American Memory Overview
     
  Connect to primary sources
 
     
     
  Library of Congress Primary Source Collections
American Memory is an online gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. This site from the Library of Congress (LOC) offers more than 12 million digital items from more than 130 historical collections. In the coming years, the National Digital Library Program plans to digitize more of the Library's unique American history collections. Access collection info. 		 
     
     
  Primary Source: obtained by, coming from, or based on direct observation or experience
  1. art
  2. artifacts
  3. autobiographies
  4. diaries
  5. interviews
  6. journals
  7. letters
  1. music (written & audio)
  2. news footage
  3. newspapers
  4. photographs
  5. poetry
  6. printed ephemera
  7. speeches
  
  Secondary Source: created by summarizing and interpreting information from various sources
  1. textbooks
  2. encyclopedias
  3. biographies
  4. monographs
  5. documentaries
  
     
     
  Exploring American Memory
  • You can locate items in the American Memory collections by using the Search or Browse functions.
  • Browse Function
    You can browse collections by topic, time period, source type, or place. To get a glimpse of the variety of information included in American Memory, click the List all collections link, then the Show collection description link.
  • Search Function
    You can search all collections, across selected collections, or in individual collections.
  
     
     
  Tips for Searching the Collections
  1. Searches in American Memory automatically look for all the keywords you enter; search symbols are NOT valid.
  2. When searching all collections or across selected collections, you are ONLY searching text in the bibliographic record.
  3. To search across selected collections, you must first browse a set of collections, then select the group of collections you wish to search.
  4. To search the full text of items in certain collections, you will need to repeat your search in an individual collection.
  5. Search by entering one or more keywords, but try to limit yourself to a maximum of 3-5 keywords.
  6. Remember to use search terms that are appropriate for the time period.
  7. If you can't find what you are looking for, try alternate keywords.
  8. If you still can't find what you are looking for, you might also try your search from another section of the LOC website, accessible from the LOC homepage.
  
     
     
  Reviewing Your Search Results  
 

Once your information is retrieved, you can choose from two views to preview the details.

List View provides titles of the primary source documents found and the collections within which items are contained. Note: the current display view appears in gray, the alternative display view is displayed with an underlined link.
 Gallery View provides thumbnail images or icons to help you quickly recognize the actual sources or source types. Note: DON'T use this view if you are using a dialup Internet connection.
 
 
 
     
     
  Finding Permanent URLs  
 
When you click an item found through a search of American Memory, the URL, or web address, you see in the address bar of your Internet browser is only a temporary link. You will NOT be able to return to the item using that URL. So, how do you get a “real” address for an item that you have found? Scroll down to the bottom of the bibliographic record; most times you will see the permanent link, or URL, listed. If there is no URL at the bottom of the bibliographic record, however, you will need to follow a few steps to locate the permanent link.
  • Chrome® PC users click Ctrl + U; Mac users click command + option (alt) + U.
  • Firefox® PC users click Ctrl + U; Mac users click command + U.
  • Internet Explorer® Click Alt to bring up the browser menu (IE 9), then View from the browser menu or click the arrow next to the Page drop-down menu (IE 8), then click Source.
  • Safari® PC users click Ctrl + Alt + U; Mac users click command + option (alt) + U.

Selecting the source means that you want to see the source code for the web page. A new window that has computer code in it will pop up (this is HTML language). Don’t panic! All you need to do is scroll to the very bottom of that window and look for a URL, possibly with text that reads similar to what is listed below.

  • !- - The following URL will result in display of this document - -!
  • http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID+@lit(hc00012b))

In the example to the right, you can see there is a web address that we have bolded and highlighted, which is the permanent link to the item. This link will NOT be bolded in the text file window, however, it is always located at the bottom of the page. To save the link, you can either write the address down, copy and paste it into a plain-text document, or bookmark the address. Directions for copying and pasting and bookmarking web addresses are listed below.
 
     
     
  Bookmarking a Permanent URL
Before you bookmark a URL, make sure you are bookmarking the permanent address of a collection item (see instructions above). Additionally, please remember that the default name for a web page is the web page title located in the upper left corner of your browser window. Because the web page titles of American Memory collection items usually consist of a series of letters and numbers, always consider renaming the address before bookmarking it.

Once you have copied the permanent web address from the source file window into the address bar of your Internet browser (see instructions above), follow the typical browser process for bookmarking a page.
  • Internet Explorer Click Favorites from the browser menu or the plus/star icon to the left of the tabs (IE 7, 8),then click Add to Favorites. Select a convenient folder and rename the file with an easily identifiable name, then click the OK button.
  • Chrome Click the star icon to the left of the URL in the address bar. Select a convenient folder and rename the file with an easily identifiable name, then click the OK button.
  • Safari Click the plus button to the left of the URL in the address bar. Select a convenient folder and rename the file with an easily identifiable name, then click the OK button.
  • Firefox Click Bookmarks from the browser menu, then click Bookmark this page or click the star icon to the right of the URL in the address bar. Select a convenient folder and rename the file with an easily identifiable name, then click the OK button.
  
     
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