The United States government houses and provides access to an extremely rich trove of primary source material for the study of U.S. history, government and political science. Please see below for some of our favorite U.S. government primary source collections!
Please take a look at the following government websites for primary sources on a wide variety of topics:
Online portal to the US government!
National clearinghouse for American demographic and economic data.
The Library of Congress is the nation's largest library and serves as the research library for the United States congress.
Explore American history through national records, documents, histories, photographs and other archival sources.
The online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives.
Please see the following sites that provide primary source materials for U.S. foreign policy and relations:
Department responsible for carrying out U.S. foreign policy and international relations.
Office of the Historian-U.S. Department of State
The Office of the Historian is responsible for the preparation and publication of the official documentary history of U.S. foreign policy.
The Central Intelligence Agency is reponsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world
Demographics, economic and employment data:
Explore economic, demographic, population, and educational data (replacement for American Fact Finder).
All things related to employment, benefits, working conditions.
Analyzes essential labor statistics such as employment/unemployment, compensation, productivity and working conditions.
Educational Data and Statistics:
Collects data on US schools, and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Collects, analyzes and makes available data related to education in the U.S. and other nations.
Criminal Justice Data and Statistics:
Online portal to DOJ's core functions, including office of the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorneys.
Federal Bureau of Investigation's online portal.
Collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.