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Free Web Resources: Digitized Collections

This is a listing of resources that are freely available on the internet.

Historical Resources

  • Archive Grid 
    A searchable list and map of the locations of various archives. 
  • Digital History 
    A website dedicated to teaching the history of the United States. It contains resources on many topics, from landmark court cases to historic newspapers and social commentary. This site also includes resources for educators that can be used for classroom experiences. 
  • H-Holocaust 
    A portal to a variety of websites on the Holocaust. 
  • History of the Hebrew Language 
    A site dedicated to all things related to the history of the Hebrew Language. The site also includes a comparative essay on the similarities and differences between Semitic languages. 
  • History websites 
    In addition to links to quality history webpages, this site also has lesson plans for teachers of K-12 which can easily be applied to a youth group setting, as well as other history-related activities.
  • In Motion: The African American Migration Experience 
    This website provides historical information about the movement of African Americans within North America.
  • Institute for the Study of the Ancient World Resources 
    A website from the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World that provides a number of resources for the study of the Ancient World.
  • Internet History Sourcebooks 
    This website from Fordham University provides information and primary source documents from ancient history from Mesopotamia to Rome. The site also covers Early Christian History.
  • Medieval Sources Bibliography 
    An online bibliography of printed primary sources for the study of the Middle Ages. 
  • The Ancient World Online (AWOL) 
    This site contains a collection of open access content focused on the ancient world. This collection covers from the beginnings of man to the late antique/Early Islamic Period "from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific."

Archival Collections

  • Advanced Papyrological Information System 
    Provides access to previously published and currently unpublished papyri as well as translations of important documents written on papyrus. 
  • Codices Electronici Sangallenses 
    Digital library of medieval and early modern Swiss manuscripts, it includes Medieval codices among many other documents. 
  • Colored Conventions.Org 
    This website provides information and archival materials related to the Colored Conventions Movement of the pre and post Civil War era in the U.S.
  • Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative 
    This digital library provides transliterations and images of a large number of cuneiform tablets from 3350 B.C.E. to the end of th ePre-Christian Era. 
  • Digital Collection of the Munich Digitsation Centre 
    The digital collection of literature and documents related to German cultural heritage, run by the Bavarian State Library. This site contains nearly 800,000 resources. 
  • ELCA Archives 
    The archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 
  • Emily Dickinson Archive 
    This website provides open access images of the manuscripts of the poet Emily Dickinson
  • Folger Shakespeare Library 
    An extensive collection of resources related to Shakespeare and the Renaissance, including many rare pieces. Multiple searchable collections and exhibits are available for viewing on this site. 
  • Google Life Photo Archive 
    This website allows the user to search through LIFE Magazine's photo archive from the 1860's to the 1970's. Many of the millions of photographs in the archive have never been published. The archive is a product of a joint project by LIFE and Google. 
  • Jewish National and University Library 
    The website of the National Library of Israel. The collection is fully searchable with access to art galleries, a music collection, and sound archive. 
  • Jewish Women's Archive 
    A comprehensive historical encyclopedia of information about the lives and experiences of Jewish women. 
  • Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts 
    An online collection of illuminated manuscripts made available by the Koninklijke bibliotheek, The National Library of the Netherlands. The site is searchable and in English. 
  • Papyrus Project 
    A joint project of the papyri collections at Halle, Jena, and Leipzig Universities to catalog and digitize their collected resources.  
  • Perseus Digital Library 
    This site is a portal to information on ancient art, open-source documents, and multiple-language translations of authors such as Cicero, Vergil, Homer, and Plato among others. Perseus also includes a word study tool.
  • Pitts Theological Library Digital Image Archive 
    This site houses over 37,000 digitized portraits, biblical images, engravings, of church buildings, and others items. 
  • The King Center Archive 
    A digital archive that contains a wealth of primary source documents from the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The archive contains everything from sermons and meeting notes to a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt. 
  • Universal Newsreels 
    A database of newsreels created by Universal City Studios from 1929-1967. 
  • Vatican Archives 
    The digital archive of the Vatican. 

Historical Maps and Atlases

Museum Websites

  • British Museum Collection 
    A fully searchable database of the digitized holdings of the British Museum. 
  • Israel Antiquities Authority 
    The official website of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Rockefeller Museum. This website has extensive information on antiquities in Israel and Palestine, as well as information on archeology in general. It also contains information on the Rockefeller Museum and its exhibitions. 
  • J. Paul Getty Museum 
    The website of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. The online collection is fully searchable and contains galleries of visual art as well as links to videos on artistic techniques and more. 
  • Museo Nacional del Prado 
    The online collection of the Museo Nacional del Prado, the Spanish National Art Museum. The site is available in English.
  • Museum of the City of New York 
    A searchable database of the collections of the Museum of the City of New York. 
  • National Civil War Chaplains Museum 
    The website of the National Civil War Chaplains Museum. 
  • Rijksmuseum 
    The collections of one of the world's greatest museums are offered online. Included in the mountain of masterpieces are electronic images of Rembrandt's sketches of scenes from the Bible. The museum has made some 125,000 high-resolution images available for download via its Rijks Studio software, with plans to add another 40,000 images per year until the entire collection of one million works is available.  
  • Smithsonian Institution 
    The website of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. This site provides access to information about all of the Smithsonian's museums and exhibitis. 
  • Staatliche Museen zur Berlin 
    The website of the National Museum of Berlin, which includes a great deal of information on collections and exhibitions at the museum, as well as research and educational resources. 
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
    The official site of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 
  • Yad Vashem 
    The website of the World Center for the Holocaust. The site is dedicated to commemorating, documenting, researching, and educating about the Holocaust.