Primary Source Spotlight: Elections in the U.S.

Primary Source Spotlight: Elections in the U.S.

U.S. election images U.S. election maps U.S. election sheet music U.S. election reports & printed ephemera U.S. election clippings & correspondence U.S. election historical newspaper articles (tip: use the advanced search to refine the results) U.S. federal legislation related to elections Teaching resources U.S. presidential elections U.S. presidents primary source collections & teaching resources

Today in History: Frank Kameny

Today in History: Frank Kameny

Today in History–April 17–the Library of Congress features pioneering gay rights activist Frank (Franklin E.) Kameny, who led the first organized White House picket for gay rights on this date in 1965 with the Mattachine Society of Washington. Prior to that, in 1961, he was the first person  to petition the Supreme Court with a discrimination claim based on sexual…

Primary Source Spotlight: Bayard Rustin

Primary Source Spotlight: Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin was an openly gay civil rights activist, social reformer, pacifist, AIDS activist, and author. He was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Bayard Rustin photos Bayard Rustin historical newspaper coverage from 1942 Race, Religion, and Nationalism — Basic Problems of World Peace 1943 Institute of International Relations 1949 The Application…

Portrait of Frances Perkins in Evening Star Newspaper announcing her as the new Labor Secretary

Primary Source Spotlight: Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins images Frances Perkins historical newspaper coverage Correspondence and other texts related to Frances Perkins Frances Perkins Columbia University Libraries Oral History Research Office Contemporary legislation related to Frances Perkins Frances Perkins: Architect of the New Deal JSTOR Daily Promoting the General Welfare: Frances Perkins In Custodia Legis Frances Perkins, the Woman Behind FDR…

Portrait of Elizabeth Keckley

Today in History: Elizabeth Keckley

Today in History–November 15–the Library of Congress features Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, whose emancipation deed was signed on this date in 1855. Although best known for her role as confidante and dressmaker to President Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd, Keckley was also an author and a generous philanthropist who assisted escapees from southern slavery. Find out more…

Avoid Conscription

Primary Source Spotlight: U.S. Military Conscription (the Draft)

The Draft Riots of 1863 : A Historical Study Read at the Meeting of the Ohio Commandery Civil War draft riots Civil War induction officer with lottery box photograph Civil War Conscription Laws In Custodia Legis November 15, 2012 Freemen! Avoid Conscription! 1862 broadside Abraham’s draft, 600,000 more 1862 sheet music Southern “volunteers” 1862 political…

Mississippi River

Primary Source Spotlight: Mississippi River

Mississippi River maps Mississippi River images Civil War Mississippi River Fleet image set The River 1938 film Audio recordings related to the Mississippi River songs & oral histories The Mississippi River 1851 sheet music Correspondence related to the Mississippi River Reports & other texts related to the Mississippi River Mississippi River historical newspaper articles &…

Title IX

Today in History: Title IX

Today in History–June 23–Congress passed the landmark legislation, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which, as amended (20 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq.) prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions and programs receiving federal funding. Learn more in this research guide overview and the resources linked to above and below….

Glimpses at the Freedmen's Bureau

Primary Source Spotlight: Freedmen’s Bureau

Freedmen’s Bureau image set Freedmen’s Bureau texts Freedmen’s Bureau correspondence and other texts Freedmen’s Bureau historical newspaper articles 1865-1872 Freedmen’s Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000 Freedmen’s Bureau, 1865–1872 online exhibition items African American Odyssey: Reconstruction online exhibition Freedmen’s Bureau Records Smithsonian Freedmen’s Bureau Transcription Project Smithsonian “The Freedmen’s Bureau” by W.E.B. Du Bois The Atlantic Monthly Volume…