LibGuides: U.S. History: Letters, Diaries and Papers

Recommended Databases

Letters & Diaries
Papers

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
1855 - 1875. Includes approximately 100,000 pages of published memoirs, letters and diaries from individuals plus 4,000 pages of previously unpublished materials.
Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection: Series 1
Colonial times - 1960. Includes historical newspapers, religious pamphlets, broadsides, books, letters, short stories, poems, advertisements, and more.
Bexar Archives: Colonial Archives of Texas during the Spanish and Mexican Periods, 1717-1836
Unlimited users.
From 1717 through 1836 the governments of Spain and Mexico collected in San Antonio de Bexar (when that city was the capital of Texas under Spanish and Mexican rule) an amazing series of official documents detailing the military, civilian, and political life of the Spanish province of Texas and the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas. These records, which have become known as the Bexar Archives, constitute the most complete and detailed primary source in existence for the study of colonial Texas. The Archives, housed at the University of Texas at Austin, consist of 250,000 pages of manuscript documentation and more than 4,000 pages of printed material on colonial and regional history.
The collection includes:
- Bexar Archives: Publications and General Manuscript Series, 1717-1836
- Bexar Archives: Translations [1699-1812]
Early Encounters in North America
1534 - 1850. Contains early accounts of exploration, discovery, travel, environment, peoples, and cultures in North America. Focuses on letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters.
Electronic Enlightenment
18th century. Provides the most wide-ranging online collection of edited correspondence of the early modern period, linking people across Europe, the Americas and Asia from the early 17th to the mid-19th century. Includes letters in English, French, German and Italian from families and friends, bankers and booksellers, patrons and publishers, etc. Also includes primary source letters from more than 6,000 writers and numerous presses
Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman
Unlimited users.

Digitized historical documents from the records of voting rights activist and civil rights leader, Fannie Lou Hamer. Her papers contain more than three thousand pieces of correspondence plus financial records, programs, photographs, newspaper articles, invitations, and other printed items.
Frontier Life
1650 - 1920. Unlimited. Users can discover documents like pamphlets, diaries, letters, and images that reveal the plight of colonizers and indigenous peoples.
LGBT Thought and Culture
Late 19th century - present. This online primary source database hosting the key works and archival documentation of LGBT political and social movements throughout the 20th century and into the present day. The collection contains seminal texts, letters, periodicals, speeches, interviews, and ephemera.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
1840 - 1950. When completed, will include more than 100,000 pages of personal narratives including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories. Currently contains 342 authors and ~37,500 pages of info.
North American Indian Thought and Culture
1677 - present. A collection of biographical material of American Indians in their own words and through the words of others. Includes personal narratives, speeches, diaries, letters, manuscripts, among other primary sources
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
1700 - 1950. Includes diaries, journals, and letters written by women visiting or living in North America between the years 1700 and 1950.
Sabin Americana
Unlimited users.
Provides over 14,000 primary source titles based on Joseph Sabin's bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana. Materials describe every aspect of life in the Western Hemisphere from 1500 to the 1890s. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. Searchable in a variety of ways, including: author, title, year of publication, and subject.

American History Collection
1734 - 1888. Digital editions of the papers of many major figures of the early republic are presented in a fully searchable online environment. Includes The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Dolley Madison, George Washington, et al.
Collections include:
- The Adams Papers
- The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
- The Papers of Andrew Jackson
- The Selected Papers of John Jay
- The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
- The Dolley Madison Digital Edition
- The Papers of James Madison
- The Papers of John Marshall
- The Papers of George Washington
- The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution
- Founders Early Access
ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid includes over four million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, it helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
Confederate Military Manuscripts and Records of Union Generals and the Union Army
1861 - 1865. Highlights include papers of spies, scouts, guides and detectives, including a series on Allan Pinkerton; records on military discipline from courts-martial, courts of inquiry and investigations by military commissions; and records of the U.S. Colored Troops.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Part One
The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century consists of 73 collections of primary source documents from the records of federal government agencies, the personal papers of African Americans and the records of civil rights organizations.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Part Two
Unlimited users.
This Black Freedom module is highlighted by the records of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Africa-related papers of Claude Barnett, and the Robert F. Williams Papers. Rounding out this module are the papers of Chicago Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell, the Chicago chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, and records pertaining to the Mississippi Freedom Summer.
Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman
Unlimited users.

Digitized historical documents from the records of voting rights activist and civil rights leader, Fannie Lou Hamer. Her papers contain more than three thousand pieces of correspondence plus financial records, programs, photographs, newspaper articles, invitations, and other printed items.
Quest for Labor Equality in Household Work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979
Unlimited users.

The collection consists of records of the United Domestic Workers Union (U.S) from 1965-1979. The National Domestic Workers Union was founded in Atlanta in 1968 by Dorothy Bolden to help women engaged in household work. Correspondence (1965-1979) reflects Bolden's efforts in organizing the Union and includes such correspondence with Georgia and national political figures. In addition, the collection contains minutes of the Union, financial documents and files relating to Equal Opportunity Atlanta.
Virginia Company Archives
1590 - 1790. This collection of the Ferrar Papers, 1590-1790, from Magdalene College, Cambridge, is an essential source for the study of the Atlantic World and Early Colonial Period. It documents the founding and economic development of Virginia as seen through the papers of the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624

Click here to see a list of more open access digital collections featuring letters, diaries and papers as listed by UC Berkeley Libraries.

Featured: NAACP Papers

NAACP Papers: Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files
1913 - 1972. Unlimited users. Chronicles the local heroes of the civil rights revolution via NAACP branches throughout the United States. The contributions of scores of local leaders—attorneys, community organizers, financial benefactors, students, mothers, school teachers, and other participants—are revealed in these records.
NAACP Papers: Special Subjects
1909 - 1972. Unlimited users. The NAACP was involved in several subjects that did not rise to the level of major campaigns but were still vital to the organization.
NAACP Papers—Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff files
1909 - 1970. Unlimited users. Contains internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country on lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, and housing, among others.
NAACP Papers—The NAACP's Major Campaigns: Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces
1909 - 1972. Unlimited users. Major campaigns for equal access to education, voting, employment, housing and the military are covered in this module.
NAACP Papers—The NAACP's Major Campaigns: Legal Department Files
1956 - 1972. Unlimited users. Papers of the NAACP Legal Department. Among the topics covered in these cases are school desegregation, abuses of police procedure, freedom of speech, desegregation of public facilities, voting rights, housing discrimination, and employment discrimination.
NAACP Papers—The NAACP's Major Campaigns: Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Response
1909 - 1972. Unlimited users. This NAACP module focuses on the NAACP’s efforts regarding anti-lynching, peonage, and discrimination in employment and the criminal justice system. A rich set of records in this module is the NAACP file on the case of the Scottsboro boys.