Thousands of documentaries–both feature length films and television programs–about history, religion, philosophy, and many other subjects. The collection also includes entertainment films and television series. To find history documentaries, browse under Subjects > Social Sciences.
Author: Ross Geoffrey
HPNL’s New Head Speaks with Scott Beatty on WDWS News Hour
Our new unit head, Celestina Savonius-Wroth, sat down with Scott Beatty on the WDWS News Hour to talk about history and newspapers and why someone might want to visit the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library: go.illinois.edu/csw. No longer available.
Migration to New Worlds: The Century of Immigration, 1800-1924
Records documenting the emigration of people from Europe and Asia to the United States, Canada, and Australasia. Document types include letters, diaries, scrapbooks, artwork, photographs, maps, oral histories, pamphlets, ship logbooks, realia, legal papers, and government documents, including all 195 volumes of the British National Archives Record Series CO 384 (War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Emigration Original Correspondence).
Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture
Over 4,000 Luso-Brazilian pamphlets, mostly from the 19th century.
African American Communities
Newspapers, periodicals, oral histories, organizational records, personal papers, pamphlets, and ephemera that document the history of African American communities in Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, New York, and North Carolina. Highlights of the collection include the Chicago Urban League records (1917-1985), the Town of Pullman records (1876-1919), the Lea Demarest Taylor papers on housing and race relations (1893-1966), the Urban League of St. Louis records, and an extensive oral history collection. Collection is organized around five broad themes: Desegregation, Urban renewal and housing problems, Civil rights activities and protests, Race relations and community integration, and African American culture.
Indigenous Peoples: North America
Books, newspapers, periodicals, manuscript sources, and photographs that document American Indian experience in North America, based on 13 previously published microfilm collections: Oregon Province Archives of the Society of Jesus Indian Language Collection: The Alaska Native Languages; Pacific Northwest Tribes Missions Collection of the Oregon Province Archives of the Society of Jesus; Association on American Indian Archives; Records of the Creek Factory of the Office of Indian Trade of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1795‐1 821; Citizenship Case Files of the U.S. Court in Indian Territory, 1896‐1897; Great Nemaha Agency Collection, 1866‐1873; The Indian School Journal; The Javitch Collection at University of Alberta; Letters Sent by the Indian Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, 1849‐1903; Moravian Mission among the Indians of North America; Papers of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft; Papers of the Society of American Indians, 1906‐1946; and the W. S. Prettyman Photograph Collection.
Smithsonian Collections Online
A collection of books from both world’s fairs and state fairs during the period 1834-1918, digitized from a 174 reel microfilm set; records from the Smithsonian Institution and the United States National Museum documenting its in world’s fairs and international expositions during the period 1867-1940; two collections of world’s fair memorabilia from the period 1851-1940; two collections of publications by and about world’s fairs during the period 1843-1922; a collection of agricultural trade literature from the period 1820-1926; and a collection of trade catalogs and miscellaneous trade literature from the period 1850-1926.
Associated Press Archives
Documents selected from the Associated Press Corporate Archives. Collection includes 26 Associated Press Directories from the period 1894-1944; almost 2,000 issues of the Associated Press’s internal staff bulletin from the period 1942-2005; Over 200 issues of the A.P. Log, an irregularly published bulletin that described the activities of the A.P., and distributed to member newspapers from the period 1935-2002; over 1,000 issues of miscellaneous serial publications that were distributed internally from the period 1945-2004; 89 issues of the Service Bulletin, an in-house periodical from the period 1904-1927; the Angus M. Thuermer Papers, 1938-1947; the Conrad C. Fink Papers, 1957-1967; the George Bria Papers, 1945-2002; the Haldore Hanson Papers, 1934-1944; the Moses Sperry Beach Papers, 1848-1914; records of the Washington, D.C. bureau from the period 1938-2009; 22 editions of the A.P. Stylebook, from the earliest edition 1953 to 2000; News Eepartment Circulars communicating A.P. policy to field reporters, from the period 1928-1990; the A.P. News Features collection from the period 1944-1993; the News in Pictures collection from the period 1939-1944; miscellaneous publications from 1894-1955; miscellaneous writings about the Associated Press from the period 1874-1985; and wire copy from the following city bureaus: Atlanta, 1949-1994; Austin, 1959-1996; Birmingham, 1959-1988; Chicago, 1931-1991; Dallas, 1946-1993; Miami, 1952-2004; New Orleans, 1957-1995; Pittsburgh, 1961-2000; and San Francisco, 1934-1999.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records
Online access to 37 previously-microfilmed archival collections, including East St. Louis Riot of 1917; Martin Luther King Jr. FBI Files, Parts I and II; Black Workers in the Era of the Great Migration, 1916-1929; Several series of records on civil rights during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon Carter, and Bush administrations; and more.
TRIAL: Selections from the NAACP “Special Subjects” Files
Online access to 11 previously-microfilmed archival collections, from the NAACP’s “Special Subject Files” series. Covers the years 1912 to 1972. More information.
TRIAL OVER.