Library: History: Western Civilization

Online resources

Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Collection of over 30,000 streaming videos on all subjects from the BBC, PBS, History Channel, National Geographic, and other producers. Includes documentaries, interviews, speeches, artistic performances, and instructional films.

Internet History Sourcebooks
Choose from Ancient, Medieval, and Modern sourcebooks, then use the subject links at the left to find historical documents, including many primary sources. From Fordham University.
Avalon Project
Law, political, and history texts from ancient times to the 21st century. From Yale Law.
Bartleby.com
Historically-significant documents including ancient Greek drama, Roman philosophy, early Christian texts, world folklore, epic poetry, Enlightenment essays, and more.
Library of Congress: Digital Collections
Texts, images, maps, and sound recordings from American and world history. See especially Global Gateway for international collections.
Turning the Pages Online Gallery
Explore rare manuscripts and illustrated books, dating back to the 4th century. From the British Library.
CIA: The World Factbook
Reports on the countries of the world, including geographic and some historical information.
British History (1066-present)
Introductory articles, images, timelines, and interactive features organized by era and geography. From the BBC.
The World of Dante
Annotated text (Italian with parallel English translation by Allen Mandelbaum) of The Divine Comedy, with illustrations from Doré, Botticelli, and others, plus other supplementary material.

Human Evolution
Text, videos, images, and interactive exercises on topics related to human evolution, plus new research. From the Smithsonian Institution.
Becoming Human
Interactive timeline, videos, glossary, news, and links to web resources. From the Institute of Human Origins.
Lascaux
Virtual tour of the Lascaux caves with detailed views of each painting, plus a timeline, commentary, and discovery and exploration history. XHTML version available if Flash is disabled.

Ancient History
Introductory articles, images, timelines, and interactive features organized by era and geography. From the BBC.
Ancient Civilizations
Articles, photos, and videos on prehistory and early civilizations. From National Geographic.
Perseus Digital Library: Greek and Roman Materials
Primary and secondary source texts from ancient Greece and Rome. (Primary texts in English translation, plus original Greek or Latin.) Includes works by Euclid, Galen, Herodotus, Plato, Thucycides, and more.

The Great War 1914-1918
Multimedia site about World War I, including sound, video, animation, maps, and text. From PBS.
Holocaust Encyclopedia
Reference articles on topics related to the Holocaust. From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
WWII: Witnessing the Holocaust
Collection of audio interviews and scanned documents from Holocaust witnesses, reporters, and survivors. From the BBC.
Cold War International History Project
Documents from the Cold War around the world. From the Wilson Center.

Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
Over 150,000 e-books available for online reading and for download to a computer or mobile device. Primarily scholarly and nonfiction titles.
Open Library This link opens in a new window
Diverse library of e-books scanned from print books, including a huge collection of classic texts. Read online or download as PDF or EPUB. Set up a free personal account to borrow up to 5 titles at a time.
ABC-CLIO This link opens in a new window
Full-text e-books including academic and reference titles and primary sources.
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Over 2,000 titles in the history category.