Find Primary Sources Online to Support Your Research
As you do research for History Day, remember that a lot of great resources are available online. Check out our (growing) list of ways you can access the online collections of New York City archives, museums, and libraries.
- Brooklyn Public Library Digital Collections
- Center for Brooklyn History: online maps | oral histories | digital collections | online projects
- Central Park Conservancy Research Guide
- Did you know we have a national park right here in NYC? Check out Gateway National Park and learn about the history and ecology of some of the city's most beautiful places.
- Green-Wood Cemetery's online archives and digital collections
- Museum of the City of New York Digital Collections
- New York City Municipal Archives Collections
- New York Heritage Digital Collections
- New York Public Library Digital Collections
- New York Historical Society Digital Collections
- New York Transit Museum Digital Collections
- Queens Public Library Digital Collections
- Municipal Art Society: explore books and archival documents about the complex ecology of cities, urban culture, and the natural and built environment.
- New York University Special Collections: explore this special list of collections with digitized content.
- Library of Congress
- National Archives Digital Resources
- Chronicling America Digitized Newspapers
- Independent Voices: a digital collection of alternative press newspapers
- Digital Public Library of America
- National Park Service: National History Day Research Guide
- ArchiveGrid: a search tool for archives around the United States that contain historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more
- Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Resources
- Digital History, a resource from the University of Houston
- Harvard Digital Collections. For more specific American History collections such as "Slavery, Abolition, Emancipation, and Freedom" click here
- African Online Digital Archive
- Library of Congress International Research Pages
- Europeana (European Digital Archive)
- Harvard Digital Collections. For more specific Global History collections such as "Expeditions and Discoveries" click here
- Hope College Collated Resources on Modern Imperialism
- LACLI (Latin American, Caribbean, U.S. Latinx, and Iberian Online Free E-Resources)
- Wilson Center Digital Archive
- ACT UP Oral History Project
- Digital Transgender Archive
- GLBT Historical Society Digital Collections
- Lesbian Herstory Archives
- Library of Congress LGBTQ+ Digital Archive
- Queens LGBTQ+ History Collection: These are interviews with LGBTQ+ activists who live, work and attend school in Queens. They have organized major events like the Queens Pride Parade and founded advocacy organizations that provide services in and beyond New York City.
- Berkeley Library: Asian American and Asian Diaspora Digital Archives and Oral History Collections
- Densho Digital Archives: Japanese American History
- Library of Congress Asian American and Pacific Islander Resource Database
- SAADA: South Asian American Digital Archive
- BlackPast
- Civil Rights Digital Library
- Digital Black History Collated Resources
- Freedom on the Move Digital Collections
- International African American Museum Digital Collections
- National Archives Black History Directory
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library) Digital Collections
- Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Digital Archives
- Berkeley Library: Native American Studies Digital Collections
- Library of Congress Native American Digital Collections
- Native Northeast Portal
- University of Texas Native American Digital Collections
- Bracero Oral History Archive
- Berkeley Library: Latin American and Hispanic History Digital Collections
- LACLI (Latin American, Caribbean, U.S. Latinx, and Iberian Online Free E-Resources)
- ARTSTOR: An open access database of over 2 million images from top museums, archives, scholars, and artists
- The Black Music History Library
- Brooklyn Academy of Music Online Archive
- The Cleveland Museum of Art Digital Collections
- Digital Library of the Middle East
- Library of Congress Performing Arts Digital Collection
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art Digital Collections
- The Morgan Library & Museum Digital Collections
- New York Public Library Music Division Digital Collections
- OMuERRA: Online Museum Educational Resources in Asian Art
- Alan Turing Digital Archive
- American Museum of Natural History Digital Collections
- Harvard Library: Exploration and Scientific Discovery in the Modern Age
- Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum Digital Collection
- Explore these resources from the Library of Congress: Science and Technology Digital Collections, Women in Science Digital Collections, Mapping National Parks
- National Library of Medicine Digital Collections
- Science History Institute: Women and Science Digital Collections
- Did you know we have a national park right here in NYC? Check out Gateway National Park and learn about the history and ecology of some of the city's most beautiful places.
- Jackie Robinson Museum: Get started with your research on Jackie Robinson’s impact on and off the field on the Dig Deeper page at JRLegacy.org. You’ll find videos to spark research ideas about Robinson as an athlete and activist, ready-to-use primary sources, FAQs, and more, plus submit questions to Jackie Robinson Museum staff.
- Library of Congress: Sports and Recreation Digital Collections
Check out Examples of Past Projects in Each Category
- Shirley Chisholm: Championing Domestic Workers through Debate and Diplomacy by Joanna Fabian, Lorenzo Guaman, Maria Manouselakis, Cecilia McConnaughy, and Ariana Mendez, New York City, Junior Division
- Little Rock: A Frontier of the Global Cold War by Lawson Wright, New York City, Senior Division
- The Camera as a Sword: Asian American Representation in Corky Lee's Photography by William Ling-Regan, New York City, Senior Division
- Women Strike for Peace: How 1960s American Mothers Used Diplomacy to End Atmospheric Nuclear Testing
- Building a Home from Diaspora: Making and Remaking the First American Chinatown by Yan Zhen Zhu, New York City, Senior Division
- Route 66: The Road of Possibilities by Jack Anderson, Jader Briggs, Daytona Foley, Logan Smith & Megan Swancutt
- Black, White and Blue: Vivien Thomas and the Cure for Blue Baby Syndrome by Jasmine Hughley
New York City History Day is sponsored in part by the Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust and the Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund.
Upcoming Events
Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Path to Today
Join us for the first event in a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. Part 1 delves into the systemic roots of environmental racism and confronts a critical question: Why are communities of color and low-wealth populations…
Trace/s Exhibition Tour
Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.
Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…
"Caring for the Collective During Organized Abandonment": Solidarity Economies and Building a Better World
This workshop will explore the history of collective care and mutual aid during times of planned shrinkage, austerity cuts, and recession. Grounded in the Principles of Solidarity Economies and historical examples such as the queer community during the AIDS crisis and the Free Breakfast Program…
CBH Talk | Deborah Archer and James Forman Discuss “Dividing Lines”
In her new book, Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality, acclaimed scholar and ACLU President Deborah Archer shows how seemingly innocuous transit planning functions – the development of roads, sidewalks, dividers, and other infrastructures –…
Looking Back to Go Foward: Genealogy Basics
In 2017 archaeological tests revealed enslaved Africans were buried beneath Schenck Playground. The playground was renamed Sankofa Park in honor of the African burial ground in 2019. This renaming is part of a larger movement to discover and restore these spaces. Join experienced researchers…
Children of the Movement: Growing up with Parents in the Black Panther Party
This program is offered in partnership with The Guardian.
In March, The Guardian published a landmark article and produced a short film spotlighting the self-described “Panther cubs”—offspring of members of the Black Panther Party. This project, two…
Trace/s Exhibition Tour
Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.
Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…
Pirate Radio in New York City 1939-1998: From Booger Brothers Broadcasting to WBAD-Bad Radio
Pirate radio stations have been sneaking onto New York City’s radio dial since the 1930s, mixing up a sonic stew ranging from self-proclaimed, “buzzy sounding, lousy sounding, get-your-ego-off radio” to a profusion of…
Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Present Crisis
Join us for Part 2 of a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. This time we explore the situation today. Leaders from across the country share solutions to environmental crises within their communities and discuss a new urgent challenge…
Opening the Archives: Finding LGBTQ+ History in the CBH Collections
When author Hugh Ryan researched his 2019 book When Brooklyn Was Queer, he delved deep into the archives at the Center for Brooklyn History. Queer history is rarely neatly labeled in finding aids or research guides. And so Hugh brought a queer lens to an array of seemingly unrelated…
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