United States History Web Links

General History Sites | Historical Documents | The Age of Exploration | The American Colonial Period | Jamestown
 New England | The American Revolution and Early Republic | Westward Expansion | Lewis and Clark
Slavery and the Underground Railroad | The Civil War | Women's Suffrage (1848-1920) | The Holocaust

General History Sites

  • Best of History Websites/US History
  • US History (Ask Eric)
    Links to US History sites
  • Eyewitness
    Short essays on historical events with perspectives from folks who were actually there, such as survivors' accounts of the San Francisco earthquake.
  • Historical Text Archive
    Students will find documents and other primary texts from many countries here.
  • The History Channel
    A gold mine for social studies teachers.
  • The History Net
    Internet magazine produced by the National Historical Society, full of interesting articles about American and World history. Text, graphics, photos.
  • History/Social Studies Web Site for K-12 Teachers
  • The History Place
    The History Place moves the past into the present and the future with an extensive database of information that includes a diversity of essays and opinions by established scholars and historians, as well as photos, speeches, and timelines.
  • HyperHistory Online
    Offers a timeline that kids can search for specific people, periods, and events.
  • The Library of Congress
  • Library of Congress: Local History and Genealogy Reading Room
    Provides genealogy information and links to other resources
  • The Making of America
    Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the ante-bellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints
  • National Archives and Records Administration
    Provides electronic access to many of the records and services of the NARA, an independent federal agency that helps preserve our nation's history by overseeing the management of all federal records.
  • National Museum of American History Homepage
    A bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, it is responsible for the collection, care, and preservation of more than 17 million artifacts, including 14 million stamps housed in the National Postal Museum. The collections represent material evidence of the nation's heritage in the areas of science, technology, and culture; they include coins and medals, automobiles, First Ladies' gowns, the John Bull locomotive, presidential campaign items, musical instruments, military weapons, ...
  • Patterns of Our Lives: American History
    Contains a collection of American history education resources on the Internet.
  • Portraits of the US Presidents and First Ladies
  • Presidents of United States
    Background information, election results, cabinet members, presidency highlights, and some odd facts on each of the presidents. Includes links to biographies, historical documents, audio and video files, and other presidential sites.
  • Reenactor Net
    This is a nonprofit server dedicated to people all over the world who recreate history through reenacting events and lifestyles or eras gone by.
  • SCORE: US History and Geography:
    Developed by the California Department of Education, this is the eighth grade site. The introductory page for all grades levels is SCORE History and Social Studies Resources. This web site has resources and lessons, by grade level, by topic, and by keyword. Lessons and activities follow the California frameworks and standards, which are similar to those in many states.
  • This Day in History from the History Channel
    This Day in History from the History channel highlights various past events for each day of the year. Students can search the database to travel in time to any date by specifying the month and day.
  • Today in History
    For any given month and day, Today in History's database provides information on famous historical birthdays, deaths, historical events, lists of those reported missing in action, holidays, religious observances, religious historical events, and a thought for the day.
  • UW Libraries: US History to 1865
  • Voice of the Shuttle: US History Page

Historical Documents 

The Age of Exploration

The American Colonial Period

Jamestown

New England

The American Revolution and Early Republic

  • The Revolutionary War: Journey towards Freedom
    Students might understand how is was to be a soldier at the time of the Revolution after taking an illustrated tour of Valley Forge, where Washington and his men wintered and later crossed the Delaware River. Find this virtual tour in the Infopedia section, along with links to ...
  • Archiving Early America
    Historic documents from 18th Century America displayed in their original format. Contains newspapers, maps and writings from the Colonial Period, the War of Independence, and the presidencies of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Biographies

Biographies of Historical Persons related to American History
From Revolution to Reconstruction, a WWW project of collective writing in hypertext provides more than 80 online biographies of historical persons related to American history.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

George Washington (1732-1799)

Westward Expansion

  • The American West
    This site presents comprehensive information about the history and development of the American West.
  • In the Steps of Esteban: Tucson's Farican American Heritage
    An online exhibit documenting the history of Tucson, Arizona's African American community, which was founded by homesteaders, cowboys, and soldiers.
  • The Kansas Collection
    An online collection of primary resources relevant to Kansas history and the settling of the American West.
  • Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
    in 1804, an expedition of 33 set out to explore the western lands of the United States. This Corps of Discovery came into contact with nearly 50 native tribes during their 28 month travels. Students will meet 16 of those tribes at this site. Students can also listen to experts answer questions by using RealAudio to access sound files.
  • Museum of Westward Expansion Tour
    Charts the entire history of the nineteenth-century American West, from the Louisiana Purchase to the closing of the frontier in 1890.
  • The Oregon Trail
    Learn all about the arduous trip west on the Oregon Trail.
  • Oregon Trail: the Trail West
    For 25 years during the mid-nineteenth century, the Oregon Trail was a primary route for emigrants moving to the western territories of the United States.
  • The Prairie Traveler: A handbook for Overland Expeditions
    In 1859, the War Department, which had become alarmed about the flood of inexperienced pioneers setting out for the western frontier, directed Randolph Barnes Marcy to write The Prairie Traveler: A Handbook for Overland Expeditions. A bestseller in its day, it was an essential guidebook offering practical advice (which is still sound today) to the many emigrants heading west.
  • SCORE: American West
    One of many sites on US History developed and maintained by the California Department of Education. If this link does not work back, go to the main/root directory, http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/grade8/index.htmlTrails West
    Links to many of the overland trails used during westward expansion,.
  • Westward Expansion
    Links to many sites relating to Westward Expansion.
  • Westward Expansion: Trails West
    Linda Joseph and Cyber Bee have some links to sites not mentioned in other lists.
  • WestWeb
    WestWeb is a topically organized Web site on the study of the American West. Each of the more than 30 topic headings contains collections of primary and secondary documents, biographical and bibliographical resources and lists of links to other related sites.

Lewis and Clark

In the footsteps of Lewis and Clark

The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
For students that need access to primary documents, the University of Virginia provides digital transcripts for Lewis and Clark's journals. It is organizaed by chapter and includes a printable rich-text format version of the journals.

Lewis & Clark: A Journey of the Corps of Discovery
A companion site to the Ken Burns PBS series, and is one of the most impressive and infomromative Web sites about Lewis & Clark.

Lewis & Clark: Journal of Discovery

Lewis and Clark's Historic Trail

Slavery and the Underground Railroad

See also: Black History Month page

  • The North Star: Tracing the Underground Railroad
    In the years before the Civil War, a secret network of people and places, known as the Underground Railroad, helped slaves to escape to freedom. This network was neither "underground" nor a railroad; rather, it was a loose organization of aid and assistance to fugitives from slavery.
  • Resources for Harriet Tubman
    A list of annotated links to guide students in their research of Harriet Tubman and the Underground railroad.
  • Slavery and the Courts: 1740-1860
    Library of Congress American Memories Collection
    http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml/

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The Civil War

Women's Suffrage (1848-1920)

  • Suffrage Photographs: 1850 - 1920
    The Library of Congress has created an online exhibit of 38 pictures, including portraits of individuals, suffrage parades, picketing suffragists, an anti-suffrage display, and editorial cartoons commenting on the movement.
  • Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment
    By the mid-1800's, woman suffrage supporters were lecturing, writing, marching, lobbying, and practicing civil disobedience in a battle to achieve Constitutional change allowing women the right to vote. These efforts continued until August 24, 1920, when the nineteenth amendment tot he Constitution was ratified. The National Archives and Records Administration has created a Web site of primary sources, activities, and links to related Web sites for educators and students to commemorate this struggle.

The Holocaust

  • The Anne Frank Homepage
    Students can find out more information about Anne Frank, her diary, and the house where she and her family lived in secret from July 6, 1942 until August 4, 1944. An interesting FAQ's section answers students' questions, such as "When did Anne receive her first diary notebook?"
  • An Auschwitz Alphabet
    Links are provided from A to Z to show the grim horrors of Auschwitz.
  • Cybrary of the Holocaust
    Divided into sections, this site focuses on Holocaust research, survivor stories, photographs, and educational resources. In remembering lest we forget, it makes student-written poetry and artwork available, as well as feedback from classes student the Holocaust.
  • Do You Know: Will you remember?
    Young Adults studying the Holocaust will find an annotated bibliography of books and links to other Web sites to help with their research.
  • Holocaust Archives
    Historical photographs, some graphically detailed, accompany text by Daniel Keren, Historical documents include excerpts from rulings and verdicts of German Courts regarding Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau and a short statistical summary of the Holocaust by German Historians.
  • Holocaust Chronicle
  • U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
    The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum open in April 199. on the fiftieth anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
  • Holocaust Teacher Resource Center
    Aimed at teachers at the Kindergarten through college levels, this site provides "materials which can be brought into the classroom and student."
 

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