Digital Archival Collections
On this site, you can search The New York Public Library's vast holdings, initiate a research visit, submit a query to an archivist, and access digitized material. Look for the 
image to indicate that portions of the collection have been digitized. These materials are free to view and use, even without an NYPL library card.
The New York Public Library Digital Collections provide access to over 700,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more.
Center for Research Libraries Digital Collections
The Center for Research Libraries provides access to a number of open access digital archival collections including historical newspapers from around the globe, national and international government documents, pamphlet collections and more.
Use at home with a Library card and pin:
- Archives of Sexuality and Gender
Contains 51 digitized archival collections exploring LGBTQ history and culture since 1940. Includes three collections held by NYPL: The Mattachine Society of New York Records, 1951-1976; Gay Activists Alliance, 1970-1983; and ACT UP: The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Other collections originate from institutions like the Lesbian Herstory Archives and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Historical Society. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
- Gale Primary Sources
A full-text database that cross-searches Gale's primary source collections, including Eighteenth-Century Collections Online (ECCO), Nineteenth-Century Collections Online (NCCO), and Sabin Americana. This database was previously called Artemis Primary Sources. It contains content that was previously available through Gale NewsVault. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
- Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture
This digital archive contains over 2 million pages of primary resource materials that present a broad history of crime in the 19th Century, through manuscripts, books, broadsheets, and periodicals. During this time period, crime and criminals were followed intensely in the newspapers and served as a popular subject for literature and art. This archive covers topics such as the development of the police force, the reformation of the judicial system, the evolution of the penal system, forensic techniques, and popular detectives. Materials in this archive include: police force reports, trial transcripts, prison postcards, true crime fiction, Penny Dreadfuls, The National Police Gazette, and manuscript collections from famous police, criminals, and detectives. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
- Daily Life Through History
An archive of everyday life in all areas of the world from ancient times to the present day as shown in reference articles, illustrations, posters, cultural and government documents, speeches, letters, and personal narratives. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
- Indigenous Peoples: North America
Over 50 archival collections documenting the Native American experience from institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Association on American Indian Archives, and the U.S. National Archives. These digitized primary sources include manuscripts, monographs, newspapers, and photographs. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
- Sabin Americana Digital Archive (1500-1926)
Digital library of works written or published in the United States, as well as items printed elsewhere, that document the history of the Americas from 1492 to the mid-1800s. Based on Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive
A historical archive of several million cross-searchable pages of books, serials, supreme court records and briefs, and key manuscript collections from the United States, Great Britain, and France concerning debates of slavery and abolition, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Institution of Slavery, and the Age of Emancipation. Provides a context for further research through links to chronology, biographies, bibliographies, and websites. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
- Testaments to the Holocaust: Documents and Rare Printed Materials from the Wiener Library
From Archives Unbound. The online archive of the Wiener Library, London. This archive is the first to collect evidence of the Holocaust and of the activities of the Nazi party. From 1889-1965. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
Visual Materials
Available without a Library card:
The New York Public Library Digital Collections provide access to over 700,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more
Use at home with a Library card and pin: