Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online: Science & Technology

General Science & Technology Topics

American Museum of Natural History: Rare Book Digital Collection Highlights of art, illustrations, engravings, maps, and sketches from the over 14,000 rare materials housed at the Library. Includes field diaries and scrapbooks, richly illustrated fragile and uniquely bound materials, published and unpublished materials, rare books relevant to natural history, and more. (American Museum of Natural History)
Charles Darwin's Library Digital texts of hundreds of books in Darwin's personal libraries, including his hand-written notes and comments on the pages and margins. Allows insight into his thought processes and the development of his evolutionary theory. (Biodiversity Heritage Library)
Darwin Online Charles Darwin’s complete publications, private papers, and manuscripts, along with reviews of his works and works about him. (Univ. of Cambridge)
Einstein Papers: Collected Papers of Albert Einstein More than 30,000 documents of the writing and correspondence of Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Includes English translations for most items. (Princeton Univ. Press; California Institute of Technology)
The Evolution of Time Measurement Through the Ages
(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
History of Artificial Intelligence Film, video, and audio documenting the history of artificial intelligence explorations. (Stanford Univ.)
IEEE Global History Network This site, from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, documents the history of engineering practices and explains when, how, and why these technologies developed as they did. Check out the Innovation Map and the Interactive Timeline (which are NOT primary sources) and the Oral Histories. (IEEE)
Making the Macintosh: Technology and Culture in Silicon Valley This project documents the history of the Macintosh computer. The Archive includes primary documents, images, and interviews. (Stanford Univ.)
Mobilizing Minds: Teaching Math and Science in the Age of Sputnik Consists largely of images of artefacts that document the push for science and math education during the Cold War and the Space Race. (National Museum of American History)
Oral History of Molecular Biology The words and images of the scientists who have worked and regularly visited the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory document a unique perspective on the development of molecular biology, the present state of the science, and visions of the future by the leading scientists in the field. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archive)
Resources at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science The Resources section of the Max Planck Institute's website provides digital sources, such as the Machine Drawings 1200-1650 archive (over 1,800 machine drawings that record the history of technical innovation and ingenuity) and much more.
Sarnoff Collection: Artefacts in 20th-century Communications and Electronics History
(The College of New Jersey)
William Osler Papers Selected papers of Sir William Osler (1849-1919), a Canadian physician often called "the father of modern medicine" for the central role he played in revolutionizing medical education via the internship and residency system at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. (U.S. National Library of Medicine)

Spaceflight History

Future of the US Space Program: Presidential Recordings of John F. Kennedy and NASA Administrator James Webb, 1960s Recordings declassified in 2011. Download the audio files and find recording transcripts as well as other related material: a Congressional address, video of a speech at the San Antonio Aerospace Medical Center, photo gallery, and background documents from the archives of the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.
Johnson Space Center (JSC) History Portal "The JSC History Portal offers access to the JSC Oral History Project transcripts, the JSC History Collection databases, and hundreds of NASA history web pages." (NASA Johnson Space Center)
NASA Historic Images
(NASA Johnson Space Center)
March to the Moon: Project Mercury Digital collection of photographs, video footage, and information from Project Mercury, the first U.S. human spaceflight program, which ran from 1959 to 1963. (NASA Johnson Space Center and Arizona State Univ.)
NASA Photos
(NASA)
Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship Report written in May, 1946, by Project RAND, then active within Douglas Aircraft Company’s Engineering Division -- written more than eleven years before the orbiting of Sputnik, history’s first artificial space satellite. (RAND)

Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons, & Atomic Bombs

Atomic Bomb Decision: Documents on the Decision to use Atomic Bombs on the the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Compiled documents from National Archives and other sources. (Gene Dannen, independent researcher)
Atomic Energy & Nuclear History Learning Curriculum Digital exhibit with selected archive materials on The Manhattan Project, Civil Defense, Nuclear Engineering, and other topics. (Oregon State Univ.)
Atomic Heritage Foundation: Key Documents Documents the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Age. Several links on this page point to the Directory of Documents, Directory of Photographs, etc.
Dear Professor Einstein: Letters to the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists "Albert Einstein formed the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists [c.1946], hoping that by lending his fame and visibility to a fundraising effort, he could have a significant influence on public support for ending war. He called on Leo Szilard and eight other atomic scientists to join the effort, including Linus Pauling and Harold Urey." (Oregon State Univ.) The link above goes to a thematic grouping of letters. The site also provides an alphabetical index of letters and advanced tools to search and browse the collection.
Hiroshima: Rare Film Footage After the Atomic Bombs
(CNN)
Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (1946-1977): Source Materials Full text of over 144,000 pages of source materials from the hearings of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, which existed from 1946 to 1977 to "make continuing studies of the activities of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and of problems relating to the development, use, and control of atomic energy." (Stanford Univ.)
The Nixon Administration and the Indian Nuclear Program, 1972-1974 Offers a look at the reaction of President Richard Nixon's administration to the testing of nuclear weapons by India. There are 21 documents on this website, including a secret memo entitled "A Concerted Effort by India to Conceal Preparations May Well Succeed" and several key State Department cables. (National Security Archive)
Nuclear Debate Pamphlets "Pamphlets from both pro- and anti-nuclear organizations published during the 1980 period of rising tensions and the decline of déténte." (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)
Nuclear History Documents in the National Security Archive's Electronic Briefing Books Click "Nuclear History" to expand the options, then click on individual topics to see documents. (George Washington Univ.)
Nuclear Proliferation International History Project "Explores the international history of nuclear weapons and their proliferation using archival documents and oral history interviews from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, China, Israel, India, South Africa, Sweden and more." (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)
The Nuclear Vault: Resources from the Nuclear Documentation Project De-classified documents, photos, info, related reading lists, and links related to nuclear weapons, nuclear weapon policies, nuclear crises, and nuclear proliferation (in the U.S. and around the world) from the 1940s through the present. (George Washington Univ.)
Selected Writings of Albert Wohlstetter, 1951-1970 Albert Wohlstetter became one of the world’s leading nuclear and national security strategists. His studies led to concepts for deterring nuclear war, and reduced the probability of accidental war. (RAND)
Truman Library & Museum: Online Documents
Wilson Center Digital Archive: International History Declassified "Contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe" in "the history of international relations and diplomacy," focusing on "the interrelated histories of the Cold War, Korea, and Nuclear Proliferation." (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)