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.
Filters
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American Broadsides and Ephemera
Rare printed documents that illuminate the history and culture of earlier Americans. Find over 30,000 searchable images of printed items including confessions, menus, playbills, music programs, and more from 1760-1900. *Chrome browser not supported.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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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.
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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.
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America's Historical Newspapers (formerly Early American Newspapers, Series I 1690-1876)
Search early American newspapers from all 50 states published across three centuries. Find cover-to-cover reproductions of over 750 fully searchable newspapers from 1690 to the recent past. *Chrome browser not supported.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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America's Obituaries & Death Notices - Heritage Hub
A collection of newspaper obituaries and death notices from around the country.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Ancestry Library Edition
Provides the most genealogical information currently available online.Available To: Onsite at all Free Library of Philadelphia locations
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Archive of Americana
The comprehensive historical collections that form the Archive of Americana contain books, pamphlets, newspapers, government documents and ephemera.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800)
Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans. The definitive resource for every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America. *Chrome browser not supported.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)
Covering every aspect of American life during the early decades of the United States, this rich primary source collection provides full-text access to the 36,000 books, pamphlets and broadsides published from 1801 to 1819. *Chrome browser not supported.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gale in Context | Middle School (formerly Research in Context)
Gale in Context | Middle School provides support for middle grade students working on papers and projects. Includes full-text magazine & news articles, multimedia, biographies, and primary sources.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gale In Context: U.S. History
U.S. History In Context provides a complete overview of U.S. history that covers the most-studied events, issues and current information.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gale In Context: World History
A multicultural, global resource that moves chronologically from antiquity to the present and geographically around the globe, to ensure that the events, movements and individuals that defined and shaped our world are covered with a sense of balance.Available To: All Free Library locations and internet with authentication.
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Gale OneFile | High School Edition (formerly InfoTrac Student Edition)
Content for high school students from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and rich media (images, audio, video) covering a range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political science, sports, and environmental studies.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Gun Regulation and Legislation in America
This HeinOnline collection brings together more than 550 periodicals, legislative histories, and government documents on gun regulation. It includes an extensive bibliography and a balanced selection of external resources for further research.Available To: All Free Library locations.
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HeritageQuest Online
Expanding collection of research materials to help you trace your family lineage.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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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 PostAvailable To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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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 experiencesAvailable To: All Free Library locations. Please visit one of our locations for access.
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Newsbank Selected America's Historical Newspapers
Articles from selected American newspapers covering many topics from 1690-1922.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Philadelphia Evening Telegraph
Find full text issues of this afternoon daily published between 7/1/1864 and 6/30/1871 online here. These and additional years from 6/30/1871 to 6/28/1918 are available on microfilm at Parkway Central Library. Many coverage gaps.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Philadelphia Inquirer Historical Archive (formerly Civil War Archive)
Full text of the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1829-1922. *Chrome browser not supported.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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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.
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Salem Press Reference
Searchable database of reference titles developed by Salem PressAvailable To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Serial Set Maps
The more than 70,000 maps in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set include great atlases, small individual maps, triangulation surveys, weekly weather maps, and more. Covers the years of publication 1817-1994. *Chrome browser not supported.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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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.
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Timelines from World Book Online
Timelines offers hundreds of timelines across eight broad topics, which cover various time periods in history or span the life of historical public figures. Users can also create their own timelines from scratch. (Recommended grades 5+)Available To:
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U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1817-1980)
The bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives constitutes a rich source of primary source material on all aspects of American history. *Chrome browser not supported.Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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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.