US History Content Links

Looking for some digital sources to help students build content knowledge in a flipped lesson?

Searching for online sources that students can use to personalize and customize instruction?

Check out the following sites:

Primary Sources Sites:

• The Avalon Project This project from Yale University is trying to digitize all historical documents in their original text.
• Library of Congress This page is the Library of Congress' home page.
• National Archives The National Archives has a variety of documents at your fingertips.
• National Museum of American History You'll find a variety of collections and online exhibits at this Smithsonian museum site.
• DocsTeach This online site has many exhibitions, collections, and activities for teaching with the National Archives collection.
• Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History Signing up required, but free. The Gilder-Lehrman Institute has a variety of primary sources, essays, historical interpretations, and videos for classroom use. They have a special section specifically for AP US History.
• History Matters, From George Mason University, this site has a variety of primary source excerpts, including introductions that help to establish historical context.
• Teaching History This site from the National History Education Clearinghouse, has a variety of materials and primary sources for teaching history.
• Eyewitness to History This site has a variety of eyewitness accounts to major historical events.
• The History Guide This is a resource for historians. The links page suggests a variety of primary and secondary source websites.
• Documents of World War II This site from Mount Holyoke is a chronological list of links to primary sources about World War II.
• New Deal Network This comprehensive site has tons of primary sources, including great political cartoons about FDR and the New Deal.
• Documenting the American South From the University of North Carolina, this collection contains a variety of primary and secondary sources about southern life.
• A Chronology of US Historical Documents From the University of Oklahoma College of Law, this page links you to a variety of primary sources sorted chronologically.

• US Misery Index This site compiles quantitative measurement of U.S unemployment rate and inflation rate from 1948 to 2015. 

• American History from 1493-1945 This is a companion site of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History that has teaching modules for major historical periods.  

Online Textbooks:

• U.S. History  Covering from Pre-Columbian to the Millennium, this online secondary source is organized with an ease of readability. It provides opportunities for students to navigate to related primary sources.

• Digital History This online textbook is organized and clear. It provides students with secondary content about U.S. History and offers a variety of primary sources, historical interpretations, and other extras for both teachers and students.

• EbscoHost This online textbook has secondary information about a variety of U.S. and World History topics. 

Video Series:

• Crash Course in US History This video series is engaging and entertaining in the way it tells the stories of U.S. History. It's fast paced, but the website offers transcripts for most of the videos.  
• History Channel The History Channel offers a variety of videos and text about historical events.
• Khan Academy This site offers a variety of videos and secondary source essays.