History

New York has long been the epicenter of the graffiti art movement. This unusual resource documents the history of graffiti with many photographs of murals.

A membership organization, the AFIHC allows the public to search its lists of people who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924, and may provide some extra information on individuals.

This website contains over 7,500 historical photographs of Brooklyn. Hosted by Brooklyn Public Library, the website is intended to engage users with Brooklyn culture and community illuminated by these significant collections now made accessible to the public.

From the Columbia University Libraries, this portal site provides links to a variety of other sites on New York City history.

Offers discussions, resources and books for the history of New York.

The Online Collections Database now includes over 100 selections from the extensive clothing collection at Historic Richmond Town. Featured database items include women’s dresses and wedding gowns, men’s and women’s military uniforms, infant’s and toddler’s dresses, and women’s petticoats and other undergarments.

Online version of Jacob Riis' seminal 1890 book of journalistic essays and photos, documenting the lives of New York City's urban poor. Made available through Project Gutenberg.

The Museum of the City of New York produces online exhibits on a regular basis showcasing different highlights throughout the history of New York.

355 years of New York City Government Records

Maintained by the City University of New York, this "Virtual New York" is full of resources, books and information available.

The Online Gallery provides free and open research access to over 800,000 items digitized from the Municipal Archives’ collections, including photographs, maps, motion-pictures and audio recordings. The holdings are arranged by collection; or you may search “All Collections” by keyword or any of the advanced search criteria. Patrons may order prints or digital files, and license images or film clips for commercial use.

The New York G&B Society has produced a series of genealogy guides that are open to the public which serve as excellent resources for researching New York State.

A research portal for New York State History. This site provides access to digitized primary sources, featuring photographs, newspapers, maps, directories and personal correspondence from museums, libraries, historical societies, and newspaper archives.

The New-York Historical Society, one of America’s pre-eminent cultural institutions, is dedicated to fostering research, presenting history and art exhibitions, and public programs that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today.

The materials in this online collection are drawn from twelve archival collections housed at the New-York Historical Society that relate to the Civil War. Pictorial items include 731 stereographs, and over seventy photographs from an album, 178 sketches from three different collections, 304 posters, twenty-nine etchings of caricatures, and almost 500 envelopes with printed or embossed decoration related to Civil War events and personalities. Items from manuscript collections include letters, photographs, and papers regarding a competition sponsored by William Oland Bourne for left-handed penmanship, the first and only issue of The Prison Times handwritten by Confederate prisoners in Fort Delaware, thirty-two letters written by Sarah Blunt, a nurse in hospitals at Point Lookout, Maryland and Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and three letters by Walt Whitman.

An ever-growing collection of digitized materials from the New York Public Library.

Select Subjects: History - New York City History to see the NYC History databases. Databases can be accessed from home with a NYPL library card barcode number.

Includes great links to history resources, digital collections, and resources for all boroughs of NYC.

Use this link to search the NY Times archive online since its inception in 1851. Many articles are freely accessible. Articles that are not free can be obtained in the Horrmann Library on microfilm. See a librarian for assistance.

Experience Staten Island’s African American history on site or by virtual tour. This app allows you to experience the depth and breadth of NYC's most southern borough, where you will discover the many untold stories of Staten Island's rich African American past.

A comprehensive archive containing over 100,00 documents relating to the U.S. presidency. The collection also includes videos and statistical data.

Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

The Colonial North America Project so far includes 150,000 images of diaries, journals, notebooks, and other rare documents from the 17th and 18th centuries. Part of the Harvard University’s endeavor to digitize all its collections and make them available free of charge.

Access to Supreme Court decisions including landmark cases.

Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. Congress.gov is usually updated the morning after a session adjourns. Congressional documents from the first 100 years of the U.S. Congress (1774-1875) can be accessed through A Century of Lawmaking.

Collections of documents, photos, exhibits, newspaper clippings, sheet music and much more from Aaron Copland to Zora Neale Hurston and hundreds in between covering every era and discipline in American history.

This website provides valuable resources for general U.S. history research including e-lectures, landmark documents, court cases, and virtual exhibits

Discover 29,980,685 images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States.

This collection comprises digital southern history primary sources covering all aspects of southern culture.

The First Nations Histories site lists the Indian tribes of North America and gives a brief history of each. By clicking on the names of the tribes, you can read about the tribe in detail, including population, division, location, language, culture, and the history of the tribe.

The Smithsonian has museums around the country and many digital collections for primary sources related to American History.