Using
- guide written by the Instruction & Research Services Committee of the Reference and User Service Association History Section of the American Library Association designed to provide students and researchers with information to help them evaluate the internet sources and the quality of primary materials that can be found online.
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution web site is a portal to extensive online collections and background information on U.S. and world history topics.
The State Historical Society of Missouri
SHSMO's research centers are located in Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Louis, and Springfield. Before arriving, visitors should contact research center staff to verify that the manuscript collection they would like to view is available, as materials may be restricted, in storage, or located at another research center. Collections stored at one research center can be viewed at any of the others; transfers between campus research centers usually takes 48 hours. Microfilmed collections can be borrowed through interlibrary loan.
United States Census Bureau
-leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.
White House Historical Association
-provides ongoing educational programs for students, teachers, scholars, and the general public on the history of the White House and the President's Neighborhood.
World Digital Library
-developed by the Library of Congress with UNESCO. offers primary source materials from countries around the world.

Grey Literature

Grey literature exists outside of and is uncontrolled by the usual academic and commercial publishers. It includes conference proceedings, occasional and working papers, policy papers and briefs, hearings, reports, and more.

Apolitical. Case studies, analysis, news and opinions about innovation in government, used by public servants in 140+ countries. Available to students as a global weekly roundup of government innovation and leadership across all policy areas such as health, economic opportunity, gender, and digital. Navigate to the website or contact your librarian to subscribe.
Find Policy. Search for topics in leading policy research organizations.
Harvard Dataverse Network. A rapidly growing collection of social science research data, used by many authors and journals to host their replication data.
IssueLab. IssueLab gathers, indexes, and shares the collective intelligence of the social sector... [providing] free access to thousands of case studies, evaluations, white papers, and issue briefs addressing some of the world's most pressing social problems." From the Foundation Center.
PolicyArchive. A digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research. It makes use of the power, efficiency, and economy of modern Internet technology to collect and disseminate summaries and full texts, videos, reports, briefs, and multimedia material of think tank, university, government, and foundation-funded policy research.
NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research). Current and historical; NBER is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. Provides data sets about macroeconomics, industry, international trade, individual income and expenditure data, etc.
Qualitative Data Repository. Project hosted at Syracuse University that curates and hosts data from qualitative social science projects. In addition, the site provides detailed guidance, written specifically for social science researchers collecting qualitative data, on key topics such as data management, research involving human participants, and teaching with qualitative data.

Think Tank Search
Searches websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks. From the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

aCGS Policy Archive-- collects and archives public policy research publications from US think tanks.
NIRA World Directory of Think Tanks-- indexed by country with descriptions, contact information, and links to organizations' websites.
Pew Research Center. A US nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
Population Studies Center (data link list). List of data home pages available on the internet.
Public Policy Institutes-- a Yahoo directory of important international think tanks with links to organizations' websites.
Think Tank Search
WWW Virtual Library: Research Institutes-- list of think tank-related links and resources maintained by Wayne Selcher at Elizabethtown College.

Digital Collections

Missouri Digital Heritage
Access to more than 9 million records through Missouri Digital Heritage, including the collections of the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Library and other institutions from across the state.
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Missouri Historical Documents Browser
This online reference tool is designed to help you find historic serial publications of Missouri state agencies. Hotlinks provide one-click lookup in the MU Library catalog or the MOBIUS union catalog. Begin your search by choosing a year or topic.
Missouri State University Digital Collections
The Missouri State University Digital Collections mainly include historical information about Missouri State University and the Ozarks region in general.
University Archives of the University of Missouri
University Archives is the depository of official records of the University of Missouri as well as of the administrative records of the University of Missouri System. University Archives also houses and preserves private papers, organizational records, and manuscripts that relate to the history of the University, the University community, and the University System.
University of Arkansas Libraries Digital Collections
University of Arkansas Libraries Digital Collections facilitate the discovery of and access to a variety of digital materials related to the University and to Arkansas and its history, culture, environment, and people.
University of Kansas Digital Collections
point of connection for digital projects and collections from disciplines across the KU campus. Digital research, online journals, scholarly publishing, and image collections are all represented. Most of these collections are freely available; a few are only available to current KU employees and students.
Washinton University in St. Louis Archive Collections
Archive collections documenting Local History topics include records of noted St. Louis area civic organizations, political figures, architects, social activists, and community groups.

St. Louis History

St. Louis Public Library: Genealogy Room
Site provides links to various library collections focused on local history
State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-St. Louis
Includes collection guides and some complete finding aids for collections in the following areas of St. Louis and trans-Mississippi West History: African Americans, business, immigration, labor, lesbians and gays, the media, military, religion and churches, science, peace movements, politics, social welfare, and women. (Formerly known as the Western Historical Manuscript Collection)
The 1904 World's Fair Society
This society is dedicated to preserving the memory and memorabilia of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
St. Louis History (a guide from St. Louis Community College)
Washington University Open Scholarship Research
Open Scholarship provides access to the scholarly output of faculty, staff, and students from Washington University in St. Louis by gathering it in one place. On May 9, 2011, the Faculty Senate passed the Open Access Resolution in order to make "scholarship and creative works freely and easily available to the world community." Powered by Bepress's Digital Commons, Open Scholarship is a further step in the University's commitment to open access.