Primary Sources: The American South: Southern Digital Collections

"This collection represents just the beginning of the Alabama Department of Archives and History's effort to consolidate and reorganize its digital collections. "

"... a repository of digital materials on Alabama's history, culture, places, and people. Its purpose is to make unique historical treasures from Alabama's archives, libraries, museums, and other repositories electronically accessible to Alabama residents and to students, researchers, and the general public in other states and countries. "

"Through a unique partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the Central Arkansas Library System, archival materials have been brought together for the benefit of researchers in the state's largest facility dedicated to the study of Arkansas history and culture. "

"Explore thousands of items including theses, dissertations, faculty scholarship, archival materials, audio, video and more on RADAR: Repository of AUC Digital collections, Archives, and Research.

Digitized archival collections feature a myriad of subjects and formats including photographs, audio and video resources, and publications. Scholarly works include Atlanta University Center theses and dissertations, electronic journals, faculty publications, student scholarship, and audio and video recordings of programs and conferences.

Many digital collections are available from anywhere on the web, while other collections, such as The Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, are available only within the Archives Research Center."

"As the local history division of the Austin Public Library, the Austin History Center provides the public with information about the history, current events, and activities of Austin and Travis County. We collect and preserve information about local governments, businesses, residents, institutions, and neighborhoods so that generations to come will have access to our history.

Use these Digital Collections to conduct directed research or just browse if you can’t make it down to our Reading Room. This website hosts only a selection of photographs from our collections. For information on doing in-person research at the Austin History Center or virtually viewing other materials, please visit our primary website."

BPL's Digital Collections were created to preserve and make available the local history of Birmingham and the surrounding area. These resources may help students, teachers, genealogists, historians and interested citizens learn more about the history of Birmingham.Description from site (BPL = Birmingham Public Library)

"The Southern history collections at the Briscoe Center are recognized nationally as one of the major resources for research on the history of the American South, including the eleven states that seceded from the Union in 1860 and 1861. The holdings provide an in-depth understanding of the historical development of the South, with a special emphasis on chattel slavery, the cotton economy, and the Civil War. Also included are comprehensive collections of newspapers from across the South covering the colonial era through Reconstruction and into the Jim Crow era." https://briscoecenter.org/collections/american-south/

"The Briscoe Center for American History is one of the nation’s leading research centers for historical study. The center’s archives, libraries, museums, and historic buildings are part of the The University of Texas at Austin’s commitment to collecting, preserving, and making available the evidence of the past."

"Broadsides are ephemeral material, usually intended for one-time use and printed on one side of one sheet of paper. They often include a date and were used to advertise or illustrate an event, meeting, product, or sale. Wills, political statements, proclamations, and theatre bills are also found in this collection. The Library of Virginia collection, which includes more than 1,700 broadsides dating from the eighteenth century to the present, provides a treasure trove of information to researchers about the activities and daily community affairs of Virginians, as well as insights into political, racial, and spiritual inclinations of their time."

"The Butler Center provides online access to selected portions of our collections. These featured collections represent a dynamic sampling of Arkansas history. Included are audio/video clips, digital images of photographs, letters, and other documents as well as educational resources such as lesson plans."

Includes collections such as: Digital Civil War Collection; Early Images of Egypt; Robert Tatum Diaries; Tennessee Documentary History; etc.

"...portal to digitized materials from the collections of the University of Maryland Libraries."

"Digital collections at the Edmon Low Library are a collaborative project-based effort between Archives, Government Documents, Oral History, Maps & Spatial Data Services, and Digital Library Services. Collections include photography, maps, audio, and video files related to Oklahoma State University along with a diverse range of topics that are intertwined with the rich history of Oklahoma."

"...is an open-access digital repository that collects, archives, and disseminates the intellectual and creative output of the University’s faculty, staff, students, and community partners. Digital Commons hosts contributions from across the campus and the community, including campus documents and publications, faculty and student research, conferences, journals, research data, news, and more."

"The Digital Library of Georgia is a gateway to Georgia's history and culture found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, government documents, newspapers, maps, audio, video, and other resources. "

"Digital Maryland (previously Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage or MDCH), is a collaborative, statewide digitization program headquartered at the Enoch Pratt Free Library/State Library Resource Center in Baltimore. Its mission is to facilitate the digitization and digital exhibition of the historical and cultural documents, images, audio and video held by Maryland institutions."

"Document Bank of Virginia (DBVa) is the Library of Virginia’s initiative to get documents into classrooms. Using primary sources, teachers can make history relevant to students while helping them learn and understand state standards. DBVa will teach students to be critical thinkers as they analyze the original documents and draw their own conclusions about Virginia’s past."

A website from the University Library at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This digital project "provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture." Indexes are provided by author, title, subjects, or geographic area. Users may also browse or search collections. Collections include : "First-Person Narratives of the American South" , "Library of Southern Literature" , "North American Slave Narratives" , "The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865" , "The Church in the Southern Black Community" , "The North Carolina Experience, Beginnings to 1940" , and "North Carolinians and the Great War" . The site provides information on citing the documents and lesson plans and activities for classroom use.

A website from the University Library at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This digital project "provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture." Indexes are provided by author, title, subjects, or geographic area. Users may also browse or search collections. Collections include : "First-Person Narratives of the American South" , "Library of Southern Literature" , "North American Slave Narratives" , "The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865" , "The Church in the Southern Black Community" , "The North Carolina Experience, Beginnings to 1940" , and "North Carolinians and the Great War" . The site provides information on citing the documents and lesson plans and activities for classroom use.

Covers themes such as: ECU History, African American History, Women's History, Wars and more.

"Florida Memory presents a selection of historical records that illustrate significant moments in Florida history, educational resources for students of all ages and archival collections for historical research. "

"Furman University's online digital collections contain an assortment of materials covering many subject areas, including medieval history, primary texts and manuscripts, works of art, and Furman's own rich history and sustainability efforts. " Some materials may be limited to use by Furman University faculty, staff and students.

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Georgia State University Library's Digital Collections provide online access to unique and rare material within the University Library's Special Collections and Archives Department, the general collections and select community partners to support the research interest of scholarly communities and the general public. Material within the collections include manuscripts, photographs, periodicals, newspapers, oral histories, audio/visual, maps, and printed materials."

"... is a collection of primary resources from HBCU libraries and archives. It includes several thousand scanned pages and represents HBCU libraries first collaborative effort to make a historic collection digitially available. Collections are contributed from member libraries of the Historically Black College and University Library Alliance. "

Includes things such as: archival material from the African American Library at the Gregory School, the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, and the Houston Metropolitan Research Center. Some collections are the result of collaborations with partner libraries, museums, and cultural heritage institutions.

A gateway to digitized collections of items housed in Kentucky archives.

"The Digital Collections is a searchable database of digital images and files from the Kentucky Historical Society's collections."

"Alabama State University has created a digital library to highlight its photographic and archival collection, representing items contained in personal and family papers, organizational records, and other manuscript collections acquired by Alabama State University. The images featured on this web site strongly reflect the history of Alabama State University, the modern civil rights movement, and the Black experience in central Alabama. They have been selected to allow the public an opportunity to glimpse the rich visual materials housed in the Archives at the Levi Watkins Learning and Resource Center, Alabama State University. "

The LVA is located in Richmond. It contains a vast array of materials that would be useful in the study of Virginia History, among other things. The website provides information about a number of the collections available in the Library. Some of these collections are available online, but be aware that not all of the collections are indexed or made available online. It is possible to contact the Library to see if they would have information of use before making plans to visit.

"The Louisiana Digital Library (LDL) is an online library of more than 144,000 digital items from Louisiana archives, libraries, museums, and other repositories, making unique historical treasure accessible to students, researchers, and the general public in Louisiana and across the globe. The items in the Louisiana Digital Library are as diverse and interesting as the people and places in Louisiana, with photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, oral histories, and more documenting the state’s history and culture."

"The Lowcountry Digital Library digitizes and makes accessible unique local resources. In order to provide a well rounded digital collection, the library works with partner institutions in a collaborative manner to ensure the overall quality of the digital library. Moreover, it provides professional training and support for archive, library, and museum professionals throughout the region." (LowCounty South Carolina)

MDAH Digital Archives include:
electronic records received from government agencies and officials; donated and acquired electronic resources; digital copies of original materials from MDAH collections, including paper documents, photographs, maps, audio, and video

Explore photographs, postcards, maps, manuscript documents, and oral history clips from the Special Collections Division, Metro Archives, and more.

Online collections provided by the North Carolina State Archives

"... an online resource of selected reference and primary source material, covering political, governmental, historical, geographical, social, cultural and biographical topics.These resources have been digitized from original materials housed in the Oklahoma Collection, a special collection housed on the first floor of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries."

"The digital collections of the Old Dominion University Libraries include rare and unique images, documents, oral histories, and video from our Special Collections and University Archives. "

"The Portal is a gateway to Texas history materials. You may discover anything from an ancestor's picture to a rare historical map. From prehistory to the present day, you can explore unique collections from Texas libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, genealogical societies, and private family collections. The Portal continues to grow as additional partners contribute digital versions of their collections." Hosted by The University of North Texas Libraries

"... a collaborative effort that includes South Carolina’s schools, libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. SCDL’s mission is to encourage our collaborators to create, maintain, and promote digital collections that represent South Carolina's historical and cultural resources while following state-level guidelines that are based on national standards and best practices. "

"The Southern Historical Collection (SHC) encourages the study and appreciation of the history and culture of the American South by collecting, preserving and promoting the use of unique documentary materials of enduring historical value. The SHC does this to enable users to derive meanings from the southern past and to support the University’s mission of teaching, research and service."

"The Southern Historical Collection (SHC) encourages the study and appreciation of the history and culture of the American South by collecting, preserving and promoting the use of unique documentary materials of enduring historical value. The SHC does this to enable users to derive meanings from the southern past and to support the University’s mission of teaching, research and service."

Access digital collections on a wide variety of topics such as:
Cushing Historical Images Collection; Hereld Fanzine Collection; Historical Maps of Cuba; Texas A&M University Newspaper Collection; Wheelan Collection; World War I Postcards; etc.

Provides online access to a variety of exhibits and collections related to Texas history. Examples include: Civilian Conservation Corps Drawing (1933-1958); Historical Map Collection; Voices of Texas History; etc.

Collections include: Alumni Association - Texas TechsanBook CollectionDigital Dickens - All the Year RoundDyal Ship CollectioneBook DonationsFunctionalism in American PsychologyHistorians of the Frontier West CollectionHistory of Texas CollectionLa VentanaLubbock Area Maps & ManuscriptsLubbock City Planning Materials CollectionMatthew Arnold CollectionPrigmore Book CollectionPrigmore Family History CollectionRare Books & Materials CollectionRussian Books & JournalsSociological Theory CollectionTexas Soil SurveysTTU Historical Cookbooks

Provides online access to a variety of digital collections including: Civil Rights Greensboro, Digital Library of American Slavery, Women's Veterans Historical Collection, etc.

Contains a large number of digital items concerning the university as well as Alabama and southern history.

Contains digital collections related to topics such as Senator J.W. Fulbright, Civil Rights in Arkansas, and the University itself.

"... hosts more than 300 outstanding digital collections, containing over 7 million pages of unique manuscripts and letters, antique maps, rare children's literature books, theses and dissertations, newspapers, historic photographs, oral histories, and more. The University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC) enables users to find unique and rare digitized materials held at the University of Florida and partner institutions. "

"... makes available digital collections of materials documenting the University of Houston, city of Houston, and state of Texas, as well as other historically and culturally significant materials. "

"The Department of Archives & Special Collections contains archival papers, photographs, films, and sound recordings related to Mississippi, the Blues, the University of Mississippi, and the American South."

"The UNT Digital Library is a centralized repository for the rich collections held by the libraries, colleges, schools, and departments at the University of North Texas. "

Includes: Bass Business History Collection, History of Science Collections, Nichols Collection, and Western History Collections.

"Consistent with the University Libraries’ mission to make collections accessible worldwide, the Digital Collections department scans rare, unique, and fragile items held by University Libraries and publishes them online for researchers on campus and around the world. Every effort is made to portray true color and likeness without any editing. All items are described, many can be downloaded, and all can be cited in your research. "

Designed to make "research quality digital collections of texts, images, and audio materials" available for scholars.

Search or browse the digital collections for your topic.

"We provide public access to the unique historical and cultural resources held by UTSA Special Collections. These materials represent a selection of our growing collection of photographs, archival documents, oral histories, rare books, and University Archives."

"... is home to a number of digital projects spanning the range of American history, from the Jamestown settlement, to the Civil War, to the Civil Rights movement. These projects are built to be used by K-12 educators, and the general public, as well as by college students, and scholars."

"Virginia Memory is part of the online presence of the Library of Virginia, the state archives and reference library at the seat of government for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Established in 1823, the Library maintains vast and varied collections of print materials, manuscripts, archival records, newspapers, photographs and ephemera, maps and atlases, rare books, and fine art that tell the history of the commonwealth and its people. Since the mid-1990s, the Library has digitized parts of the collections in an effort to make our materials more widely available to our online users."

"Connecting people to America's past through the unparalleled story of Virginia. By collecting, preserving, and interpreting the Commonwealth's history, we link past with present and inspire future generations."

"This site features digital collections of rare and unique materials such as letters, diaries, photographs, films, maps, newspapers, posters, reports and other media from the Special Collections of Virginia Tech."

The digital library for the College of William and Mary includes a variety of materials, including copies of the yearbook back to 1899.