LibGuides: History 495AH/498A: American Public Health and Health Policy, ca. 1865-1970: VI. Other Source Collections

1. Digital Collections

Depending on your topic, you can find source material on the Internet, often in digital collections from libraries, archives, museums, and government organizations. The trick is how to find them. Google is an option, but you might also consider trying directories and catalogs that specialize in scholarly resources. We recommend the following:

OAIster This link opens in a new window

For many topics, the source base will still exist only in analog formats (print or microfilm).

Below are a few examples of the kind of material you can find online.

United States Congressional Hearings Digital Collection, 1824-present
Both the published and unpublished hearings, which includes transcripts of spoken testimony, written statements of witnesses, reports, exhibits, correspondence, or other material submitted by interested parties. Hearings are held by Congressional committees as a way of collecting the information needed to inform decision making. Part of ProQuest Congressional. Navigate to "Advanced Search" and select the file "Hearings".
more...less...
Hearings are held by Congressional committees as a way of collecting the information needed to inform decision making. In addition to transcripts of verbal testimony, hearings may contain written statements of witnesses, reports, exhibits, correspondence, or other material submitted by interested parties. In this collection, you can search full text, by witness name, or by subject headings (e.g. "Radical Politics", "Students for a Democratic Society", "Public Demonstrations", "Communist Parties"

U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new window
A collection of Congressional "Reports" and "Documents". A Congressional Report is an official report to the House of Representatives or the Senate, issued by a House or Senate committee, usually related to legislation about to be considered by Congress. Congressional Documents, on the other hand, are typically reports to Congress by Executive Branch departments, but can also include documents received by Congress from other sources. Congress began publishing the Serial Set in 1817. The predecessor to the Serial Set was the National State Papers of the United States, also known as the American State Papers. The American State Papers cover the years 1789-1817, and then were published alongside the Serial Set until 1838. The Serial Set and the American State Papers are also available through ProQuest Congressional. ProQuest Congressional's version of the Serial Set includes the most recent volumes, whereas the version linked above (Readex) ends with the volumes for the 96th Congress in 1980.

Ad*Access
1911-1955. Advertisements from the United States and Canada covering five categories: Beauty and Hygiene; Radio; Television; Transportation; and World War II propaganda. Advertisements are drawn from the J. Walter Thompson archives at Duke University Library.
more...less...
See also the digital collection: J. Walter Thompson: Advertising America.

Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Colonial times to the present. Non-fiction works, including interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, books, pamphlets, and letters, with brief, biographical entries for all authors. Some of the documents were previously-unpublished. Supports browsing by date, event, and other subjects.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research This link opens in a new window
Survey data from about 150 polling organizations. Emphasis on the United States, with some international polls. Coverage back to the 1930s.
American History in Video This link opens in a new window
Newsreels (commercial and governmental), archival footage, public affairs footage, and documentary films. Includes global coverage of the 20th century, though from an American perspective. Videos were sourced from the Works Progress Administration, the Black Panther Party Library, the Library of Congress, United Newsreel, Universal Newsreel, Chronoscope, United States Information Agency, National Archives and Records Administration, and more.
Women and Social Movements in the United States This link opens in a new window
Books, brochures, audio recordings, cartoons, diaries, court reports, interviews, letters, speeches, videos, and more. Produced by historians Kathryn Kish Sklar and Thomas Dublin. It includes an online journal and more than 1,600 primary source documents and several hundred images. Also included are a dictionary of social movements and organizations, a chronology of U.S. women's history, and a series of subject-based teaching strategies. The database is searchable by movements, authors, sources, a controlled vocabulary of subject terms, and other parameters.
Sixties, The This link opens in a new window
Diaries, letters, autobiographies, memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, alternative press periodicals, and scholarly commentary.

American Decades: Primary Sources
1900-2000. Selected primary sources, organized by decade and then sub-organized by broad topics: Arts, Business & Economy, Education, Fashion & Design; Government & Politics, Law & Justice, Lifestyles & Social Trends, Media, Medicine & Health, Religion, Science & Technology, and Sports.
History of Social Welfare Digital Collection
No longer available. Wide range of digitized sources (manuscripts, narratives, reports, letters, photographs, prints, paintings, audio and video clips) that document the history of social welfare in the United States.
more...less...
From Cornell University Library.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Digitized texts, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, archival sources, and sheet music that document the history of the United States, including African American history, religion, immigration, and urban history.
Harvard University's Open Collections
Includes 1800 books and pamphlets, 9,000 photographs, 200 maps, and 13,000 pages of archival material. Collections include: "Women Working, 1800-1930", "Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930", " Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics", and "Islamic Heritage Project".
History of Women
1799-1920. 8,500 books, 2,000 pamphlets, 117 periodical titles, 80,000 manuscript pages, and 800 photos. Part of Nineteenth Century Collections Online.

2. Microform Collections

Women’s Studies Manuscript Collections from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College. Series 3, Sexuality, Sex Education, and Reproductive Rights
Call Number: FILM 363.960973 W842
ISBN: 1556555024
The Jane Addams Papers by Jane Addams
Call Number: FILM 361.973 J253
Correspondence, records, and clippings on 82 reels. Separate subject indexes for correspondence and writings. Jane Addams in American National Biography.
The Papers of Margaret Sanger by Margaret Sanger
Call Number: FILM 363.960973 Sa58p
Diaries, articles, speeches, lectures, clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, memorabilia, and organization records relating to Sanger’s work advocating birth control and family planning. Sanger's papers are also being published in edited volumes. Search in the online catalog for Selected papers of Margaret Sanger. Some of the papers are also online through the Margaret Sanger Papers Project. Margaret Sanger in American National Biography.
Detroit Urban League Papers, 1916-1950, at the University of Michigan by William H. McNitt (Editor)
Call Number: FILM 305.8960774 D484M
Organizational records on 35 reels. The Urban League was formed in 1910 to help black families who were relocating from the rural south to industrialized cities in the north, largely as a part of the Great Migration. National Urban League in Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present.