List of online historical resources from presentation at Pacific Northwest History Conference, session 24 April 5, 2014, Vancouver, WA. Compiled by Nancy A. Bunker Whitworth University

1. Resources mentioned in Presentation
by Nancy A. Bunker, Whitworth University
“Gold Mining in a Cornfield:
Researching History in Non-Traditional Places”
Pacific Northwest History Conference, April 5, 2014, Vancouver, WA
Links to resources in order of presentation
Chronicling America – Library of Congress - http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ -Digitized newspapers
are available online for free.Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922 or use the U.S.
Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Newspaper LibGuide – Bowling Green University Library -http://libguides.bgsu.edu/newspapers -
Locating which newspaper have been digitized and are available to you just got easier with this Website.
American Memory -The Library of Congress - http://memory.loc.gov/ - A resource portal to digitized
American history sites. They say it covers “written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving
images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.” Links to other digitized
free and open access historical materials from libraries, museums and Academic institutions.
National Archives and Records Administration – NARA- http://www.archives.gov/research/- Provides
indexing to all types of federal records, some digitized and available for researchers online. They also
provide some great helpscreen and an increasing amount of digitized records.
State Digital Resources: Memory Projects, Online Encyclopedias, Historical & Cultural Materials
Collections – Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/statememory/ - listing by state of
major projects and multistate projects as well.
Making of America – Univ. of Michigan http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/& Cornell Univ.
http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/ between the two sites they have digitized over four million pages
including 10,000 plus books and 150,000 journal articles from 19th
century America.
Northwest Digital Archive – Consortia -http://nwda.orbiscascade.org - NWDA provides access to
descriptions of primary sources in the Northwestern United States, including correspondence, diaries, or
photographs. Digital reproductions of primary sources are available in some cases
The Digital Public Library of America- Consortia - http://dp.la - Brings together the riches of
America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world.
Cyndi’s List – Independent/Volunteer -http://www.cyndislist.com/ -Mother of all genealogy sites
providing links to all things genealogy.
Family Search - LDS Church/Volunteer - http://familysearch.org-Huge international Genealogy site free
to use.

2. U.S. GenWeb – Volunteer- http://usgenweb.org/ -Their tagline is “Land of the Free …Genealogy” Links
to state and local GenWeb projects.
Ancestry.com – Subscription with some free records - http://www.ancestry.com/freerecordsFree records
on Ancestry.com
Learning Center from Ancestry.com- http://www.ancestry.com/cs/HelpAndAdviceUSwith help and
advice for genealogy research.
Research Guides from
Ancestry.comhttp://www.ancestry.com/cs/Satellite?childpagename=USLearningCenter%2FLearning_C
%2FPageDefault&pagename=LearningWrapper&cid=1265125565120 - Free resources.
Fold3 – Subscription database – Ancestry.com owned http://www.fold3.com - Primarily military records
search function is free any some records are as well, otherwise you can see enough to know what the
database has even if you can’t view the records.
Find a Grave – Volunteer started now maintained by Ancestry.com –http://www.findagrave.com/ - Free
access to cemetery records and photographs of tombstones.
RootsWeb - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/Links to genealogy resources and projects.
Oregon Digital Library – University of Oregon and Oregon State University -http://oregondigital.org/ -
Oregon digital resources.
Digital Archive at the University of Washington http://content.lib.washington.edu
Denver Public Library Digital Library http://digital.denverlibrary.org/Digital collections from the
Western History Department of the Denver Public Library.
New York Public Library Digital Gallery http://digitalgallery.nypl.org
Early Washington Maps –
http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/index.php/cdm/landingpage/collection/mapsThis indexes the digital map
collections of both Washington State University and the University of Washington providing online
access when possible and also some USGS maps.
Oregon Maps - http://oregondigital.org/digcol/ormaps/Indexing the digital map collections of University
of Oregon and Oregon State University
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection – University of Texas at Austin -
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/Provides gateway to thousands of historic and current maps of all sorts
from many parts of the world that have been digitized.
Google Maps - http://www.google.com/mapsCheck out the terrain of your historical site. You might also
find the house is still standing.

3. Other Resources (just as great)
Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive – Consortia- http://archive.vancouver.wsu.edu/crbeha
Collaboration of repositories in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington State. Documents the region’s ethnic
groups and provides materials for further research and discussion.
European Views of the Americas 1493-1750 – Free – EBSCO http://www.europeanamericana.com
An index to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750, containing over
32,000 entries. Since many of the records are to books in special collections this would be most
useful if the book is also digitized in Google books or another free resource.
Google News browse by newspaperhttp://news.google.com/newspapers –Googles’ list ofimperfectly
indexed digitized newspapers but still a wonderful collection particularly if you can browse rather than
search.
Idaho Digital Resources - State of Idaho - http://idahodocs.cdmhost.com/cdm/
The Idaho Commission for Libraries maintains this site providing access to a digital publications from all
state agencies.
Idaho – Idaho State Historical Society - http://history.idaho.gov/- Idaho history and digital collections.
In the First Person An index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narratives – free - Alexander
Street Press- http://www.inthefirstperson.com/firp/index.shtmlIndex to thousands of personal narratives in
English from around the world - includes links to digitized content if available.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook – Fordham University
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.asp Beginning as a way to access texts that were already
on the internet it now contains hundreds of others made available locally.
Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives: Social and Cultural History - The Future of Our
Pasthttp://www.gjenvick.com not everything is free here but there are some great nuggets
Montana Memory Project – Montana State Library and Montana Historical Society -
http://cdm15018.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ - Digital library and archives of items Montana's history and
cultural heritage. Contributors are from throughout the state.
Online Historical Directories Website - https://sites.google.com/site/onlinedirectorysite/ Links to
online city directories from the United States and several other countries.
Online Historical Newspaper Website - https://sites.google.com/site/onlinedirectorysite/ Links to
online newspapers both free and at pay sites from throughout the United States and several other
countries.

4. Oregon Blue Book – Oregon State Archives - http://bluebook.state.or.us– Online version of the state fact
book.
Oregon History Project – Oregon Historical Society - http://ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/ - Online
teaching and learning of Oregon History.
Washington Rural Heritage Project - Consortia of Washington State Library and local museums,
libraries and communities http://wrh.statelib.lib.wa.us/cdm/ LSTA funded this project enables rural
history to be digitized and made available online.
Washington State Digital Archives – Washington State Archives - http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/
Digitized vital records, property records, governmental records from state, county and city governmental
entities. Not all types of records are available for all counties of the state.
Washington State Library Digital Collections and Resources – Washington State Library-
http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/digcolls.aspx–The digital collections from the library including
monographs, maps, newspapers and manuscripts.
Regional Online Encyclopedias
Oregon History Encyclopedia – Portland State University and Oregon Historical Society
http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/ - Online encyclopedia of all things Oregon.
HistoryLink.org: The Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History -History
Ink/Volunteers –http://www.historylink.org/Vetted online encyclopedia.
Online resource book to help in digging for the gold
The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy – Available from Ancestry.com - also in many
libraries in print. This is a great genealogy textbook aging a bit but still has the basics of types of records
and genealogy terminology and resources.
http://www.ancestry.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Source:_A_Guidebook_to_American_Genealogy
Handout located at:
http://www.slideshare.net/NancyABunker/history-resources-for-gold-mining
Online listing at Slideshare.net - (downloading requires a free signup and
login)