Unlock key Primary Sources and provide a first-hand look at pivotal moments in history
ProQuest History Vault is an award-winning, continuously growing digitized collection of unique manuscript and archival materials, curated in alignment with the curriculum and research trends. Spanning organizational records, declassified government documents, diaries, official correspondence, personal letters, business ledgers and much more, these materials allow students to examine both widely studied topics and lesser known events through the lens of primary sources. History Vault collections are available in partnership with museums and institutions who entrust ProQuest to digitize their valuable assets with the highest quality and care.
Major archival collections allow researchers to investigate a wide range of primary sources, opening new avenues for discovery and insights, while students examine the important collections to develop research and critical thinking skills.
At a glance
Aligned to Curriculum
History Vault primary resource collections are curated in alignment with curriculum and emerging trends in research
Partnerships
Rare documents selected in partnership with prestigious archives and organizations – such as the NAACP, Chicago History Museum and government records and more – many which are digitally available only from ProQuest
Rich Discovery
Detailed indexing and rich metadata mean relevant information is easily discovered and accessed by all users
Making Silent Voices Heard
Inspire deeper research and learning about historical figures and events, including critical social movements like the Black freedom struggle and women’s suffrage, through the perspectives of people who were there
Customer Resources
View the ProQuest History Vault Brochure
Detailed list of included collections
View the ProQuest History Vault Timeline
Gain insight into the seamless integration of all the History Vault modules
Find training and additional informational resources
And growing
Digitized pages
Coverage
Subject themes
ProQuest History Vault impressed me deeply. I use a lot of historical databases, but this one stands out as one of the best and most user-friendly I've encountered. There are still so many hidden histories that await the light of day, and the curious eyes of young historians.
Andrew E. Hunt, Professor of History, University of Waterloo and author of The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (NYU Press, 2001)
History Vault Collections
Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War
Features Petitions concerning race and slavery, Southern Plantation records, records on industrial slavery and Civil War and Reconstruction Era records.
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Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century
This category consists of the NAACP Papers and Federal Government Records, Organizational Records and Personal Papers regarding the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century.
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Workers, Labor Unions, Progressives, and Radicals
Features collections on American workers and labor from the late 19th through 20th Century, and records of the Socialist Party of America.
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Latino History
History Vault's coverage of social movements and issues of race and ethnicity expands in this category with coverage of Latino History. This category opens with one module, Latino Civil Rights during the Carter Administration: Records of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs.
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Women’s Studies
The Women's Studies modules in History Vault consist of records of suffrage organizations and other women's rights organizations; personal papers of women's rights advocates, many of whom were involved in the suffrage movement; and records on women at work during World War II.
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Native American History
American Indians and the American West consists of one module on American Indians and the American West from 1809-1971. This module contains several collections focusing on the interaction between American Indians and the U.S. government in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
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Revolutionary War and Early America
This category consists of one module featuring collections from the Massachusetts Historical Society. The module contains 26 collections focused on the Colonial era, the Revolutionary War, and the early national period. Highlights of the Revolutionary War era are the Artemas Ward Papers, Hancock Family Papers, and the Revere Family Papers.
American Politics and Society
American Politics and Society consists of a wide range of 19th and 20th-century material.
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International Relations and Military Conflicts
Collections in the International Relations and Military Conflicts category span from 1911-1975, offering a detailed view of U.S. foreign relations during the period from the years immediately before the outbreak of World War I through to the end of the Vietnam War.
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One of [History Vault’s] best features is the ability to search across the entire database. I would not have known to search for materials within the A. Philip Randolph Papers, for example, for Randolph was uninvolved in the VEP. And yet, through my keywords search, VEP related materials popped up in his collection.
Evan Faulkenbury, Assistant Professor of History, SUNY Cortland
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