US National Archives
Nara: Income Tax Records of the Civil War Years
This article presents an excellent historical overview of the income tax as well as look at the tax records of the Civil War years.
US National Archives
Nara: History in the Raw
Site offers excellent reasons to approach history by using primary documents -- diaries, letters, drawings, and memoirs. Also gives teachers suggestions on where to find great sources.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Fdr's First Inaugural Address
Features background on FDR and his platform for dealing with the Great Depression. Included are primary source documents of his first inaugural address and photos related to his New Deal programs.
US National Archives
Nara: Deadly Virus: 1918 Flu Epidemic
Online exhibit that shows through text, photos, and historically significant documents the toll of the flu epidemic of 1918 in America.
US National Archives
Nara: American Originals: Black Hills Treaty
This web page from the National Archives and Records Administration has a link to a copy of the actual Treaty of 1868, when the United States recognized Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation.
US National Archives
Nara: American Originals: Louisiana Purchase Treaty
Wonderful NARA site that provides pictures of the original treaty and agreements of the Louisiana Purchase. Brief introduction discusses the amount of land purchased and the cost per acre described by the Purchase.
US National Archives
Nara: A New Deal for the Arts: Rediscovering America
As part of the artistic nationalism that took place during the Great Depression, this website from the National Archives and Records Administration focuses on many American scenes. Lots of focus on small-town life and various regions.
US National Archives
Nara: A New Deal for the Arts Activist Arts
The turbulence of the Great Depression is reflected in these images of workers in artwork from the NARA on this site.
US National Archives
Portrait of Black Chicago: John H. White
From June through October 1973 and briefly during the spring of 1974, John H. White worked for the federal government photographing Chicago, especially the city`s African American community. His photographs portray the difficult...
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Documents Related to Fdr and Churchill
This site provides a concise overview of the relationship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill with links to related primary source documents.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Telephone and Light Patent Drawings
A lesson plan about Alexander Graham Bell's patent for the telephone and Thomas Edison's patent for the electric lamp. Contains good background information and historically pertinent documents. It also discusses the role corporations...
US National Archives
Nara: Featured Documents: The Constitution the 19th Amendment
This National Records and Administration site provides a look at the original copy of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, which awarded women the right to vote in the United States.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Indian Territory, 1885
An 1885 map showing the holdings of the many Indian tribes displaced to the Indian Territory. From the National Archives.
US National Archives
Nara: Military Resources World War I
A compilation of resources on World War I from the National Archives and Records Administration, including links to external sites.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Check for the Purchase of Alaska (1868)
Interactive images of two documents important in Alaska's history: the check written for its 1868 purchase from Russia and the Russian Treaty of Cession (an English transcript is provided), which concluded the deal.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia (1865)
The document outlining the terms of surrender, agreed upon by Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, which ended the Civil War in 1865. Interactive image accompanied by background information and transcript.
US National Archives
Our Documents: President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865)
Interactive image of the original handwritten copy of Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address. Accompanied by document transcript and very brief overview of the document's contents with selected quotes.
US National Archives
Our Documents: War Dept General Order 143: Creation of Us Colored Troops (1863)
Original document that permitted the recruitment of black troops during the Civil War. Read about events and issues leading up to and following the 1863 establishment of the Bureau of Colored Troops.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Morrill Act (1862)
Primary document (and transcription) of Morrill Act, which provided land to states to use in the establishment of agricultural colleges.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Homestead Act (1862)
Original text (and transcription) of the 1862 Homestead Act, which granted land for a five-year residence for minimal fees. Accompanied by an overview of the act, including how it both helped and hindered farmers.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
Learn about the Dred Scott decision and why it changed the course of American history even though many now consider it the worst opinion ever rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Includes full-page scans of the decision, a transcription,...
US National Archives
Our Documents: Jefferson's Secret Message to Congress
Read President Thomas Jefferson's secret message to Congress through which he asked for money to explore the West. The 1803 document is accompanied by transcription and overview of its content.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Patent for Cotton Gin (1794)
Interactive image of Eli Whitney's plans for the cotton gin, accompanied by an explanation of the cotton gin's purpose and significance in relation to the Industrial Revolution.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Mc Culloch v. Maryland
Learn about this landmark Supreme Court case on the issues of federal power and commerce. Provides an image of a document from the case files and a transcript of the opinion delivered in 1819 by Chief Justice John Marshall.