Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Step into the Archives
Preview the primary sources that bring history to life
Front page of The Plaindealer, an African American newspaper from Kansas City, Kansas, dated Friday, March 17, 1944. Bold headlines report on segregation, the U.S. Army, Jim Crow train travel, and Black military units. The page features dense columns of text, a central wartime photograph, and portraits of African American women and clergy.
Source: <a href="/products/black-life-america" hreflang="en">Black Life in America</a>
Black-and-white newspaper page from The Seattle Daily Times, dated June 8, 1940, with a large headline reading “Indian Fishing Dispute Nears Climax.” The page includes multiple photographs of Indigenous men fishing with nets and platforms along a river, likely the Columbia River, alongside dense columns of text discussing treaty rights and a pending Supreme Court decision.
Source: <a href="/products/indigenous-life-america" hreflang="en">Indigenous Life in America</a>
Black-and-white magazine spread titled “Treat Your Feet to the Beat Beat,” from the San Francisco Sunday Chronicle, January 1964. The layout features columns of text and several photographs, including a close-up portrait of poet Allen Ginsberg wearing glasses and a beard, and a street scene showing Ginsberg walking with fellow Beat figures. The article discusses San Francisco’s Beat Generation culture and literary scene.
Source: <a href="/products/lgbtq-life-america" hreflang="en">LGBTQ+ Life in America</a>
Black-and-white scan of a typed document titled “Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration,” dated November 24, 1970. The page appears to be a statement or letter read to a council session, referencing Senator Edward M. Kennedy and discussing Soviet citizens seeking permission to emigrate, particularly Jews. The text is typewritten in a formal, official layout with headings and paragraph breaks.
Source: <a href="/products/antisemitic-historical-literature-american-jewish-historical-society" hreflang="en">Antisemitic Historical Literature from the American Jewish Historical Society</a>
Antique map of North and Central America showing principal railway lines across the United States, Mexico, and Central America. The map is printed in black ink on a light background, with major rail routes highlighted in red, including lines across the northern United States, the U.S.–Mexico border region, and Central America. Geographic features, borders, cities, and latitude–longitude grid lines are labeled, reflecting late 19th-century cartographic style.
Source: <a href="/products/us-congressional-serial-set-1817-1994" hreflang="en">U.S. Congressional Serial Set 1817-1994</a>
Black-and-white scan of the front page of The Freeman’s Journal, or the North-American Intelligencer, dated Wednesday, October 31, 1781, printed in Philadelphia. The masthead features an illustrated figure between the title words. Below are dense columns of serif text, including reports and letters related to the American Revolutionary War, reflecting late 18th-century newspaper layout and printing style
Source: <a href="/products/early-american-newspapers-1690-1922" hreflang="en">Early American Newspapers: 1690-1922</a>
Black-and-white scan of a typed confidential “Monitoring Report” issued by the British Broadcasting Corporation, dated August 1941. The document summarizes foreign radio broadcasts, with a section titled “The Battle for the Ukraine,” discussing German and Soviet military claims during World War II. The page features a formal layout with headings, timestamps, and dense paragraphs of typewritten text.
Source: <a href="/products/bbc-monitoring-summary-world-broadcasts" hreflang="en">BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts</a>
Scanned typewritten page titled “SWB/Monitoring Report: Latin America and Other Countries,” dated 21 September 1973. The document summarizes international radio and press reports following the Chilean coup, including statements by Augusto Pinochet, arrests, curfews, and reactions from foreign governments. Additional brief sections cover Nicaragua, Honduras–El Salvador, Haiti, and agricultural developments in Belize. Footer credits the BBC, 1973.
Source: <a href="/products/bbc-monitoring-summary-world-broadcasts" hreflang="en">BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts</a>
Black-and-white scan of an 18th-century newspaper front page titled The Pennsylvania Evening Post, dated Saturday, July 6, 1776. The page features the full text of the Declaration of Independence in dense, narrow columns of serif type, with a prominent heading reading “In Congress, July 4, 1776,” reflecting early American printing style and historical context.
Source: <a href="/products/early-american-newspapers-1690-1922" hreflang="en">Early American Newspapers: 1690-1922</a>
Color map titled “Isthmian Canal Commission: Panama Route,” dated 1901, showing the proposed route of the Panama Canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The map includes coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific, rivers, elevation shading, and the canal line marked in red. Green overlays indicate zones of mean annual rainfall in inches, with labeled towns, contours, and survey notes reflecting early 20th-century engineering and cartographic detail.
Source: <a href="/products/us-congressional-serial-set-1817-1994" hreflang="en">U.S. Congressional Serial Set 1817-1994</a>
Black-and-white scan of a handwritten 19th-century military letter titled “Head Quarters Dist. Upper Mo.,” dated August 1867. Written in cursive ink, the document discusses a violent attack attributed to an Osage band, orders arrests of those involved, and instructs military authorities to maintain order. The page includes formal salutations, dense handwritten paragraphs, and an officer’s signature at the bottom.
Source: <a href="/products/american-indian-wars-1830-1898" hreflang="en">American Indian Wars, 1830-1898</a>
Black-and-white political cartoon titled “Study in Contradiction,” depicting an antisemitic propaganda image. A large, bearded robed figure labeled “Judaism” stands holding a tablet resembling the Ten Commandments. On either side, two small caricatured figures give Nazi salutes, one labeled “Communist wrecker!” and the other “Capitalist wrecker!” The image illustrates contradictory antisemitic stereotypes used in Nazi ideology and includes explanatory text below attributing it to Hitler’s rhetoric.
Source: <a href="/products/antisemitic-historical-literature-american-jewish-historical-society" hreflang="en">Antisemitic Historical Literature from the American Jewish Historical Society</a>
Black-and-white scan of a historical title page reading “A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793; and a Refutation of Some Censures.” The text is set in centered serif type with varied font sizes. The imprint at the bottom notes publication in Philadelphia in 1794, reflecting early American printing and African American history.
Source: <a href="/products/early-american-imprints1639-1819" hreflang="en">Early American Imprints,1639-1819</a>
Color lithograph advertisement showing a young girl in a long blue dress and bonnet, holding a box labeled “Hires’ Root Beer” in one hand and a small glass of the beverage on a tray in the other. She stands against a soft, pastel background. Text at the bottom reads, “What! Never tasted Hires’ Root Beer? You’ve missed a treat. We keep it here.” The image reflects 19th-century advertising style and imagery.
Source: <a href="/products/american-broadsides-and-ephemera1749-1900" hreflang="en">American Broadsides and Ephemera,1749-1900</a>
Decorative engraved broadside of the Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen), featuring two allegorical female figures seated at the top and sides. One holds a staff and broken chains, the other a sword, with rays of light above a central tablet. Below, the French text appears in two columns labeled with a preamble and numbered articles, surrounded by ornamental borders.
Source: <a href="/products/us-congressional-serial-set-1817-1994" hreflang="en">U.S. Congressional Serial Set 1817-1994</a>
View More
Video Spotlight
See more historical scholarship in action
Conferences & Events
View full list of upcoming conferences
Three-panel promotional image for international conferences. Left: Santiago, Chile skyline with a tall glass skyscraper and snow-covered Andes mountains behind it (April 28–30, 2026). Center: colorful waterfront houses in Galway, Ireland at sunset (CONUL Conference, May 27–28, 2026). Right: Brighton, England street with pastel houses and a seaside Ferris wheel (BISA Conference, June 3–5, 2026).

Stay in Touch

Receive Readex news, invitations, and special offers

Sign Up

By clicking "Sign Up", you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.