Primary source collections
Remember to always ask of your primary sources: Why do you want to use this? What will you learn from it?
- Forest History Society: Digital CollectionsThis Research Portal provides access to over 45,000 citations to published items on environmental history topics, over 30,000 historic photographs, U.S. Forest Service history materials, descriptions of nearly 8,000 archival collections from over 450 North American repositories, and much more.
- Gale Environmental History This link opens in a new windowHistorical documents related to the environmental history of land use, wildlife management, urban development, forestry policy, colonial rule, and legislation across the globe.
- DPLA: Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and transcripts)
Aggregates millions of digital items from major libraries and collections across the country, including Carleton College. - ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new window
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In the "American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971" collection, includes selected documents from Bureau and Office Of Indian Affairs, US Army, Attorney General, and Department Of Interior. - Territorial Papers of the United States, 1764-1953 This link opens in a new window
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Digital collection of pre-statehood documents including Native American negotiations and treaties, official correspondence with the federal government, military records, judicial proceedings, population data, financial statistics, land records, and more. - Climate Science and Sustainability: Global Origins of Modern Environmentalism, 1957-1995 This link opens in a new windowJournal articles and reports collected and translated by the CIA covering the rise of modern climate science and environmentalism during the second half of the 20th century.
- Environmental Justice Resources from Health & Human ServicesA variety of resources from HHS related to EJ initiatives across multiple agencies.
- Water Rights & Resources This link opens in a new window
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Content is dedicated to an understanding of the complexity of state and federal laws that govern all aspects of water in society, from its municipal use to restoring its pristine condition. Collecting congressional documents, books, legislative histories on major legislation, and Supreme Court briefs on related cases, this collection touches on a wide range of water issues. Topics covered include irrigation, hydropower, water conservation, drinking water quality, and tribal water rights.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) / National Park Service (Executive) / Forest Service (USDA)
- EPA Web ArchiveSnapshots of epa.gov going back to 1997 through the Wayback Machine.
- EPA DataLists various means to access EPA data.
- EPA EnvirofactsData from across EPA including air, water, waste and other data.
- EPA @ National Archives (Record Group 412)Search within the records of the EPA in the National Archives (RG 412). Index of the collection.
- NPSHistory.comAn independent website of curated primary and secondary sources about the National Park Service. Compiled by two former NPS employees. As always, use with discretion.
- NPS @ National Archives (Record Group 79)Canned search for material that has been digitized from RG 79 (National Park Service archives). Index of the collection.
- National Forest Service Library
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Find current publications from the U.S. Forest Service and browse Digital Collections of historical photos and reports, including plans and impact statements. - EPA National Online FOIA LibraryFind frequently requested files, including for Regional Online FOIA Libraries. For instance, select " Region 5" for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan documents.
State-specific resources
- National Conference of State LegislaturesAn excellent meta level overview of policies and legislation across the 50 states.
- State Agency Databases ProjectLinks to the agency websites for individual states.
- Municipal Code indexLinks to county-level ordinances.
- The Book of the StatesCall Number: Online & JK2403 .B62More information in Catalyst...
Published annually by the Council of State Governments, this compendium is the definitive resource for what's happening year-by-year, at a glance but in rich detail all the same, in state legislatures. The library has 1937-current, with the most recent issue in Reference. Also now available online.
- HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
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Traditional legal materials (reported cases, statutes, government regulations, academic law reviews, commercially produced law journals and magazines, and classic treatises), historical, governmental, and political documents, legislative debates, legislative and executive branch reports, world constitutions, international treaties, military history, and reports and other documents of international organizations.
Allotment Maps
- Reservations and Allotment Maps (Library of Congress)Part of: Native American Spaces: Cartographic Resources at the Library of Congress. Includes short description of Allotment Maps, 3 digitized maps, and citations for others.
- Digitized Allotment Maps (National Archives)Over 850 digitized Allotment Maps from the Department of the Interior - Office of Indian Affairs (RG 75). Select the High Resolution PDF (usually Image 2 for each item) to see full details.
- "Indian allotment map" (Library of Congress)Digitized allotment maps in the Library of Congress from a search for "Indian allotment map".
- Pine Ridge Land Information SystemThe Pine Ridge Land Information System (PRLIS) is a web-based land information system designed to assist members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe to access information about their lands and resources. Includes layers for: Parcel Layer (2010), County Plat Maps (2017), Original Allotment (1904), Bennett County Homestead Map (1910), Average Life Expectancy (2013), Historic Treaty Boundaries (1851, 1868, 1877, 1910), Range Units (2012), Badlands Bombing Range (1942), CDC Social Vulnerability Index (2014), Three Mile Buffer around major towns on Pine Ridge, and an 1862 map of the United States. Also includes links to Bureau of Land Management Patent Database.
- U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994: Maps This link opens in a new window
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The Serial Set Maps collection is a collection of more than 70,000 maps printed as part of the Congressional Serial Set. Try searching using SUBJECT = "Indian lands".
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- The Living New Deal
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A free website with primary resources about the Works Progress Administration, from a non-profit "building a national database of information, documents, photographs, and personal stories about the public works made possible by the New Deal." Search by state or city, or by WPA program, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) or Federal Writers’ Project. - WPA: Primary Sources, Archives & Records (Minnesota History Center)
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An overview of primary resources from the WPA available from the Minnesota History Center. Most of these collections are housed at the Center, but many photographs are available online. - Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938Contains digitized versions of images and narratives collected as part of the Federal Writers' Project.
- American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940This collection of life histories consists of approximately 2,900 documents, compiled and transcribed by more than 300 writers from 24 states, working on the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program that was part of the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936 to 1940.
- The Louisiana Works Progress Administration (LWPA) Slave Narrative collection [1940s, Southern University]The Louisiana Works Progress Administration (LWPA): Slave Narratives collection consists of 50 first-person accounts of originals and some reproductions of Ex-slaves Interviews. These narratives were collected and dated in the 1940s as part of the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Works Projects Administration (WPA). This collection of narratives is exclusively from the State of Louisiana.
