Virtual archives

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These are collections of documents and images that are available solely online; there's no physical archive to visit. Not included here are more focused online collections, which explore a particular historical topic or theme. These are included in Readings - Online Exhibits.

Archives—digital and physical—have become an object of historical inquiry themselves. For an introduction, see Mike Featherstone, "Archive," Theory, Culture and Society 23 (May 2006) 591-596.

Google Books advanced search

HathiTrust Digital Library—among its treasures: all ten volumes of John R. Commons et al., eds., A Documentary History of American Industrial Society (1910-1911)

Internet Archive

The Avalon Project, Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (4000bce-2000+), Yale Law School

David Rumsey Map Collection—amazing collection, great interface

Money - Past, Present & Future

Europeana, showcasing cultural heritage from European museums, galleries, libraries, and archives; includes a collection on "Industrial Heritage"

Gallica, Digital Library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek—"a central, national portal" (link to English-language version)

Zentrales Verzeichnis Digitalisierter Drucke—portal to digitized German publications, 15th-21st centuries

Digitale Texte im Seminar für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensgeschichte, Universität Köln

Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum, Bavarian State Library

Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags und seiner Vorläufer

Proceedings of the Old Bailey, records on 197,745 criminal trials, 1674-1913

A Vision of Britain Through Time, GIS-based, includes maps, travel writings, census reports, and election results

Digital Public Library of America

Library of Congress Digital Collections (formerly American Memory)

Ad*Access and Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920—Duke University Libraries

Corporate Reports Online, University of Pennsylvania Library—limited but valuable collection

Founders Online, papers of six Founding Fathers in the U.S. National Archives

Virginia Tech Libraries ImageBase—includes 12,000+ railroad photos

Samuel Gompers Papers

Smithsonian Libraries Digital Library

Walmart's annual reports, 1972-present

McGill University's In Pursuit of Adventure: The Fur Trade in Canada and the North West Company—offering a full-text searchable database of the Masson Papers