History: Lively, First-Person, and Real

Gale and Smithsonian have partnered to deliver an online resource for users in your school U.S. history classes: Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History. This rare online resource includes unique and seminal primary sources, including documents, maps, historical objects, and other materials from the museums and archives from the collections of the Smithsonian and from Gale’s leading digital collections.

Bring the Smithsonian into your classroom.

Designed for both teachers and librarians to support core and Advanced Placement U.S. history programs, this resource brings hand-curated content from the experts at the Smithsonian directly to your classroom and students. Select content is curriculum-aligned providing easy access to relevant primary sources that are otherwise hard-to-find or widely scattered. Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History delivers organized high-value, authoritative content satisfying requirements to incorporate primary source content into U.S. history classes.

Choose from 15 time periods that support the study of different eras:

  • Pre-Colonial Era (1450-1620)
  • Colonial Society and the Road to Independence (1620-1754)
  • American Independence (1754-1783)
  • Development of the Young Republic (1783-1829)
  • Westward Expansion and America’s First Age of Reform (1829-1854)
  • Emerging Disunion and Sectionalism (1845-1861)
  • Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
  • Industrialization, Immigration, and Urbanization (1877-1930)
  • The Progressive Era (1890-1930)
  • World War I and Rising Expectations (1914-1929)
  • The Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II (1929-1945)
  • The Cold War (1947-1991)
  • Civil Rights and Social Tumult (1960-1980)
  • Conservatism (1980-1991)
  • The New Millennium and a Post-9/11 World (1991—present)

Features and functionality that count.

Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S History allows students and teachers to:

  • Find close to 1,800 curated primary source documents.
  • Toggle between content by time period.
  • Integrate supplemental learning materials.
  • Seamlessly link to additional content from Gale U.S. History In Context via interlinking.
  • Access content relevant to today’s teaching standards.
  • Move rich content into student workflow with G Suite for Education and Microsoft Office 365 tools.

Smithsonian