The resources on this page include databases and websites that provide access to digitized primary sources relevant to the study of Los Angeles and Southern California, and more broadly to California and the American West.
Digital Primary Sources: California & the West
For California or Western Newspapers see Historical Newspapers tab above.
- American JourneysAmerican Journeys contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
- Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at ManzanarFrom the Library of Congress. More than 200 photographs taken at Manzanar by the renown American photographer Ansel Adams, from portraits to views of daily life, agricultural scenes, and sports and leisure activities.
- The Autry’s Collections OnlineContains data, records and images from the Autry museums and libraries.
- California Heritage CollectionThis University of California-Berkeley Bancroft Library site provides access to over 30,000 images illustrating California's history and culture
- California State LibraryThe State Library is California's public research library; along with its catalog, its site serves as a gateway to many research resources, including many accessible online
- Calisphere Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowCalisphere is the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources. More than 150,000 digitized items, including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts, reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history.
- The Chinese in CaliforniaThe Chinese in California, 1850-1925 illustrates nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese immigration to California through about 8,000 images and pages of primary source materials. Included are photographs, original art, cartoons and other illustrations; letters, excerpts from diaries, business records, and legal documents; as well as pamphlets, broadsides, speeches, sheet music, and other printed matter.
- Edward E. Ayer Digital CollectionOffers more than 100,000 digitized images from the Newberry's Edward E. Ayer collection, one of the world's premiere sources of primary documents on American Indians. Topics covered include Native American archaeology, ethnology, art, and language; the history of the contact between Europeans and native peoples; voyages, travels, and accounts of early America; the development of cartography of the Western Hemisphere; and the history of the aboriginal peoples under the jurisdiction of the U.S. in the Philippine Islands and Hawaii.
- Huntington LibraryThis website provides key information about the library as well as access to its online catalog
- Multicultural WestProvides links to online documents, course syllabi, journals, resource sites, popular culture sites, and other relevant materials regarding the American West as a region.
- New Perspectives on the West(PBS Series produced by Ken Burns) This multimedia site provides information and primary source materials to accompany the 8-part 1996 documentary series
- ProQuest History Vault: American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971 This link opens in a new windowIncludes a large variety of primary source records on the interactions between American Indians and the U.S. government and settlers in the 19th and 20th century. Contains records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, records from the Major Council Meetings of American Indian Tribes (1914-1971) and records on Indian Removal to the West, 1832-1840 from the Office of Commissary General of Subsistence, and much more.
- Regional Oral History Office (ROHO)Oral histories on a range of topics from the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library, UC-Berkeley.
- Rocky Mountain Online ArchiveProvides information about archival collections in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Finding aids give detailed descriptions of primary source materials located at twenty-seven different repositories. Search the finding aids to discover what historical materials are available for study and where those collections are located.
- South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)The largest publicly accessible archive of South Asian American history. The archive includes resources relating to South Asian American communities in California.
- University of Southern California Digital Library This link opens in a new windowFind drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books, and audio and video recordings in applied sciences, fine and decorative arts, history, performing arts, and social sciences
- U.S. West: Photographs, Manuscripts, and ImprintsFrom Southern Methodist University Library. Over 900,000 images of the American West, the borderlands, exploration, business history and transportation, particularly the railroads.
- Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940 to 1941An online presentation from the Library of Congress of selections from a multi-format ethnographic field collection documenting the everyday life of residents of Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant work camps in central California in 1940 and 1941.
- Western Americana CollectionFrom Princeton University. Includes of photographs of Indians of the Americas and views of the American West, including landscapes, cityscapes, and mining, railroad, and agricultural operations. The bulk of the photographs date from the 19th century.
- Western History CollectionThe Denver Public Library’s collection of digitized photographs chronicling the people, places and events that shaped the settlement and growth of the Western United States.
Relevant Websites
L.A. as Subject
An online directory of archives and collections that preserve historical materials related to the Los Angeles region.
Los Angeles
The official web site of the City of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Conservancy
Dedicated to the recognition, preservation, and revitalization of the architectural and cultural heritage of greater Los Angeles.
A co-production of KCETLink and USC Libraries, "Lost LA" explores the region's hidden past through documents, photographs, and other rare artifacts from California libraries and archives.
Online Archive of California
The OAC brings together historical materials from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives. Over 120,000 images; 50,000 pages of documents, letters, and oral histories; and 8,000 guides and finding aids to collections (not all content has been digitized)