Research Guides: HIST 285: Historian's Workshop (Denial): Websites and Digital Collections

Evaluating Web Sites

The internet has enabled anyone to 'publish' material and information. This makes it hazardous for researchers to find reliable information. Primary sources are prevalent on the web, and this makes the historian's work much more efficient, but it is often difficult to discern a web source's reliability. Good strategies for using the web for historical research are:

aim to get primary material rather than interpretations or essays about the material
favor materials produced or hosted by libraries or other cultural institutions, such as museums and historical societies
favor sites with primary material in its original form -- for instance a collection of letters with both the original documents and transcriptions -- and primary material that is relatively complete, not excerpted
look for the author(s) of a site and investigate the author(s) credentials
try to determine a site's purpose; for instance, a site may have a political bias, or a site may be directed at an elementary school audience

Digital Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America brings together digital collections from hundreds of libraries across America. The database will lead you to freely available content: photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and much more.

Some Good Web Sites

Here are some web sites from reputable institutions which have primary sources.

American Journeys
American Journeys contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
Calisphere
A massive digital collection of materials relating to California history contributed by all institutions in the University of California system.
Surveyors of the American West
Images and other archival material related to surveys by William Henry Jackson and Robert Brewster Stanton.
Western Waters Digital Library
Dedicated to providing access to water-related resources about the Trans-Mississippi region. Includes classic water literature, government reports, legal transcripts, water project records, personal papers, photographic collections, and audio/video.
Edward E. Ayer Digital Collection
The Edward E. Ayer collection from the Newberry Library focuses on the early contacts between American Indians and Europeans. It contains manuscripts, maps, photographs, drawings, and paintings.