Finding Resources: America’s Library
America’s Library is filled with stories about the history and culture of the United States, richly embellished with all types of primary sources. The website is a great way to introduce younger students and lower level readers to the Library of Congress and primary sources.
You can access America’s Library by clicking the Kids & Families link, found in the main, center section—Collection Highlights—of the Library website homepage under the Especially for header.
On the Kids and Families page, click the America’s Library link—second from the top on the left—to be directed to the America’s Library website.
America’s Library is divided into five sections, each accessible from the website homepage. Each section has it’s own homepage with links to the section’s stories as well as rotating featured primary source, trivia questions and games.
Featured stories in the Meet Amazing Americans section, along with related primary source collections from TPS-Barat Primary Source Nexus are listed below.
Leaders & Statesmen
- William Jennings Bryan (PSN: William Jennings Bryan primary source collections)
- Benjamin Franklin (PSN: Benjamin Franklin primary source collections)
- King Kamehameha I (PSN: King Kamehameha primary source collections & teaching resources)
- George C. Marshall (PSN: Marshall Plan primary source collections)
- Thurgood Marshall (PSN: Thurgood Marshall primary source collections)
- George S. Patton, Jr. (PSN: Bonus Army primary source collections)
- John Joseph Pershing (PSN: General John J. Pershing primary source collections)
- Pocahontas (PSN: Settlement primary source set)
U.S. Presidents
- John Adams (PSN: John Adams primary source collections)
- John Quincy Adams (PSN: John Quincy Adams primary source collections)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (PSN: Dwight D. Eisenhower primary source collections)
- William Henry Harrison (PSN: William Henry Harrison primary source collections)
- Andrew Jackson (PSN: Andrew Jackson primary source collections & teaching resources)
- Thomas Jefferson (PSN: Thomas Jefferson primary source collections & teaching resources)
- Abraham Lincoln (PSN: Abraham Lincoln primary source collections & teaching resources)
- James Madison (PSN: James Madison primary source collections)
- James Monroe (PSN: James Monroe primary source collections)
- James Polk (PSN: James Polk primary source collections)
- Theodore Roosevelt (PSN: Theodore Roosevelt primary source collection & teaching resources)
- John Tyler (PSN: John Tyler primary source collections)
- Martin Van Buren (PSN: Martin Van Buren primary source collections)
- George Washington (PSN: George Washington primary source collections)
More U.S. President primary source collections
Activists & Reformers
- Jane Addams (PSN: Jane Addams & Hull House primary source collections)
- Rachel Carson (PSN: Rachel Carson primary source collections)
- Cesar Chavez (PSN: Mexican Americans & United Farm Workers of America)
- Frederick Douglass (PSN: Frederick Douglass primary source collections & teaching resources)
- W.E.B. Du Bois (PSN: W.E.B. Du Bois primary source collections)
- Helen Keller (PSN: Helen Keller primary source collections)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (PSN: MLK primary source collections & teaching resources)
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (PSN: Elizabeth Cady Stanton primary source collections)
- Harriet Tubman (PSN: Harriet Tubman primary source collections)
Adventurers & Explorers
- Amelia Earhart (PSN: Amelia Earhart primary source collections)
- Meriwether Lewis & William Clark (PSN: Meriwether Lewis & William Clark primary source collections)
More explorer primary source collections
Musicians & Composers
- Leonard Bernstein (PSN: Featured Source: Leonard Bernstein illustrated letter)
- Duke Ellington (PSN: Duke Ellington primary source collections)
- Jenny Lind (PSN: Jenny Lind primary source collections)
- John Philip Sousa
More musician primary source collections
Singer primary source collections
Opera primary source collections
Writers & Artists
- Langston Hughes (PSN: Langston Hughes primary source collection & teaching resources)
- Dorothea Lange (PSN: Dorothea Lange primary source collection & teaching resources)
- Mark Twain (PSN: Mark Twain primary source collections & teaching resources)
- Frank Lloyd Wright (PSN: Frank Lloyd Wright primary source collections)
More writer primary source collections
Industrialists & Entrepreneurs
Andrew Carnegie (PSN: Andrew Carnegie primary source collections)
Scientist & Inventors
- George Washington Carver (PSN: George Washington Carver & Tuskegee Institute primary source collections)
- Thomas Alva Edison (PSN: Thomas Edison primary source collections)
More inventor primary source collections
Athletes & Entertainers
Theater primary source collections
Each time period in the Jump Back in Time section contains numerous stories. In addition, there is a widget that allows you to jump back in time and see events that happened in history on the day you were born. TPS-Barat has also compiled a list of themed link sets containing links to primary sources and other Library resources related to even more time periods in U.S. history. You’ll find them under the TPS-Barat Resources menu: Themed Link Sets > History > U.S. History by Time Period. Another resource is the Time Period individual primary source sets & teaching activities.
- Colonial America (1492-1763) | PSN: Colonial America resources
- Revolutionary Period (1764-1789) | PSN: American Revolution resources
- The New Nation (1790-1828) | PSN: Early Republic resources
- Western Expansion & Reform (1829-1859) | PSN: Territorial Expansion & Manifest Destiny resources
- Civil War (1860-1865) | PSN: Civil War & Reconstruction resources
- Reconstruction (1866-1877)
- Gilded Age (1878-1889) | PSN: U.S. & the World Around the Turn of the 20th Century resources
- Progressive Era (1890-1913) | PSN: Populism & Progressivism resources
- Great War & Jazz Age (1914-1928) | PSN: World War I & The 1920s
- Depression & WWII (1929-1945) | PSN: Great Depression & the New Deal & World War II
- Modern Era (post 1946) | PSN: Post World War II
Themed link set: U.S. History by Time Period
Time Period primary source sets & teaching activities
The Explore the States section includes stories about each of the 50 U.S. states. TPS-Barat has also curated lists of links to primary sources about nearly every state. You’ll find them under the TPS-Barat Resources menu: Primary Source Picks > State Spotlight.
In the Join America at Play section you can find stories and sources about celebrations, vacations, sports, hobbies, and pastimes. Related content from TPS-Barat Primary Source Nexus is also linked to below.
Sports primary source collections
Quilting primary source collections
Dance primary source collections
The See, Hear and Sing section features films and songs.