Databases

Use our subscription databases to find citations and full text articles. To get started, just click on the database that you would like to search. If you're outside the library, you may need to enter your library card number and PIN in order to access the database.

• Digital Media
• Digital Learning
• Free Library Catalog

Awarded “Best Library Digital Resources” by Philadelphia Magazine

• American State Papers, 1789-1838

  The essential record of the first decade of the United States. Browse legislative and executive documents of the first 14 U.S. Congresses and find information on the major events that shaped the Early Republic. *Chrome browser not supported.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • African American
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • History

• America's Historical Imprints

  Explore centuries of history through books, pamphlets, & other material on culture and daily life. Includes: American Broadsides and Ephemera and Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans & Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker. *Chrome browser not supported.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • African American
  • Literature
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • History

• Historical Newspapers - Black Newspapers

  Primary source material from ten historic Black newspapers, including the Chicago Defender, The Baltimore Afro-American, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Sentinel, Atlanta Daily World, and the Cleveland Call and Post

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • African American
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • History

• HistoryMakers Digital Archive

  HistoryMakers Digital Archive is the nation's largest African American video oral history collection with high-quality primary source content, with fully searchable transcripts, from thousands of people from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences

  Available To: All Free Library locations. Please visit one of our locations for access.

  • African American
  • Biography and Autobiography
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • Children
  • Digital Media
  • History

• Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001)

  Full access to the oldest continuously published daily Black newspaper in the United States.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • African American
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • Philadelphia
  • Philadelphia History
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • History

• Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture, and Law

  This HeinOnline collection brings together essential legal materials on slavery in the U.S. and the English-speaking world. It includes nearly 2,000 titles with every statute and case on slavery, and hundreds of historic texts and modern histories.

  Available To: All Free Library locations.

  • African American
  • Business and Economics
  • Government Information
  • Law
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • History

denotes POWER Library resource

This project is made possible in part by Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and through Library Access Funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, Department of Education, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor.