United States History

The Historic Buildings of Ann Arbor collection includes over 200 images and historical information on houses, churches, commercial, and other local buildings in Ann Arbor. From Historic Buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Susan Wineberg and Marjorie Reade, c.1992, Ann Arbor Historical Foundation, Ann Arbor Historic District Commission and Cornelia E. Corselius collection, 1909 and undated, Bentley Historical Library.

The Pictorial History of Ann Arbor collection includes over 400 historical images of Ann Arbor from 1824 to 1974, plus searching and browsing access to the text of The Pictorial History of Ann Arbor, 1824-1974, edited by J. Fraser Cocks, III, c.1974, Michigan Historical Collections, The University of Michigan.

Students on Site is designed to use local history and geography as a site of innovative teaching and learning for students and teachers at all three education levels. This archive is a collection of historical and contemporary materials such as maps, photographs, personal letters, and government records.

This is the searchable collection of photographs from the Archives of the Ypsilanti Historical Society. Photographs date from the 1850s to the present. Images included cover people, buildings, homes, events, celebrations and other subjects.

The Atlanta Constitution gives today’s researchers a vivid, first-hand account of one of the most turbulent periods in American history: post-Civil War reconstruction. This is an ideal primary resource for studying the feelings and reactions of Southerners on the passage of the 14th Amendment, the purging of “Rebels” from the legislature, the giving—then denying—of the right to vote to former slaves, and the passing of economic policies that changed the South and the United States forever.

This unique resource also captures the history of commercial giant Coca-Cola® in articles and display advertisements. It follows the development of baseball in America, including the Southern League’s Atlanta Crackers, sometimes called the “Yankees of the south” due to the team’s winning ways. The Atlanta Constitution also gives researchers the opportunity to read the original Uncle Remus stories that featured tricky Brer Rabbit and his foe, Brer Fox. Captured and written by Constitution journalist Joel Chandler Harris, these African folktales later inspired Walt Disney’s Song of the South and Warner Bros. cartoon character Bugs Bunny.

Digital archive of records documenting U.S. and British relations with a variety of Asian Nations. The collection contains U.S. State Department consular and diplomatic records; British Foreign Office political correspondance; missionary correspondance and journals; and socio-economic journals. Collections in the archive include: 

• British Foreign Office: Japan Correspondence, 1856-1905
• British Foreign Office: Japan Correspondence, 1906-1913: Dominance of the Genro
• British Foreign Office: Japan Correspondence, 1914-1923: Emergence of Japan as a Pacific Power
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Amoy, China, 1844-1906
• Despatches from US Consuls in Antung, Manchuria, China, 1904-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Bangkok, Siam, 1856-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Batavia, Java, Netherlands East Indies, 1818-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Canton, China, 1790-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Chefoo, China, 1863-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Chinkiang, China, 1864-1902
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Chunking, China, 1896-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Foochow, China, 1849-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Hakodate, Japan, 1856-1878
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Hangchow, China, 1904-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Hankow, China, 1861-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Hong Kong, 1844-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Iloilo, Philippine Islands, 1876-1886
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Kanagawa, Japan, 1861-1897
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Macao, China, 1849-1869
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Manila, Philippine Islands, 1817-1899
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Mukden, Manchuria, China, 1904-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Nagasaki, Japan, 1860-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Nanking, China, 1902-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Newchwang, Manchuria, China, 1865-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Ningpo, China, 1853-1896
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Osaka and Hiogo (Kobe), Japan, 1868-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Padang, Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies, 1853-1898
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Saigon, Vietnam, 1889-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Seoul, Korea, 1886-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Shanghai, China, 1847-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Singapore, Straits Settlements, 1833-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Swatow, China, 1860-1881
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Tientsin, China, 1868-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Consuls in Yokohama, Japan, 1897-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Ministers to China, 1843-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Japan, 1855-1906
• Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Korea, 1883-1905
• Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Siam, 1882-1906
• History of the Philippine Insurrection Against the United States, 1899-1903, and Documents Relating to the War Department Project for Publishing of History, 1899-1903
• Minutes of Treaty Conferences between U.S. and Japanese Representatives, and Treaty Drafts, 1872
• Missionary and Socio-Economic Journals
• Missionary Files: Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Correspondence, 1846-1912 (China, Japan, Korea)
• Missionary Files: Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Correspondence, 1912-1949 (China, Japan, Korea)
• Notes from the Chinese Legation in the United States to the Department of State, 1868-1906
• Notes from the Japanese Legation in the United States to the Department of State, 1858-1906
• Notes from the Korean Legation in the United States to the Department of State, 1883-1906
• Notes from the Siamese Legation in the United States to the Department of State, 1876-1906
• Records Relating to the United States Surveying Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean, 1852-1863.
• Selected Records of the U.S. Consulate in Bangkok, Siam, 1856-1912
• Selected Records of the U.S. Legation in China, 1849-1931
• Selected Records of the U.S. Legation in Japan, 1855-1912

The March of Time first aired in March 1931 as a CBS radio series, in which the news of the day was dramatized using professional actors. In 1935 it was adapted for motion picture production and through its final airing in 1951 was one of the most notable newsreel and television series of the early 20th Century. A cross between confrontational journalism and docudrama, The March of Time series was provocative, amusing and sometimes outrageous. The 1938 release of "Inside Nazi Germany" was one of the most controversial films ever shown in American theaters.

The most unusual feature of the films was the re-creation or staging of events that had taken place, but had not been photographed by newsreel cameras. The producers argued that they had the same right to clarify news events with staged scenes as a re-write man on a newspaper had with words to make sense out of a reporter's notes. They used professional and amateur actors to impersonate famous people on the screen and then blended the staged scenes with newsreel footage.

The films were digitally re-mastered by HBO Archives.

The Detroit Free Press published its first edition before Michigan entered statehood and when wild animals outnumbered the people living in the city. Its editor assigned a writer to walk the waterfront and record the shipping news each day, creating the first news “beat.” The Free Press also was the first U.S. newspaper to print a regular Sunday edition and the first to publish court testimony. It sent reporters to Civil War battlefields to describe the action, set up a Washington bureau to report on politics, and was the first American newspaper published in Europe when it began a London edition in 1881.

The Detroit Free Press witnessed the arrival of former slaves and the influx of Polish, German, Irish, and Italian immigrants to Michigan. It watched the mining and timber industries bring industry and wealth to the state. The publication witnessed the birth of the automotive industry and products such as Vernors Ginger Ale and Faygo pop. And, it followed Detroit Tiger’s baseball player Ty Cobb as he set record after record.

This Great Lakes Maritime Database was initially funded by the Library of Michigan in 2005 with a collaborative grant by Alpena County Library and the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. It contains the 19th century C. Patrick Labadie collection as well as an ever growing collection of 20th century data and pictures.

The Manuscripts Division Image Bank contains a selection of materials from the William L. Clements Library's rich collection of early Americana. These images are visual supplements to various Manuscripts Division projects and are not intended to be comprehensive or representative of the whole of the Clements' diverse collection of manuscripts, printed materials, and graphic items.