Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online: Religion

Miscellaneous Religious History Topics

The American Colony in Jerusalem, 1870-2006 Manuscripts, letters, postcards, telegrams, diaries or journals, scrapbooks, printed materials, photographs, hand-drawn maps, and ephemera documenting the history of a non-denominational utopian Christian community founded by a small group of American expatriates in Ottoman Palestine. (Library of Congress)
Baptists and the American Civil War: In Their Own Words Documents antebellum and Civil War-era history of American Baptists, both North and South.
The Church in the Southern Black Community, 1780-1925
(Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Documenting the American South
(Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
Early Virginia Religious Petitions
(Library of Virginia and Library of Congress)
Folkebladet, 1877-1952 A Norwegian language newspaper and the official newspaper of the Lutheran Free Church in Minneapolis. (Augsburg Univ.)
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1610-1791) (Translated) Documents relations between Jesuits and Native Americans. (Creighton Univ.)
The Material History of American Religion Project
(Vanderbilt Univ. Divinity School)
Princeton Seminary Digital Library Provides digitized historic photographs, portraits, artifacts, and at least 12 historical religious journals. Includes, for instance, texts of sermons from the 1850s. (Princeton Theological Seminary) FYI: According to its website, the seminary is "rooted in the Reformed tradition," with "close ties with its parent denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)."
The Ram's Horn, an Interdenominational Social Gospel Magazine Digitized images from this magazine, published late 1890s to early 1900s (Ohio State Univ.)
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
(Library of Congress)
Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America
(Michigan State Univ. Libraries)
The Ursuline Convent, Charlestown, Mass. Collection Documents the ministry of the Ursulines of Quebec in the Boston area and demonstrates a strong anti-Catholic sentiment in New England. Spans 1833 - 1903. Includes letters, an eyewitness report of the convent's burning in 1834, a scrapbook history, journals, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and a photo and sketch of the convent. (Catholic Univ. of America)

American Jewish History

American Jewish Archives (Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the AJA, Hebrew Union College)
American Jewish Experience: Significant Documents (Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the AJA, Hebrew Union College)
American Jewish History Websites (Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the AJA, Hebrew Union College)

American Catholic History

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana - Vatican Library Although not strictly "American," this digital archive of thousands of manuscripts from the Vatican library may inform Catholic history research. (Vatican Library)
Catholic Educational Exhibit, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago Photographs documenting the building, hall, and alcoves where Catholic educational institutions displayed objects and printed material from 1892-1893 during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. (Catholic Univ. of America)
First Vatican Council Photograph Album Vatican Council I, the 20th of the general Councils, held in St. Peter's Basilica, Dec 8, 1869, through Sept 1, 1870. Primarily European participants, plus about 48 U.S. representatives. (Catholic Univ. of America)
The Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact Collection, 1946-1963 Catholic comic book provided to Catholic parochial school students, 1946-1972. Digital collection contains the first eighteen volumes, 1946-1963, which are in public domain. There are some issues missing from Volume 4 (1948-1949). Site also includes 2006 interview with illustrator and writer Frank Borth by the American Catholic History Research Center. (Catholic Univ. of America)

American Catholic History Classroom Series

A series of document collections from the Catholic University of America, each with accompanying background essays, teaching suggestions, and more.

If you consult these collections, BE SURE to distinguish carefully between the historical documents themselves and the accompanying secondary-source content.

Catholics and Education: The Oregon School Case Documents 1920s effort by the KKK to shut down Catholic schools and require public school attendance, approved by Oregon state voters but shot down by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Catholic Univ. of America)
Catholics and Industrialization American Catholic voices in the debates about how to cope with the spread of industrialization at the turn of the 20th century. (Catholic Univ. of America)
Catholics and Labor: The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor Documents the relationship between Catholics and the Knights of Labor union. (Catholic Univ. of America)
Catholics and a Living Wage Examines American Catholic feelings about the growing gap between the richest and poorest Americans in the early 20th century. (Catholic Univ. of America)
Catholics and Politics in the 1936 Presidential Election: Documents Considers religious support during Franklin Roosevelt's 1936 presidential race. Features previously unavailable audio and documents related to the presidential campaign of 1936 and the involvement of each priest in that campaign. (Catholic Univ. of America)
African American Catholics: Documents Documents disagreements on race among American Catholics in the 1920s and 1930s. (Catholic Univ. of America)