interpretation of the history and heritage of The Bronx and its people." from	its	earliest	historical	references in	the	17th	century	to	the	present.	"LGBT Community Center National History Archive: A community-based archive that collects, preserves, and makes available to the public the documentation of LGBTQ lives and organizations centered in and around New York.

Milstein Division of U.S., Local History, and Genealogy - NYPL: The Division "collects publications documenting American history on the national, state, and local levels, including extensive holdings on New York City history. The Division has a renowned collection of family histories and other genealogical collections, with a particular focus on the New York region."

New-York Historical Society Library: "One of only 20 in the United States qualified to be a member of the Independent Research Libraries Association—the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library contains more than three million books, pamphlets, maps, atlases, newspapers, broadsides, music sheets, manuscripts, prints, photographs and architectural drawings."


han three million books, pamphlets, maps, atlases, newspapers, broadsides, music sheets, manuscripts, prints, photographs and architectural drawings."New York Public Library Manuscripts & Archives Division: "The NYPL holds nearly 10,000 archival and manuscript collections comprising over 50,000 linear feet of material in nearly every format imaginable."

Staten Island Museum: Collections contain natural science specimens, archival records, and works of art and design, which represent Staten Island’s natural and cultural history across time.  The Internet Archive hosts full documents, publications, journals and maps from the SIM's archival collections.

Selected NYC Archives & Special Collections


DEI Resources / Collectives / Initiatives:
There is strong and growing interest among librarians and archivists to diversify the historical record and make library spaces, collecting initiatives, cataloging, archival description, digitizing, resources, programming, and staffing more equitable and inclusive.  Organizations such as the American Library Association , the Society of American Archivists , NY METRO Library Council , and many others are addressing issues of DEI directly with training, programs, grant funding, and other resources. Following is a small sampling of some library-related DEI resources and initiatives. There are links to articles, blog posts, reports, organizations, toolkits, and more.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Archives


l sampling of some library-related DEI resources and initiatives. There are links to articles, blog posts, reports, organizations, toolkits, and more.ADML: Archives & Digital Media Lab - repatriating archives, decolonizing histories, liberating lands: ADML, a sibling organization of the Archival Technologies Lab at CUNY, "is a hub for research, public programming, projects, networking, advocacy and education on archives and digital media for the reclamation of archives, decolonization of history, and liberation of land. We begin from the understanding that the archives cannot be decolonized so long as land and people are colonized. We create knowledge with and for the Global South. We respond to the urgent need for archival/media training, education and care within social movements and on colonized lands."  Free public events and training sessions are offered along with opportunities to get involved.

Conscious Editing/Reparative Description Resources: A bibliography of resources from the Council of State Archives.


th opportunities to get involved.

Conscious Editing/Reparative Description Resources: A bibliography of resources from the Council of State Archives.Diversifying the Digital Historical Record: A series of forums focusing on community archives integration in a National Digital Platform and the potential impact for representation of diverse communities in our digital cultural heritage. Read an overview of the initiative and watch the four panel discussions.

Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives - Society of American Archivists: The Society of American Archivists' statement on diversity and inclusion along with a roundup of links and resources detailing the organization's efforts towards DEI.


merican Archivists' statement on diversity and inclusion along with a roundup of links and resources detailing the organization's efforts towards DEI.A Guide to Conscious Editing at Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC: Guidelines for contextualizing collection descriptions to decenter whiteness and to center the voices of the silenced, marginalized, and unheard. The guide covers topics such as addressing racist language, rectifying misrepresentations of people of color, updating ableist language, centering the experiences of Indigenous peoples and differentiating the identity of a woman from that of her husband.  Compiled and edited by the UNC Libraries’ Conscious Editing Steering Committee (CESC). No modification of the collection materials is part of this work, only updates to the catalog records and finding aids that describe the materials for researchers to discover and access.


terials is part of this work, only updates to the catalog records and finding aids that describe the materials for researchers to discover and access.Reparative Archival Description Working Group, Yale University: The Reparative Archival Description Working Group (RAD) is charged by the Archives Advisory Group (AAG) with creating recommendations regarding principles and practices for reparative archival description work. Reparative archival description aims to remediate or contextualize potentially outdated or harmful language used in archival description and to create archival description that is accurate, inclusive, and community-centered. ...


outdated or harmful language used in archival description and to create archival description that is accurate, inclusive, and community-centered. ... outdated or harmful language used in archival description and to create archival description that is accurate, inclusive, and community-centered. ... outdated or harmful language used in archival description and to create archival description that is accurate, inclusive, and community-centered. ...RAD’s long term goals include developing guidelines for repositories about finding, remediating, and documenting instances of outdated or harmful language in archival description; improving access to Yale’s archival collections, by removing or contextualizing outdated or harmful language in archival description and access points; making archival description more transparent to researchers by documenting changes to description; developing public-facing documentation that details the scope and aim of the task force’s work; and exploring avenues for researchers to report archival description that contains outdated or harmful language.


ope and aim of the task force’s work; and exploring avenues for researchers to report archival description that contains outdated or harmful language.Resources Cited in the OCLC Research Library Partnership EDI Survey: In 2017, the OCLC Research Library Partnership (RLP) conducted a survey to explore if and how their 150 Partner institutions are modifying library and archival collections, practices, and services through the lens of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).  Their objective was to capture a snapshot of efforts to inform next steps, reveal possible directions to explore, and serve as a starting point for further discussions and action regarding EDI in the library field. See a list of resources mentioned in the survey.


and serve as a starting point for further discussions and action regarding EDI in the library field. See a list of resources mentioned in the survey.Additional Resources Bibliography of Scholarship on Women and Gender Studies Librarianship – ACRL Women and Gender Studies Section . Accessed June 29, 2023. https://acrl.ala.org/wgss/bibliography-of-scholarship-on-women-and-gender-studies-librarianship/. “ Change The Subject | Dartmouth Library.” Accessed June 29, 2023. https://www.library.dartmouth.edu/digital/digital-collections/change-the-subject. RBMS BSC Task Group on Addressing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Bibliographic Standards and Bibliographic Description. "Final Report." 06/21/2022. Suárez, Armando. “Diversifying the Archives.” This Side of Metadata , March 22, 2021. https://blogs.princeton.edu/techsvs/2021/03/22/diversifying-the-archives/.


Dead Links - Check Back on These:
Archives Against History Repeating Itself: An online resource with activities for archivists, students, and researchers to identify and dismantle oppressive power structures in archives. Includes a bibliography with recommended readings against white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, ableism, capitalism, and more.

Inclusive Metadata & Conscious Editing Resources: Resources compiled by the Sunshine State Digital Network Metadata Working Group related to conscious editing and anti-oppressive metadata practices. They have included resources related to bias in library and archival description, inclusive metadata, re-description projects, and best practices and resources for describing materials by and about marginalized peoples. This is not a comprehensive list, but rather a starting place for metadata creators and catalogers to discover resources on this topic.


Conducting Remote Research:
Searches of ArchiveGrid , WorldCat , and other databases turn up archival collections in repositories around the world.  That can mean a library across town if you're lucky, or a library thousands of miles away. Ideally, you would be able to visit a library in person to use collections yourself.  When that is not possible, however, you can still do some research remotely.


Tips for Productive Remote Research:


Tips for Productive Remote Research:Tips for Productive Remote Research:Remote Research: When you can't visit a library in person, you may still be able to conduct a substantial amount of research from afar.  For instance, there may be published editions of primary sources available in print, on microfilm, or online (on the open web or in subscription databases).  And those print and microfilm editions may be available to borrow via interlibrary loan.  Or you might be able to request digital or paper copies of archival or other special collections materials from the repository.  And if none of those options is available, you may be able to hire a researcher to search through a library's collections for you. Following are a few tips and suggestions to help you conduct archival research from afar. Preliminary Website Search: Once you have discovered that a library holds materials relevant to your topic, take a close look at its website.


om afar. Preliminary Website Search: Once you have discovered that a library holds materials relevant to your topic, take a close look at its website.om afar. Preliminary Website Search: Once you have discovered that a library holds materials relevant to your topic, take a close look at its website.om afar. Preliminary Website Search: Once you have discovered that a library holds materials relevant to your topic, take a close look at its website.Read about the library's collections as a whole Consult research guides on your topic, if available Browse the list of archival collections if there is one Search across the library's finding aids or archival collections if the option is available Read finding aids closely to get the full details on collections that interest you and to learn about any use restrictions that may be in place Search and browse the library's catalog to find additional sources Look for digital editions of the library's holdings As you search, compile a list of materials you would like to consult at the library, dividing it by format (archival collections, microfilm, books, serials, etc.) and be sure to note collection names and numbers Remote Reference: Once you have a good understanding of the materials available and know what you would like to use, contact the library.  Check to see if there is an online reference form to fill out or if there is an email address to which you can send a reference


contact the library.  Check to see if there is an online reference form to fill out or if there is an email address to which you can send a reference contact the library.  Check to see if there is an online reference form to fill out or if there is an email address to which you can send a reference contact the library.  Check to see if there is an online reference form to fill out or if there is an email address to which you can send a reference contact the library.  Check to see if there is an online reference form to fill out or if there is an email address to which you can send a reference contact the library.  Check to see if there is an online reference form to fill out or if there is an email address to which you can send a reference contact the library.  Check to see if there is an online reference form to fill out or if there is an email address to which you can send a referencequestion.  If not, call the library.  The staff may ask you to follow up with an email.  Be sure to send your question to only one staff member, not to multiple email address on the library's website.  Be specific when you ask your question.  Include collection names and numbers and indicate the box and folder numbers containing the materials of interest to you.  Let the library know what what your research focus is, what resources you have already consulted, and ask if they can recommend additional sources.  Finally, bear in mind that many libraries are short staffed.  Whether you send a reference question by email or regular mail, know that it can take some time to receive a reply.


many libraries are short staffed.  Whether you send a reference question by email or regular mail, know that it can take some time to receive a reply.many libraries are short staffed.  Whether you send a reference question by email or regular mail, know that it can take some time to receive a reply.many libraries are short staffed.  Whether you send a reference question by email or regular mail, know that it can take some time to receive a reply.Digitized Primary Sources: Many libraries have digitized portions of their holdings making it possible for researchers to find copies of manuscripts and archival materials on their websites and in online portals.  Look for digital editions of a library collections as you browse  websites and search catalogs.  See the Finding Digitized Sources section of this guide for more information.


s of a library collections as you browse  websites and search catalogs.  See the Finding Digitized Sources section of this guide for more information.s of a library collections as you browse  websites and search catalogs.  See the Finding Digitized Sources section of this guide for more information.s of a library collections as you browse  websites and search catalogs.  See the Finding Digitized Sources section of this guide for more information.Reproduction Policies: It may be possible to obtain a limited number of digital or printed copies from a library's special collections.  Be specific when you inquire.  Ask about obtaining copies from specific folders in particular collections and provide the full collection names, collection numbers, and links to the finding aids or catalog records showing where you learned about the materials.  Most libraries post their reproduction policies online.  These stipulate whether copies may be made, the number of items that may be copied, the cost of copies, the length of time it takes to obtain copies, and any permissions or other restrictions that may exist on copying from particular collections.


copies, the length of time it takes to obtain copies, and any permissions or other restrictions that may exist on copying from particular collections.copies, the length of time it takes to obtain copies, and any permissions or other restrictions that may exist on copying from particular collections.copies, the length of time it takes to obtain copies, and any permissions or other restrictions that may exist on copying from particular collections.There is usually a per-page fee in addition to postage charges.  Researchers are usually required to sign a document stating that the copies being requested will be used for reference purposes only, not for publication.  If you need copies from a collection for publication, you will likely have to make a separate request.  Images for publication come with their own fees, time schedules, and requirements.


for publication, you will likely have to make a separate request.  Images for publication come with their own fees, time schedules, and requirements. for publication, you will likely have to make a separate request.  Images for publication come with their own fees, time schedules, and requirements. for publication, you will likely have to make a separate request.  Images for publication come with their own fees, time schedules, and requirements.Interlibrary Loan: Special collections rarely, if ever, allow their manuscripts or other archival materials to circulate, but many do allow their published primary sources, including books, serials, and microfilmed archival collections, to be sent out on interlibrary loan.  Multiple copies of these published primary sources usually exist and can be discovered on a library's website or with a local library catalog or WorldCat search.  See the Published Primary Sources section this guide for more information.  When you find a published source you would like to borrow via ILL, log into the Graduate Center's ILL system to submit your request there.  Microfilmed collections are usually accompanied by published guides containing scholarship that helps put the archival materials into context.


there.  Microfilmed collections are usually accompanied by published guides containing scholarship that helps put the archival materials into context.there.  Microfilmed collections are usually accompanied by published guides containing scholarship that helps put the archival materials into context.there.  Microfilmed collections are usually accompanied by published guides containing scholarship that helps put the archival materials into context.Researchers for Hire: When you can't identify a small number of specific items that you would like to have copied, or when neither copying nor ILL is possible, or when there is simply too much material to go through remotely, consider hiring a local researcher to visit the library for you.  Check the library's website for a list of local researchers for hire.  Or consult the National Archives' list of Independent Researchers for Hire for ideas.


Tropy:
Tropy is a free tool you can use to manage your research photos.  With Tropy you can file, annotate, tag, search, and export images.  Download the software from Tropy.org .


Zotero for Archival Research:
A handy guide from Harvard Libraries with tips for using Zotero to organize manuscript and archival sources: Zotero for Archival Research


Spanish Paleography Digital Teaching and Learning Tool:
The Spanish Paleography Digital Teaching and Learning Tool is an online interactive resource to assist users in learning how to decipher and read manuscripts written in Spanish during the early modern period, roughly from the late 15th to the 18th century.


Transkribus:
" Transkribus is the European Union READ project's comprehensive platform for the automated recognition, transcription and searching of historical documents.  The main objective of Transkribus is to support users who are engaged in the transcription of printed or handwritten documents, namely humanities scholars, archives, volunteers and computer scientists."  Download it for free from the Transkribus website . Read about Transkribus on the blog of the National Archives  of the UK .


TeachArchives.org:
" TeachArchives.org is an innovative resource for teachers, administrators, librarians, archivists, and museum educators. It offers sample exercises and informative articles based on a new approach to teaching in the archives."


The Viral Texts Project:
Viral Texts: Mapping Networks of Reprinting in 19th-Century Newspapers and Magazines "presents data , visualizations , interactive exhibits , and both computational and literary publications drawn from the Viral Texts project, which seeks to develop theoretical models that will help scholars better understand what qualities—both textual and thematic—helped particular news stories, short fiction, and poetry “go viral” in nineteenth-century newspapers and magazines."


FromThePage:
FromThePage is a crowdsourcing platform for archives and libraries where volunteers transcribe, index, and describe historic documents.  Sign up to transcribe historical documents as a volunteer, create classroom transcribing projects, or upload documents from your archive for crowd-sourced transcription.


SAA's Guide to Effective Research:
A guide from the Society of American Archivists that describes how archives function and provides tips on identifying appropriate archives and accessing historical materials at an archive.


Archives & Primary Sources:
Archives & Primary Sources: A PDF tutorial describing the basics of archival collections and primary sources.


Archival Finding Aids:
Archival Finding Aids: A PDF tutorial detailing the various descriptive elements typically found in electronic finding aids for archival collections.


What Are Archives? - A Tutorial from ATLAS Systems:
A brief video introduction covering different types of archives, what archivists do, who can use archives, what is missing from them, and why they are valuable.


On Archives:
General Research Skills

Archives-Related


Archives in the News:  A Zotero Collection of Articles Related to Archives:
Archives in The News: Find these and many other fascinating articles about archives in our Zotero Library.

Activating an Archive of Black Life in Brooklyn: Pratt Faculty and Students Collaborate with the Weeksville Community on an Oral History Project to Shape the Future.

Archives in The News: Find these and many other fascinating articles about archives in our Zotero Library.


Library Blogs:  Dispatches from the Field:
Following are links to a few noteworthy library blogs and websites that provide an introduction to particular collections and a glimpse into what's going on in the world of archives.


Non-text sources can add an extra dimension to your research.  See the Audio/Video resources page in our Beyond Wikipedia research guide for tips on getting started.  The guide contains recommended catalogs and research guides, notable A/V collections, and links for finding films, videos, newsreels, radio broadcasts, speeches, interviews, music, and other a/v materials in subscription databases and on the open web.

Hidden Boxes from Primary Sources in Other Formats


Digitized Texts:
See the Digitized Texts page in our Beyond Wikipedia research guide for links to a selection of resources for finding digitized books, periodicals, and other texts.


Government Documents:
Government archives, whether national, state, or municipal are quite massive, often holding millions of items.  They usually have their own search tools, so when you are looking for digitized and/or analog government records, you can usually go straight to the website of an agency to search there. Government records will also turn up in portals like the Digital Public Library of America and the Internet Archive , and in subscription databases like Ancestry Library Edition (NYPL) . On government agency websites, look for guides that explain how to use the collections.  There may also be subject guides that show how to find materials on a particular topics in various formats from multiple collections or record groups.  These research tools will speed your search and make it much easier to navigate the available resources. Following are links to selected government archives and research tools.


speed your search and make it much easier to navigate the available resources. Following are links to selected government archives and research tools.National Archives Around the World: List from Wikipedia of national archives in countries around the world.

State Archives: Contact information and links to state archives and historical societies in the U.S.

National Archives, U.S.: A massive resource.  "NARA keeps only ... about 2 to 5 percent of [the records] generated in any given year. ... There are approximately 10 billion pages of textual records; 12 million maps, charts, and architectural and engineering drawings; 25 million still photographs and graphics; 24 million aerial photographs; 300,000 reels of motion picture film; 400,000 video and sound recordings; and 133 terabytes of electronic data." Plans are in place to digitize 500 million pages of records. See DOCS Teach and Reference at Your Desk .  Also see: Research our Records / Explore a Specific Topic.


lace to digitize 500 million pages of records. See DOCS Teach and Reference at Your Desk .  Also see: Research our Records / Explore a Specific Topic.Democrary's Library - Internet Archive: "Democracy's Library brings together more than 700 collections from over 50 government organizations, archived by the Internet Archive since 2006."  Currently includes nearly 1 million documents from local, regional, and national governments, with much more to be added. Find freely accessible government data, documents, records, and research.

National Archives Online Search Tools: Online portal for U.S. NARA catalogs, databases, research guides, finding aids, and other tools for finding records.

National Security Archive: Founded in 1985, this library and archive of declassified U.S. documents, center for investigative journalism, and research institute on international affairs includes a searchable collection of primary-source documents published on thier website.

FRASER: Discover Economic History: "[A] a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System."


ver Economic History: "[A] a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System."New York State Archives - Research Topics: Guides to the most researched topics in the New York State Archives.

NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery: Over 1.6 million images, including photographs, maps, documents, motion picture and audio recordings, including many complete collections.

Reclaim The Records: A not-for-profit activist group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and journalists that works to identify important genealogical record sets that are not online anywhere and not broadly available to the public. They use state Freedom of Information laws to force government agencies and archives to make these records available to the public. Since their founding in 2015, Reclaim the Records has won the release of tens of millions of records, which they have digitized and uploaded to the Internet Archive and other Open Data websites.


Historical Periodicals:
Our Newspapers Research Guide is a great place to launch a search for historical periodicals.  You'll find links to subscription databases and open access sites containing national and international, alternative and mainstream newspapers, journals, and magazines. It also includes links to directories, lists and guides to help you identify titles and recommended resources for background reading .


Images:
Images are another format of valuable non-text sources to include in your research.  See the Images page in our Beyond Wikipedia research guide for recommendations to get started.  The guide contains links to library subscription databases and open access sources of images from libraries and museums as well as tips for finding collections of images using archival search tools.

One Story of a Rescued Photo Archive "Three years ago, The Municipal Archives received a call from the NYPD, wanting to know whether they could help dispose of a roomful of photographic material stored at One Police Plaza. The final yield amounted to about 180,000 images from perhaps 50,000 cases, ranging from an uncertain point prior to 1914 all the way to 1972. These pictures are of undeniable photographic significance." Read this and other fascinating stories about archives in our Zotero Library, Archives in the News .


Maps:
See the Maps & Atlases page in our Beyond Wikipedia research guide for links to digital and print collections of maps and atlases covering every part of the globe.  Also included are tools that map languages, historical boundaries, inequality, and what the earth looked like from 20 to 170 million years ago.


The Oral History Association defines oral history as:  "[A] field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies." Personal narratives compliment other types of sources by adding an individual's perspective in their own voice. Reading transcripts and, especially, listening to the voices of people speaking about their lives and experiences, gives researchers a powerful connection to their subjects. Look for collections of oral histories just as you would search for manuscripts and archives.  Search individual databases, large online portals, and the websites of repositories that collect materials in your subject area to find oral histories.


earch individual databases, large online portals, and the websites of repositories that collect materials in your subject area to find oral histories.earch individual databases, large online portals, and the websites of repositories that collect materials in your subject area to find oral histories.earch individual databases, large online portals, and the websites of repositories that collect materials in your subject area to find oral histories.And also search library catalogs to find published oral histories.  Oral history transcripts are often published as books and you can find them in OneSearch, WorldCat, and other library catalogs.


ished oral histories.  Oral history transcripts are often published as books and you can find them in OneSearch, WorldCat, and other library catalogs.Search Tools for Oral Histories

ArchiveGrid - Oral Histories: ArchiveGrid, a database containing more than 7 million collection descriptions, includes more than 125,000 descriptions of individual oral history inteviews and collections of oral histories.  To find them, add the words "oral history" (in quotes) to your topic search.  For example, the search string -- "oral history" AND "civil rights" -- turns up more than 4,800 results.  The "summary view" will allow you to see which archives hold the OH collections.

Digital Public Library of America: Contains more than 48 million images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the U.S.  Browse by topic or contributing institution, explore primary source sets and online exhibitions or search the collection. Try a search on "oral history" and then use facets to narrow results.


on, explore primary source sets and online exhibitions or search the collection. Try a search on "oral history" and then use facets to narrow results.Oral History Association: A membership organization for people interested in oral history.  The Resources page contains much useful information, including a list of OH centers and collections, links to web guides for doing oral history, and more.

Oral History Centers and Collections: A list, with links, of more than fifty collections and repositories of oral histories from the Oral History Association.

Sound Collections Database: The first release of a database supported by the Radio Preservation Task Force, National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress (RPTF) and Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC). Browse or search nearly 3000 records describing recorded sound collections in repositories around the country. Genres include radio programs, all varieties of music, radio news, oral histories, interviews, drama, educational programs, and more.


und the country. Genres include radio programs, all varieties of music, radio news, oral histories, interviews, drama, educational programs, and more.Community Archives: Community-based oral history initiatives often include the voices of people who are under-represented in traditional repositories.  Add the phrase "community archive" to your online search to find collections that feature individuals who are often left out of the historical record.

Google: Put your subject in quotes and add "oral history" to find collections. For example, try a search like this: "peace movements" AND "oral history". Google can be helpful for finding collections in libraries, archives, historical societies and other institutions that may not turn up in searches of databases like WorldCat and ArchiveGrid.

WorldCat Discovery: WorldCat Discovery is a catalog and discovery system containing millions of records for print and electronic holdings in thousands of libraries around the world.


scovery is a catalog and discovery system containing millions of records for print and electronic holdings in thousands of libraries around the world.OH Collections:  A Few Highlights The oral history collections listed here are just a sampling of the many resources that are available in libraries and archives around the world.  Also visit the websites of repositories that collect materials in your subject area to find collections.

Archives of American Art: Established in 1958, the Oral History Program at the Archives of American Art consists of more than 2,300 interviews that chronicle the diversity of the American art scene.

Center for Brooklyn History Oral History Collections: "Begun in 1973, BHS’s oral history collections now include over 1,200 interviews. These interviews bring the voices of history to broad audiences through exhibitions, digital humanities projects, K-12 and post-secondary curricula, public programs, and via the BHS blog and Flatbush + Main podcast."

Columbia Center for Oral History: Founded by historian and journalist Allan Nevins in 1948, the collection includes over 10,000 interviews.


podcast."

Columbia Center for Oral History: Founded by historian and journalist Allan Nevins in 1948, the collection includes over 10,000 interviews.<b>CUNY Oral History Collections</b>: Many of the archives and special collections in  CUNY libraries contain oral histories.  One way to find them is to browse by archive and then search further at the repository level.  You can also search across the CUNY Digital Archive to find digitized interviews and transcripts and then narrow search results using subject and other facets.

Library of Congress Oral Histories: The vast collection of the Library of Congress include more than 180,000 oral histories, most of which are available online. These include both audio recordings and transcripts of interviews from across the library's holdings of personal narratives, newspapers and other periodicals, manuscripts, books and printed materials, web pages, films, and more from the American Folk Life Center and other library divisions.


ther periodicals, manuscripts, books and printed materials, web pages, films, and more from the American Folk Life Center and other library divisions.NYPL Oral History Collections: A search of the New York Public Library's archives portal on "oral history" turns up 138 collections containing oral history interviews and transcripts.

StoryCorps: A nonprofit organization "whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs."


Published Primary Sources: Digital, Print, & Microfilm:


Published Primary Sources: Digital, Print, & Microfilm:Published Primary Sources: Digital, Print, & Microfilm:Published primary sources in print, on microfilm, and online (subscription databases or open web) are readily available and extremely helpful. Not only can you use them to access sources without having to visit the library that holds the original materials, but published editions may be annotated as well, offering not just the documents themselves, but scholarship that puts them in context. The Autobiography of Mark Twain (and accompanying Papers Project ), Students for a Democratic Society Papers , Diary of George Templeton Strong , The New-York Historical Society Quarterly (1917-1980) and Radical Feminism:  A Documentary Reader are just a few examples of the formats of published primary sources that exist.


iety Quarterly (1917-1980) and Radical Feminism:  A Documentary Reader are just a few examples of the formats of published primary sources that exist.iety Quarterly (1917-1980) and Radical Feminism:  A Documentary Reader are just a few examples of the formats of published primary sources that exist.iety Quarterly (1917-1980) and Radical Feminism:  A Documentary Reader are just a few examples of the formats of published primary sources that exist.Archival materials published in books and on microfilm can usually be found by searching local library catalogs and/or WorldCat .  These books and microfilmed sources are frequently available for interlibrary loan.  So, if you find that an archival collection you would like to use has been microfilmed or published in book form, submit an ILL request and the GC Library will borrow the item for you if we don't already have it in our collection. Also look for digitized archival materials and other primary sources in subscription databases and on open library websites.  In many cases, the digitized collections found in subscription databases were produced from microfilm made of the collection. Nowadays libraries may skip the step of microfilming collections and go straight to digitizing them instead.  These digitized materials may be accessible directly through collection finding aids and/or via a digital portal on the library's website.


m instead.  These digitized materials may be accessible directly through collection finding aids and/or via a digital portal on the library's website.m instead.  These digitized materials may be accessible directly through collection finding aids and/or via a digital portal on the library's website.m instead.  These digitized materials may be accessible directly through collection finding aids and/or via a digital portal on the library's website.When you are onsite at the library that holds an archival collection that has been printed, photocopied, microfilmed, or digitized, you may be required to use the surrogate format rather than the original materials.  The collection finding aid will likely note this restriction. Print, microfilm, and digital -- the typical surrogate formats -- have expanded the reach of primary sources immeasurably and have been tremendously valuable to scholars near and far.  However, there is no substitute for consulting primary sources in their original format in the repositories where they are held.  So, always seize the opportunity to access original materials when you can.


sources in their original format in the repositories where they are held.  So, always seize the opportunity to access original materials when you can.sources in their original format in the repositories where they are held.  So, always seize the opportunity to access original materials when you can.sources in their original format in the repositories where they are held.  So, always seize the opportunity to access original materials when you can.Finding Published Primary Sources in Library Catalogs To find published primary sources in print, on microform, or online, use the Advanced Search option in WorldCat Discovery or other library catalogs, and select the format "Archival Material." Or try adding the word "sources" as an additional Subject heading or adding keywords such as archives, correspondence, diaries, interviews, narratives, or memoirs to your search. Archival materials published in books or on microfilm are often available to borrow via Interlibrary Loan. To find digitized materials, look for search options that limit results to online content.


Audio / Visual Sources:
Non-text sources can add dimension and nuance to your research. Follow the links on this page to find films, videos, newsreels, radio broadcasts, speeches, interviews, music, and other a/v materials in subscription databases and on the open web.


Finding A/V Materials:
Catalogs & Databases

Archive Grid: Searchable database containing over 7 million records describing archival collections in 1,400 libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies around the world.  Also useful for identifying archival repositories by location. Read more in our GC Library blog post about ArchiveGrid .

SONIC - Sound Online Inventory and Catalog (Library of Congress): Inventory and catalog of a large selection of recordings (music and spoken word, including radio) from the Recorded Sound Section of the Library of Congress.


ry and catalog of a large selection of recordings (music and spoken word, including radio) from the Recorded Sound Section of the Library of Congress.Sound Collections Database: The first release of a database supported by the Radio Preservation Task Force, National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress (RPTF) and Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC).  Browse or search nearly 3000 records describing recorded sound collections in repositories around the country.  Genres include radio programs, all varieties of music, radio news, oral histories, interviews, drama, educational programs, and more.

WorldCat Discovery: WorldCat Discovery is a catalog and discovery system containing millions of records for print and electronic holdings in thousands of libraries around the world.

Research Guides

Film Studies Research Guide: The GC Library's guide for Film Studies research.

Library of Congress - Recorded Sound Collections: Guides & Reference Aids: Finding aids and reference tools for the Recorded Sound collections at the Library of Congress.


- Recorded Sound Collections: Guides & Reference Aids: Finding aids and reference tools for the Recorded Sound collections at the Library of Congress.Music Research Guide: The GC Library's research guide for Music.

NYPL Music & Recorded Sound Research Guides: Research guides from the NYPL on assorted topics including jazz, the music industry, conducting music research, and more.


Notable A/V Collections:
The following are among the largest collections of audio and visual materials and are excellent starting places for research.

DPLA: Digital Public Library of America: Contains over 49 million images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the U.S.  Browse by topic or contributing institution, explore primary source sets and online exhibitions or search the collection.

Internet Archive: The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form with a mission to provide universal access to all knowledge. The archive contains tens of millions of books and texts, audio recordings, videos, images, and software programs, and 625 billion web pages.


owledge. The archive contains tens of millions of books and texts, audio recordings, videos, images, and software programs, and 625 billion web pages.Recorded Sound Research Center - Library of Congress: Listen to music, interviews, field recordings, and more from the Library's historic sound recording collections.  Also see the LC's Guides & Reference Aids for their Recorded Sound Collections.

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound - NYPL: "Holdings cover virtually every aspect of recorded sound—from Mozart to Maria Callas to Motown, from symphonic works to presidential speeches, from radio dramas to television specials."

UNESCO Sound Recordings: "The historical sound recordings collection includes radio reports, specially-produced programmes, interviews and other recordings from the late 1940s to 1980s."

Research Libraries: Many large research libraries hold collections of audio visual materials.  Check the websites of libraries that collect in your subject area to investigate holdings.


Moving Images:  Film, Video, and TV Resources:
Following are selected sources for exploring the vast trove of moving image resources available online on open access sites and in library subscription databases.  See our Film Studies research guide for additional resources.

adViews: A Digital Archive of Vintage Television Commercials: A digital collection from Duke University Libraries consisting of thousands of television commercials created or collected by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency, dated 1950s-1980s.

American Archive of Public Broadcasting: Approx. 40,000 hours of digitized historic public broadcasting radio and television content, some of which is available online.  Search all content online and onsite at WGBH in Boston and the Library of Congress.  Also search records documenting 2.5 million holdings at public broadcasting organizations, most of which have not been digitized.


ibrary of Congress.  Also search records documenting 2.5 million holdings at public broadcasting organizations, most of which have not been digitized.American History in Video: Over 70,000 titles of streaming video content, more than half of which is contemporary video from the 1890s to the 1980s. Includes documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, demonstrations, news programs and newsreels that span a wide range of subjects, including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more.

Docuseek Complete Collection: The Docuseek Complete Collection includes streaming access to over 2,700 documentary, environmental, independent, and social-issue films, including titles from Collective Eye Films, GOOD DOCS, Icarus Films, and Women Make Movies. In the Docuseek interface, click on “ Browse ” to view all available titles. Find the top viewed films on the Docuseek home page, check out new releases or see films by subject .


lick on “ Browse ” to view all available titles. Find the top viewed films on the Docuseek home page, check out new releases or see films by subject .Electronic Arts Intermix Educational Streaming Videos: Electronic Arts Intermix's (EAI) Educational Streaming service provides full-length, streaming videos by artists. The artists represented range from influential figures in video art — such as Nam June Paik , Carolee Schneeman , Martha Rosler and Joan Jonas — to emerging multidisciplinary artists, including Paper Rad , Cory Arcangel and Takeshi Murata . The collection speaks to the rich history of single-channel video art, from artists' earliest analog video experiments of the 1960s to new digital media practices. The list of artists with streaming videos is here , and the whole EAI collection is described in the broader artists catalog which includes items that are not available remotely. Unfortunately, these films are not searchable in OneSearch.


ribed in the broader artists catalog which includes items that are not available remotely. Unfortunately, these films are not searchable in OneSearch.Ethnographic Video Online: This online resource for the visual study of human culture and behavior contains more than 2,000 hours of classic and contemporary ethnographies, documentaries and shorts from every continent, covering hundreds of cultural groups and practices around the world. Includes video from leading producers in the discipline, previously unpublished footage from working anthropologists and ethnographers in the field, and select feature films. Wherever possible, videos include accompanying field notes, liner notes, filmmaker biographies, related articles, study guides, and other full-text materials.

Filmakers Library Online: Over 1,500 documentaries about race and gender studies, human rights, globalization and global studies, multiculturalism, international relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more.


ational relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more.International Federation of Film Archives - Member List: The FIAF is "dedicated to the preservation of and access to the world's film heritage since 1938."  Use the member list to identify film archives around the world that belong to FIAF and link to their websites to learn about collections.

Internet Archive: The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form with a mission to provide universal access to all knowledge. The archive contains tens of millions of books and texts, audio recordings, videos, images, and software programs, and 625 billion web pages.

Media History Digital Library: A free online resource featuring millions of pages of books and magazines from the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.


gital Library: A free online resource featuring millions of pages of books and magazines from the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.Moving Image & Recorded Sound Division - Schomburg Center, NYPL: Collections include spoken arts recordings, motion picture film (released prints and outtakes), video recordings, and music documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent.

Moving Image Archive - Internet Archive: Contains digital movies ranging from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts.  It also includes stock footage, television archives, the Prelinger Archives, silent films, short format films, U.S. government films, and more. Much of the content is available for free download.

Moving Image Archive Collections & Exhibits - Indiana University: The archive "contains one of the largest Educational 16mm collections still in existence today.  ... [and includes] "approximately 48,000 16mm educational and documentary films dating from 1911 to the 1980s."


collections still in existence today.  ... [and includes] "approximately 48,000 16mm educational and documentary films dating from 1911 to the 1980s."Moving Image Research Center - Library of Congress: The division holds vast collections of moving images and related materials.  Use the Research Center's website to explore holdings, consult collection guides and finding aids, and link to digital collections and online resources.  Also see a list of collections that contain films and videos .

New World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts, 1990-Present: New World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts, 1990–Present includes over 160 full-length feature films from leading independent distributors such as Kino Lorber, First Run Features, Film Movement, and Global Lens, as well as award-winning shorts.

Silent Film Online: A collection of more than 1,200 silent feature films, documentaries, serials, and shorts from the 1890s to the 1930s. Curated with ASP’s Video Advisory Board, the films represent the basis of modern cinematic technique and film theory.


rts from the 1890s to the 1930s. Curated with ASP’s Video Advisory Board, the films represent the basis of modern cinematic technique and film theory.Vanderbilt Television News Archive: A searchable collection of the individual network evening news broadcasts from ABC, NBC, CBS from 1968-present, CNN from 1995-present, and Fox from 2004-present.  Content in the collection is available through a fee-based loan service .

World History in Video: More than 1,750 documentaries exploring human history from the earliest civilizations to the late twentieth century.


Music:
Listen to recordings from some of the major collections of recorded music from the links below.  See our Music research guide for additional resources.

Association for Cultural Equity: ACE holds the Alan Lomax Archive, a collection of recorded music, dance, and the spoken word. Thousands of recordings, photos and videos are available through their website.

Audio Archive - Internet Archive: Contains recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music, many of which are available for free download.  Also see the blogs that illuminate the vast a/v collections in the Internet Archive such as 78rpm records, Audio, Music, Movies, Television, Video and more.

Digital Score & Sheet Music Collections: Research guide from Arizona State University listing open access online sources for digital score and digital sheet music collections.


ic Collections: Research guide from Arizona State University listing open access online sources for digital score and digital sheet music collections.Great 78 Project: A community project at the Internet Archive for the preservation, research and discovery of 78rpm records.

Moving Image & Recorded Sound Division - Schomburg Center, NYPL: Collections include spoken arts recordings, motion picture film (released prints and outtakes), video recordings, and music documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent.

National Jukebox: Historical recordings from the Library of Congress.


News Broadcast Transcripts:
Transcripts of news programs can be found in several places, including: NexisUni – Log in with your GC network credentials and search by keyword in All Fields.  Then, scroll down and select news transcripts from the "publication type" filter option.  From there, you can either select particular sources or search All News Transcripts to find appearances of your search term among the results. Factiva – Visit The New York Public Library's Thomas Yoseloff Business Center at the former Mid-Manhattan Library at 40th Street & Fifth Avenue to use this database, which is another excellent source for finding transcripts of TV news broadcasts from a wide range of sources. National Public Radio – Search NPR broadcasts directly, no login required, on their website: https://www.npr.org/search/


Radio:
Explore rich, varied, and deep collections of radio broadcasts for a fresh angle on historical research.  From the links here listen to news programming; live music; public radio shows; radio plays; alternative news broadcasts; BBC Radio dramas, documentaries, adapted novels; the hip-hop radio archive; shortwave radio programs; community radio; and more.  Also delve into scholarship around radio, read scripts, explore archives, and listen to installments of the Radio Survivor podcast that focus on radio stations, radio archives, and other aspects of the medium.

Academic OneFile: Provides full-text articles in all subject areas from over 19,000 scholarly journals and other authoritative sources as well as thousands of podcasts and transcripts from NPR (National Public Radio) and CNN, and videos from BBC Worldwide Learning.  Subjects covered include biology, chemistry, criminal justice, economics, environmental science, history, marketing, political science, and psychology.


ubjects covered include biology, chemistry, criminal justice, economics, environmental science, history, marketing, political science, and psychology.American Archive of Public Broadcasting: Approx. 40,000 hours of digitized historic public broadcasting radio and television content, some of which is available online.  Search all content online and onsite at WGBH in Boston and the Library of Congress.  Also search records documenting 2.5 million holdings at public broadcasting organizations, most of which have not been digitized.

American Radio Archives: A large radio broadcasting collection consisting of thousands of scripts, recordings, photographs and more.

Audio Archive - Internet Archive: Contains more than 15 million recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music, many of which are available for free download.  Also see the blogs that illuminate the vast a/v collections in the Internet Archive such as 78rpm records, Audio, Music, Movies, Television, Video and more.


ee the blogs that illuminate the vast a/v collections in the Internet Archive such as 78rpm records, Audio, Music, Movies, Television, Video and more.BBC Radio Shows: Over 3,100 audio recordings from the BBC.  Includes radio dramas, documentaries, adapted novels and stage plays, comedy,historical news broadcasts, quiz shows, and more.

Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications: This library of materials and collections in the Internet Archive "combines archived digitized print materials, born-digital content, websites, oral histories, personal collections, and other related records and publications. The goals of DLARC are both to document the history of amateur radio and to provide freely available educational resources for researchers, students, and the general public."  Visit the Internet Archive's blog to learn more about the collection.


lable educational resources for researchers, students, and the general public."  Visit the Internet Archive's blog to learn more about the collection.Hip-Hop Radio Archive: "The Hip-Hop Radio Archive aims to digitize, preserve, share, and contextualize recordings of hip-hop radio from the 1980s and 1990s from commercial, college, community, and pirate stations of all sizes, telling the stories of the shows and the people that made them."

Historic Radio Community Broadcasts: Stream six hundred broadcasts from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) Program Archive "showca[sing] a diverse range of cultural and public affairs programming" from 1965 to 1986. Read more about the audio files and  see the finding aid for the archival records of the NFCB .


ral and public affairs programming" from 1965 to 1986. Read more about the audio files and  see the finding aid for the archival records of the NFCB .Lowell Thomas News Broadcasts: Thomas, who is credited with establishing modern journalism, was the most popular newsman of his time. He reached an audience of 2.4 million homes every weeknight from 1930 to 1976.  All 250,000 pages of the radio news show scripts, which were previously only available on microfiche at Marist College, have been digitized and made are freely available online with the rest of Thomas's papers.

National Federation of Community Broadcasters - Audio Archive: "Six hundred historic community radio broadcasts ... [s]panning the years 1965-1986 ... from stations mainly in the United States and Canada, the broadcasts showcase a diverse range of cultural and public affairs programming." Read more .

New York Public Radio Archives: Digitized broadcast recordings from the archives of radio station WNYC in New York featuring arts programming, panel discussions, notable interviews, WWII coverage, and more.


rdings from the archives of radio station WNYC in New York featuring arts programming, panel discussions, notable interviews, WWII coverage, and more.Pacifica Radio Archives: "Chronicling the political, cultural and artistic movements of the second half of the 20th century, Pacifica radio programs include documentaries, performances, discussions, debates, drama, poetry readings, commentaries and radio arts."  Recordinga are also available in the Internet Archive .

BBC Radio Shows: Over 3,100 audio recordings from the BBC.  Includes radio dramas, documentaries, adapted novels and stage plays, comedy,historical news broadcasts, quiz shows, and more.

The Radio Spectrum Archive: "A project to preserve and share time-shifted radio spectrum recordings."

Radio Survivor: An audio and written news blog about radio.  Covers community radio stations, college stations, significant collections with a focus on "radio’s present, past, and uncertain future."


bout radio.  Covers community radio stations, college stations, significant collections with a focus on "radio’s present, past, and uncertain future."The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive: SRAA "is a collection of shortwave radio recordings that you can download or listen to as a podcast.  The collection grows every day and includes both historic recordings and current recordings from the shortwave radio spectrum."

World Radio History: A free, non-profit, open access online library of thousands of radio, music, and electronics publications.


Spoken Word:
Following are selected open access and subscription resources for exploring spoken word collections in all their variety.

Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America: The archive is a trilingual English/Spanish/Portuguese digital repository of recordings, texts, and other multimedia materials in and about the Indigenous languages of Latin America. The focus of the collection is the recordings, both audio and video, in a wide range of genres: narratives, oratory discourse, conversations, songs, chants, and more. The archive also contains language documentation materials, dictionaries, ethnographies, and field notes, as well as teaching materials for higher and bilingual education and for language maintenance, revitalization, and reclamation programs.


field notes, as well as teaching materials for higher and bilingual education and for language maintenance, revitalization, and reclamation programs.American Rhetoric: "Database of and index to 5000+ full text, audio and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two."

Association for Cultural Equity: ACE holds the Alan Lomax Archive, a collection of recorded music, dance, and the spoken word. Thousands of recordings, photos and videos are available through their website.

Audio Archive - Internet Archive: Contains a wide variety of recordings, including alternative news programming, Grateful Dead and other concert recordings, Old Time Radio shows, book and poetry readings, original music, many of which are available for free download.  Also see the blogs that describe the vast a/v collections in the Internet Archive such as 78rpm records, Audio, Music, Movies, Television, Video and more.


see the blogs that describe the vast a/v collections in the Internet Archive such as 78rpm records, Audio, Music, Movies, Television, Video and more.Black Thought and Culture: African Americans from Colonial Times to the Present: Over 100,000 pages of monographs, essays, speeches, letters, political leaflets, periodicals, trial transcripts, and interviews by major American Black teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other leaders, covering over 250 years of history. Writers include James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Ralph Bunche, Angela Davis, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Huey Newton, Jackie Robinson, Paul Robeson, Bobby Seale, Booker T. Washington, Cornel West, Richard Wright, and many others. Search across the collection or browse by person, subject, title, historical event, content type, place, or publisher.


ichard Wright, and many others. Search across the collection or browse by person, subject, title, historical event, content type, place, or publisher.LibriVox: LibriVox is a crowd sourced project in which volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain (mostly from Project Gutenberg ), and then release the audio files through their website without restrictions. All LibriVox audio is in the public domain, so you may use it for whatever purpose you wish. Search the catalog or browse by Author, Title, Genre/Subject, or Language.

Moving Image & Recorded Sound Division - Schomburg Center, NYPL: Collections include spoken arts recordings, motion picture film (released prints and outtakes), video recordings, and music documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent.

PennSound: An ongoing project committed to producing new audio recordings and preserving existing audio archives of poetry, literature, talks, and much more.  Freely available to all.


mitted to producing new audio recordings and preserving existing audio archives of poetry, literature, talks, and much more.  Freely available to all.PodcastRE: A searchable, researchable archive of podcasting culture. PodcastRE contains links and metadata records to over 150,000 individual audio files from over 1,000 different podcast feeds. Search by show title, episode title, or keyword and display the results by grid or list. Stream audio files and explore over 5000 interactive audio transcripts.

The Speech Accent Archive: Contains a large set of speech samples allowing users to compare and analyze the accents of native and non-native English speakers.  Browse or search by speaker, region, or phonetic inventory.

Vital Speeches International: Text of speeches by the most influential leaders from around the world.


Theatre:
A few selected library databases for researching theatre online.  See our Theatre & Performance research guide for additional resources.

Digital Theatre Plus via NYPL: Please visit New York Public Library. The New York Public Library offers on-site access to Digital Theatre Plus, which streams current British theatre productions from Shakespeare to contemporary plays, and opera, musical theatre, dance and ballet, symphonic and chamber music, theatre from Russia and South Asia, and film shorts. Includes study guides and other supplementary materials.

MIT Global Shakespeares: "The MIT Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive is a collaborative project providing online access to performances of Shakespeare from many parts of the world as well as essays and metadata provided by scholars and educators in the field."


ne access to performances of Shakespeare from many parts of the world as well as essays and metadata provided by scholars and educators in the field."Routledge Performance Archive: The Routledge Performance Archive provides access to a unique and continually expanding range of audio-visual material from past and present performance practitioners.  The archive contains interviews, documentaries, masterclasses, contextual essays, and excerpted and full-length productions and experiments.

Theatre in Video: More than 400 videos of theatrical performances and documentaries. Includes plays by Aeschylus, Albee, Beckett, Chekhov, Fugard, Gogol, Hansberry, Ibsen, Miller, Moliere, O'Neill, Pinter, Pirandello, Shakespeare, Sophocles, Strindberg, Wasserstein, and others. Documentaries feature analyses of plays, performances, and techniques, as well as interviews with playwrights, directors, and actors.


Government archives -- whether national, state, agency, or municipal -- are quite massive, often holding millions of items.  They usually have their own search tools, so when you are looking for digitized and/or analog government records, you can go straight to the website of an agency to search there. Government records will also turn up in portals like the Digital Public Library of America and the Internet Archive , and in subscription databases like Ancestry Library Edition (NYPL) . On government agency websites, look for guides that explain how to use the collections.  There may also be subject guides that show how to find materials on a particular topics in various formats from multiple collections or record groups.  These research tools will speed your search and make it much easier to navigate the available resources.


from multiple collections or record groups.  These research tools will speed your search and make it much easier to navigate the available resources. from multiple collections or record groups.  These research tools will speed your search and make it much easier to navigate the available resources. from multiple collections or record groups.  These research tools will speed your search and make it much easier to navigate the available resources.Following are links to selected government archives and research tools.  For further information and links to additional resources for finding government information, see the Gov't Info page in our Beyond Wikipedia research guide.


ther information and links to additional resources for finding government information, see the Gov't Info page in our Beyond Wikipedia research guide.National Archives Around the World: List from Wikipedia of national archives in countries around the world.

State Archives: Contact information and links to state archives and historical societies in the U.S.

National Archives, U.S.: A massive resource.  "NARA keeps only ... about 2 to 5 percent of [the records] generated in any given year. ... There are approximately 10 billion pages of textual records; 12 million maps, charts, and architectural and engineering drawings; 25 million still photographs and graphics; 24 million aerial photographs; 300,000 reels of motion picture film; 400,000 video and sound recordings; and 133 terabytes of electronic data." Plans are in place to digitize 500 million pages of records. See DOCS Teach and Reference at Your Desk .  Also see: Research our Records / Explore a Specific Topic.


lace to digitize 500 million pages of records. See DOCS Teach and Reference at Your Desk .  Also see: Research our Records / Explore a Specific Topic.Democrary's Library - Internet Archive: "Democracy's Library brings together more than 700 collections from over 50 government organizations, archived by the Internet Archive since 2006."  Currently includes nearly 1 million documents from local, regional, and national governments, with much more to be added. Find freely accessible government data, documents, records, and research.

National Archives Online Search Tools: Online portal for U.S. NARA catalogs, databases, research guides, finding aids, and other tools for finding records.


nal Archives Online Search Tools: Online portal for U.S. NARA catalogs, databases, research guides, finding aids, and other tools for finding records.The American Presidency Project: This site is valuable for its extensive coverage of both historical and current information on United States presidencies and is easy to navigate. It provides a searchable database of over 85,000 documents, such as speeches, official papers, executive orders, proclamations, news conferences, and press briefings. Various retrieval options are available, including by keywords, dates, document type, and presidents. Additional in depth analyses are offered on topics that may be challenging to locate.

National Security Archive: Founded in 1985, this library and archive of declassified U.S. documents, center for investigative journalism, and research institute on international affairs includes a searchable collection of primary-source documents published on thier website.

FRASER: Discover Economic History: "[A] a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System."


ver Economic History: "[A] a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System."New York State Archives - Research Topics: Guides to the most researched topics in the New York State Archives.

NYC Municipal Archives - Collection Guides: "The Archives preserves and makes available New York City government's historical records. Explore our collections dating from 1645 to the present including documents, digital collections, still and moving images, ledgers and docket books, cartographic materials, blueprints, and audiovisual materials."

NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery: Over 1.6 million images, including photographs, maps, documents, motion picture and audio recordings, including many complete collections.


ne Gallery: Over 1.6 million images, including photographs, maps, documents, motion picture and audio recordings, including many complete collections.Reclaim The Records: A not-for-profit activist group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and journalists that works to identify important genealogical record sets that are not online anywhere and not broadly available to the public. They use state Freedom of Information laws to force government agencies and archives to make these records available to the public. Since their founding in 2015, Reclaim the Records has won the release of tens of millions of records, which they have digitized and uploaded to the Internet Archive and other Open Data websites.


Historical Periodicals:
Our Newspapers Research Guide is a great place to launch a search for historical periodicals.  You'll find links to subscription databases and open access sites containing national and international alternative and mainstream newspapers, journals, and magazines. It also includes recommended resources for background reading and links to directories, lists, and guides to help you identify individual titles and archives of back issues.


Images:
Images are another format of valuable non-text sources to include in your research.  This section of the guide contains links to library subscription databases and open access sources of images from libraries and museums as well as tips for finding images in books and serials.

One Story of a Rescued Photo Archive "Three years ago, The Municipal Archives received a call from the NYPD, wanting to know whether they could help dispose of a roomful of photographic material stored at One Police Plaza. The final yield amounted to about 180,000 images from perhaps 50,000 cases, ranging from an uncertain point prior to 1914 all the way to 1972. These pictures are of undeniable photographic significance." Read the whole story and other fascinating stories about archives in our Zotero Library, Archives in the News .


Library Databases:
Grove Art Online: Search the Grove Dictionary of Art via the Oxford Art Online platform. Grove contains entries on artists, architects, craftsmen, patrons, movements, locations, and periods, as well as bibliographies for further research and thousands of searchable images made available through Oxford’s partnerships with museums, galleries, and other outstanding arts organizations. Browse through Timelines of World Art , Subject Guides or Resources for Educators created by organizations like MoMA and the Met. Create an optional subscriber account to save searches.

Archive Grid: Searchable database containing over 7 million records describing archival collections in 1,400 libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies around the world.  Also useful for identifying archival repositories by location. Read more in our GC Library blog post about ArchiveGrid .


societies around the world.  Also useful for identifying archival repositories by location. Read more in our GC Library blog post about ArchiveGrid .Artstor: Artstor images and collections will be available on the JSTOR platform starting August 1, 2024. Please note: To download and save images, you must register for your own personal account (click "Register" for first time users on the upper right of the screen) . The GC does not have an institutional login. Artstor is a rich database of over 2.5 million images of art and architecture from 300 museums, libraries, artists, scholars, and photo archives around the world. In addition to its core collections, Artstor offers public collections consisting of roughly 1.3 million freely accessible images, videos, documents, and audio files cataloged, managed, and shared by various institutions. Images in Artstor may be freely used in noncommercial educational and scholarly activities. Artstor’s images are now also discoverable in JSTOR. See the “ Artstor on JSTOR ” guide.


y used in noncommercial educational and scholarly activities. Artstor’s images are now also discoverable in JSTOR. See the “ Artstor on JSTOR ” guide.Primary Document Databases @ the GC: The GC Library subscribes to dozens of databases containing primary sources in a wide variety of formats, including images.  Find the databases by selecting the filters for Primary Source Collections and/or Newspapers on our A-Z List.


Selected Open Access Sources:
Digital Public Library of America: "DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search DPLA’s collections by timeline, map, virtual bookshelf, and faceted search; save and share customized lists of items; explore digital exhibitions; and interact with DPLA-powered apps in the app library."  See the DPLA's Primary Source Sets of topically arranged resources.

Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York: DCMNY provides online access to digital collections of libraries, archives, museums and historical societies located in and around New York City. The collections include photographs, maps, letters, postcards, manuscripts, scrapbooks, programs from events, catalogues, memorabilia and ephemera, and much. New collections are being added on an ongoing basis, and contributors are also adding new material to existing collections.


ia and ephemera, and much. New collections are being added on an ongoing basis, and contributors are also adding new material to existing collections.FSA-OWI (Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information) Photographs: A searchable collection of over 170,000 mostly public domain photographs taken between 1935 and 1944 by the FSA and OWI depicting life in America during the Great Depression and World War II.

Getty Photo Archive: "The Photo Archive's two million photographs provide supplementary and original pictorial research for the study of fine arts from antiquity to the modern period. The archive's strength lies in the photographic reproduction of western art, architecture, and decorative arts."

Getty Search Gateway: Search or browse the J. Paul Getty Museum collections, Getty Research Institute (GRI) digital collections, GRI library catalog or explore by type (photographs, visual material, vessels, coins, manuscripts).  Select "Open Content Images" to view, download, and use more than 165,000 open access images.


ographs, visual material, vessels, coins, manuscripts).  Select "Open Content Images" to view, download, and use more than 165,000 open access images.Library of Congress: A vast resource containing millions of images of materials in every format, including maps, notated music, photographs, letters, diaries, newspapers, books, legislation, and audio visual materials.


f materials in every format, including maps, notated music, photographs, letters, diaries, newspapers, books, legislation, and audio visual materials.Manar Al-Athar: The Manar al-Athar digital archive, an open access photo archive based at the University of Oxford, provides high resolution, searchable and downloadable images for teaching, research, and publication.  The digital archive is in continuous development and contains nearly 82,000 images. Strengths include Late Antiquity (250–750 AD), the period of transition from paganism to Christianity, and then to Islam, especially religious buildings (temples, churches, synagogues, mosques) and monumental art (including floor mosaics), early Islamic art (paintings, mosaics, relief sculpture), as well as Roman and early Islamic (Umayyad) architecture, and evidence of iconoclasm. Material is labelled in both English and Arabic to facilitate regional use, with the main instructions also available in some other languages.


oclasm. Material is labelled in both English and Arabic to facilitate regional use, with the main instructions also available in some other languages.Metropolitan Museum of Art - Online Collection: Over 490,000 works of art from the museum's collection, 375,000 of which are open access and freely available to use, share, and remix without restriction.

Museum of the City of New York Collections Portal: A growing collection of more than 250,000 images and objects from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery: Over 1.6 million images from the collections of the Municipal Archives. Includes photographs, maps, motion picture and audio recordings.

New York Heritage Digital Collections: "[A] portal for learning more about the people, places and events that contributed to the making of New York State."


ork Heritage Digital Collections: "[A] portal for learning more about the people, places and events that contributed to the making of New York State."NYPL Digital Collections: Collection of more than 870,000 images covering nearly every topic imaginable. Formats include visually appealing items such as drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, and rare illustrated books, along with video, audio, and more. Search or browse by item, collection, or NYPL division.

NYPL Picture Collection: More than 45,000 images digitized from the NYPL's Picture Collection. The circulating collection consists of 1.5 million images clipped from books, magazines, and newspapers, as well as original photographs, prints and postcards, mostly created before 1923.


f 1.5 million images clipped from books, magazines, and newspapers, as well as original photographs, prints and postcards, mostly created before 1923.NYPL Prints & Photographs Online Catalog: The NYPL's Print Collection contains over 200,000 original prints, including woodcuts, engravings, etchings, lithographs, screen prints, and digital prints, and dates from the 10th C to the present.  The Photography Collection comprises more than 500,000 photographs by 6,000 photographers. Search across both collections using this catalog.

Smithsonian Open Access: Search over 4.9 million 2D and 3D open access digital items, including images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo. Filter search results by museum, topic, date range, resource type, place, or group.

<b>Museums & Libraries</b>: Many museums and libraries have digital editions of their collections online, especially of their most visually striking holdings. Visit their websites to see what's available.


Illustrations in Books & Periodicals:
Books: When searching OneSearch , WorldCat Discovery , or other library catalogs, add the word "illustrated" to your search to find works with images. Periodicals: Photographs, drawings, maps, reproductions of artworks, advertisements, and other illustrations and images can be readily found in newspapers and magazines.  Microform and reprint editions will likely be in black and white. See our Newspapers Research Guide for tips on finding current and historical mainstream and alternative serials in print, on microfilm, and online.


Photographs of New York City:
How to Find Historical Photos of New York City - NYPL Guide: A comprehensive research guide from the New York Public Library.


Open Access Platforms:
Flickr: Millions of photographs uploaded by users. To search for reusable images, in ”Advanced Search”, choose from the pull-down menu the type of license needed (e.g. "Any license", "Creative Common license", etc.)

NYPL Public Domain Images: More than 180,000 of the items in The New York Public Library's Digital Collections are in the public domain and freely available to use and share however you like.

Openverse: An extensive library of free stock photos, images, and audio, available for free use.

Pixabay: Provides 1,000s of free stock photos, vector graphics and illustrations. All images and videos are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0.


ides 1,000s of free stock photos, vector graphics and illustrations. All images and videos are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0.Smithsonian Open Access: Search over 4.9 million 2D and 3D open access digital items, including images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo. Filter search results by museum, topic, date range, resource type, place, or group.

Wikimedia Commons: A collection of millions of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.


Map Collections:
Historical Map Collections in the NY Metropolitan Area: A list from the NYPL Map Division of significant map collections in and around New York City. The NYPL's Map Division itself is one of the world’s premier map collections in terms of size, scope, unique holdings, diversity and intensity of use.  It includes more than 433,000 sheet maps and 20,000 books and atlases published between the 16th and 21st centuries, many of which have been digitized.


Maps Online:
Following is a small sampling of open access maps to illustrate the wide variety of resources that are available online.

Africa Map Project: AfricaMap is based on the Harvard University Geospatial Infrastructure (HUG) platform, and was developed by the Center for Geographic Analysis to make spatial data on Africa easier for researchers to discover and explore.

Atlas of Historical Boundaries: From the Newberry Library.  "A powerful historical research and reference tool in electronic form. The Atlas presents in maps and text complete data about the creation and all subsequent changes (dated to the day) in the size, shape, and location of every county in the fifty United States and the District of Columbia."  Useful for records of past events, and for analyzing, interpreting and displaying county-based historical data like returns of elections and censuses.  Includes downloadable data and interactive maps.


ng, interpreting and displaying county-based historical data like returns of elections and censuses.  Includes downloadable data and interactive maps.American Panorama: A historical atlas of the U.S. combining research with interactive mapping techniques. Highlights include "Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America (1935-1940); Photogrammar (1935-1943); The Forced Migration of Enslaved People (1810-1860); Electing the House of Representatives (1940-2016); and Electing the President (1840-2020), among others.

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University: In response to the ongoing public health emergency, the CSSE at Johns Hopkins University developed an interactive web-based dashboard to visualize and track reported cases of COVID in real-time to provide researchers, public health authorities and the general public with a user-friendly tool to track the outbreak as it unfolded.  See the "Terms of Use" for links to additional information and freely available data.


with a user-friendly tool to track the outbreak as it unfolded.  See the "Terms of Use" for links to additional information and freely available data.Digital Map Galleries (from the NYPL): Lists of sites containing contemporary and antiquarian maps. Compiled by Artis Q. Wright, Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, New York Public Library.

Digital Public Library of America - Maps: Huge and growing collection of digital maps from a wide variety of sources.  Browse or search by Format, Contributing Institution, Date,  Language, Location, or Subject.

Library of Congress Digital Map Collections: Thousands of digitized maps in collections such as Discovery and Exploration; CIties and Towns; American Revoolution and its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789; Panoramic Maps; Railroad Maps; and more. See the Geography & Map Reading Room's website for more information.

Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America: A set of maps that illustrate the discriminatory New Deal-era housing policies that fueled generations of urban inequality.


ining in New Deal America: A set of maps that illustrate the discriminatory New Deal-era housing policies that fueled generations of urban inequality.MLA Language Map: "The Language Map uses aggregated data from the 2006–10 American Community Survey (ACS) to display the locations and numbers of speakers of thirty languages commonly spoken in the United States. ... {Includes] information about over three hundred languages spoken in the United States, using data from the 2006–10 ACS, ACS 2005, and the 2000 US Census."

New Deal - Maps & Sites: Find thousands of New Deal public works and artworks around the country using these maps from the Living New Deal website.

Oculi Mundi: Oculi Mundi means the Eyes of the World.  "Oculi Mundi is a digital heritage destination: the home of The Sunderland Collection of world maps, celestial maps, atlases, globes and books of knowledge."

Old Maps Online: "Easy-to-use gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world."

OpenStreetMap: "A map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license."


istorical maps in libraries around the world."

OpenStreetMap: "A map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license."Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: A collection of more than 20,000 maps depicting all corners of the world.  The collection website was archived in 2021, but the digitized maps are still available there and on the UTexas, Austin library's collection portal.

Sanborn Maps - Fire Insurance Maps on the Web - NYPL List: This list links to fire insurance maps describing the built environment of cities across the United States and North America. The Sanborn Maps include information such as the outline of each building, the size and shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers. Textual information includes construction details, ownership and building use.  Printed Sanborn Maps are also available in the New-York Historical Society Library.


mation includes construction details, ownership and building use.  Printed Sanborn Maps are also available in the New-York Historical Society Library.Sanborn Maps Navigator - Library of Congress: Explore the U.S. through historic maps and newspaper photographs using a tool created by a LOC fellow that combines 32,000 maps from the Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases collection and 1,494,585 photographs from the Newspaper Navigator dataset.  Click on different areas on the map, or on the items in the "Results from ..." section to see the Sanborn atlases from those areas. The newspaper photo will also update as you change geographic locations, randomly generating from within the chosen location.

topoView: USGS topographic maps originally published as paper documents in the period 1884-2006 have been scanned and can be downloaded free of charge through topoView.

Torn Apart / Separados: "A rapidly deployed critical data & visualization intervention in the USA’s 2018 “Zero Tolerance Policy” for asylum seekers at the US Ports of Entry and the humanitarian crisis that has followed."


GC Map Resources - Online & In Print:
The Graduate Center Library holds The Columbia Gazetteer of the World (in the reference collection and online) and a collection of maps and atlases in print and online. Atlases: Look for print atlases on the reference shelves under the Call Letter G and in the Atlas Case, which is located just before the reference shelves on the 2nd floor of the library, a short way from the reference desk. You can search for printed and electronic atlases in OneSearch . Select the Advanced Search and add the keyword "Atlas."  Set the Material Type to "Books."  Press Search to see results. Maps: You can also search for printed and electronic maps in OneSearch . Select the Advanced Search, add a place name as a Subject term (e.g., "New York") and enter the word "Maps" as an additional Subject term.  Press Search to see results.


CUNY Mapping Service @ the GC's Center for Urban Studies:
The CUNY Mapping Service "specialize[s] in the development of online applications that provide intuitive access to powerful data sets, displayed visually through interactive maps and in other formats."  Projects include Welcome to 1940s New York , Visualizing Demographic Change: NYC and other major cities , and many others.


NYC Maps:
Atlases of NYC (From the NYPL Digital Collections): Thousands of maps of New York City, including Manhattan and Brooklyn 'fire insurance maps' from the 1850's-1860, showing streets, blocks, tax lots, natural and manmade features, and more.

Brooklyn Revealed: An interactive website created by the librarians at the New-York Historical Society that lets users discover how Brooklyn streets got their names, access images from the N-YHS collections, and read about Brooklyn history.

Languages of New York City: A free and interactive digital map of the world’s most linguistically diverse metropolitan area composed of data from the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), based on information from communities, speakers, and other sources.


se metropolitan area composed of data from the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), based on information from communities, speakers, and other sources.NYCMap: New York City’s online map portal providing a wealth of information including the locations of schools, day care centers, senior centers, libraries, hospitals, subways, and more as well as links to websites for these facilities. This page is also a single access point to many of the numerous location-based applications on NYC.gov such as online property, building, statistics, and census information. The maps can be navigated either by entering a specific address or simply using zoom and scroll tools, similar to other online map applications. Consult the User Guide for tips on using this dynamic online resource.

OldNYC: Mapping Historical Photographs of New York City: This free website provides an alternative way of browsing the NYPL's incredible Photographic Views of New York City, 1870s-1970s collection.


ork City: This free website provides an alternative way of browsing the NYPL's incredible Photographic Views of New York City, 1870s-1970s collection.Open Accessible Space Information System (OASIS): OASIS "provides the richest source of community maps for New York City -- free and all in one place. It helps nonprofits, community groups, educators, students, public agencies, and local businesses develop a better understanding of their environment with interactive maps of open spaces, property information, transportation networks, and more."

Vital Parks Explorer: As searchable database showing the results of a comprehensive analysis of every park in the city on more than 20 "vital signs" categories such as dog runs, hiking trails, community gardens, and more.

The Welikia Project: Navigate through a map of New York City in 1609.  "You can find your block, explore the native landscape of today’s famous landmarks, research the flora and fauna block by block..."


Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names:
The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names ® (TGN) "is a structured vocabulary, including names, descriptions, and other metadata for extant and historical cities, empires, archaeological sites, and physical features important to research of art and architecture ... intended to aid cataloging, research, and discovery." Search The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


Continually Updated Data and Maps of Corona COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science & Engineering at Johns Hopkins:
Continually updated maps of Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases with downloadable data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.


World Map, 1493:
Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "[World Map]" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 3, 2015. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/67ad9d8b-6e07-964a-e040-e00a1806723d.


The Oral History Association defines oral history as:  "[A] field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies." Oral histories, which may also be called personal narratives or interviews, compliment other types of sources by adding an individual's perspective in their own voice. Reading transcripts and, especially, listening to the voices of people speaking about their lives and experiences, gives researchers a powerful connection to their subjects.


, especially, listening to the voices of people speaking about their lives and experiences, gives researchers a powerful connection to their subjects., especially, listening to the voices of people speaking about their lives and experiences, gives researchers a powerful connection to their subjects., especially, listening to the voices of people speaking about their lives and experiences, gives researchers a powerful connection to their subjects.Search for collections of oral histories just as you would search for manuscripts and archives.  Search individual databases, large online portals, and the websites of repositories that collect materials in your subject area to find oral histories. Oral history transcripts may be published as books.  Look for them in OneSearch, WorldCat, and other library catalogs.


ct area to find oral histories. Oral history transcripts may be published as books.  Look for them in OneSearch, WorldCat, and other library catalogs.Search Tools for Oral Histories

ArchiveGrid - Oral Histories: ArchiveGrid, a database containing more than 7 million collection descriptions, includes more than 160,000 descriptions of individual oral history inteviews and collections of oral histories.  To find them, add the words "oral history" OR "oral histories" (with quotes) to your topic search.  For example, the search string -- ("oral history" OR "oral histories")  AND "civil rights" -- turns up more than 5,500 results.  The "summary view" will allow you to see which archives hold the OH collections. Use the People, Group, Places, and Topics filters to narrow down resuts.

Digital Public Library of America: Contains links to over 50 million images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the U.S.  Browse by topic or contributing institution, explore primary source sets and online exhibitions or search the collection. Try a search on "oral history" or "personal narrative" and then use filters to narrow results.