American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
This is a great resource for finding primary sources (sources that document events that happened as they occurred) such as diaries, letters, and journals of historical figures, famous and ordinary.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
