Research Guides: AAAS 22.1 / REL 54: African American Religion & Culture in Jim Crow America: Primary Source Databases

Selected Archival Databases

These databases vary tremendously in scope and quality. [Many have digitized documents from microfilm.] Not all documents, particularly manuscripts, have be transcribed, so don't be disappointed with low search results. You may need to approach some collections as "digital microfilm" and browse through page by page.

Many items are out of copyright given their age, and may be included in multiple databases. If you discover a document in one database, but the image quality is poor, a better copy may be included in another resource.

Ancestry.com Library Edition by MyFamily.com
Call Number: Electronic resource

This edition provides access to historical documents and photos, local narratives, oral histories, indexes and other resources in over 30,000 databases that span from the 1500s to the 2000s. The Library Edition of Ancestry.com has fewer personalized functions and options than the versions available to private subscribers.

American Antiquarian Society - AAS Historical Periodicals Subset Collection.
Suite of digital collections from the American Antiquarian Society, covering American periodicals published from the late 18th through early 20th century.
TIP: Use the advanced search to limit by publication date, and to see additional limits within sub-collections.

Black Thought & Culture
"Collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history."

Sabin Americana, 1500-1926
Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more.

Slavery & Anti-Slavery: a Transnational Archive
Broad archival collection of books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, legal documents, court records, manuscripts, and maps documenting the history of the slave trade in the Americas and beyond, from the 17th through the 19th century. Archival collections were sourced from more than 60 libraries including the U.S. National Archives, Library of Congress, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Yale University, British Library, British National Archives, and Oxford University. Includes the Freedman's Aid Society Records (1866-1932), within the section "The Age of Emancipation"

ProQuest History Vault: NAACP PapersBoard of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff files
Gale Primary Sources
Down the rabbit hole...
As an example of the variety of archival databases available, here's what we've licensed from one particular vendor (Gale). Includes "Making of the Modern World", "Slavery & Anti-Slavery", and many, many more.
Archives Unbound

Selected Historical Newspaper & Periodical Databases

African American Newspapers (Accessible Archives)
"Collection of major 19th century African-American newspapers, including: Christian Recorder (Philadelphia, Pa.); Freedom's Journal (NY); Colored American (NY); Provincial Freeman (Ontario, Canada); National Era (Washington, DC); and Frederick Douglass' North Star (Rochester, NY) and its later titles."

America's historical newspapers: including Early American Newspapers Series 1- 9, 1690-1922, and Series 12 + 13, 1821-1916

Chronicling America
Digitized American newspapers, 1789-1949, from states participating in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
Independent Voices: The Alternative Press
Publications by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press, and alternative literary magazines of the second half of the twentieth century.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Full content (text & image) of the back-run of several major US national, regional, and minority press newspapers, including the New York Times and Washington Post, as well as several African-American press newspapers such as the Chicago Defender, and selected foreign titles such as the Times of India and the Manchester (UK) Guardian Does NOT cover current years.

Need more? Check Wendel's news guide:

News and Newspapers
by Wendel Cox Last Updated Apr 1, 2025 3611 views this year

Government Documents

ProQuest Congressional
Indexes information produced by or pertaining to the United States Congress from 1789 to the present. Provides full text for many titles, generally from the early 1990's to the present. Includes bills, laws, legislative histories, committee prints, House and Senate documents and reports, the Congressional Record, Code of Federal Regulations, and Federal Register. Includes full text of Congressional Research Service reports, 1916-present; full text of Congressional hearings, 1824- ; full text of Committee Prints, 1830-2003; and full text of the Serial Set Collection with Maps, 1789-1969. For a complete description of contents, coverage, and update frequency, consult the online Help section.
United States congressional serial set
Presenting every publication from the 15th Congress through the 103rd Congress, including items missing from other editions, the Readex U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994 contains over 415,000 individual documents in more than 14,000 volumes. Designed for legislative and historical research, the Readex digital edition features unique browse capabilities and comprehensive metadata, offering new research opportunities for students and scholars in cultural, economic, ethnic, government, military, political and science history and other fields. Readex uses the original volumes to create fine new digital images of every publication, including approximately 56,000 maps. Nearly 14,000 maps and more than 8,000 illustrations appear in high-resolution color.

U.S. Declassified Documents Online (Gale)
"[Affords] immediate access to a broad range of previously classified federal records spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The collection brings together the most sensitive documents from all the presidential libraries and numerous executive agencies in a single, easily searchable database ... [The] most comprehensive compilation of declassified documents from the executive branch."

Additional open archives

HathiTrust Digital Library
Millions of searchable texts from a partnership of research libraries. The material out of copyright is available to read; material in copyright is searchable.
Internet Archive
A non-profit digital library provides permanent storage of and free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly three million public-domain books.
Archives of African American Music & Culture
Not everything has been digitized,