Resources for Civics Projects
Digital Resources from the Library of Congress
LOC's Digital Resources
The Library of Congress's main digital collections portal — contains thousands of maps and photographs in the public domain, along with newspapers, manuscripts, audio, and more, all searchable and downloadable for classroom or research use.
Chronicling America
A resource for historical newspapers — search digitized newspaper pages from 1756–1963, or use the companion U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published from 1690 to the present. Jointly sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
In Custodia Legis
The Library of Congress's Law Library blog, covering historical legal topics and figures alongside current foreign, comparative, and international law coverage.
Digital Resources from the National Archives
DocsTeach
The National Archives' free online tool for teaching with primary source documents — letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, and videos spanning American history. Educators can build custom document-based activities (sequencing, mapping, compare-and-contrast, and more) or borrow ready-made ones from other teachers.
Websites for Creating Timelines and Story Maps
Northwestern University's Knight Lab - TimelineJS
TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables anyone to build visually rich, interactive timelines. Beginners can create a timeline using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet.
Knight Lab's Story Map JS
StoryMapJS is a free tool to help you tell stories on the web that highlight the locations of a series of events.
Federal Judicial Center
History of the Federal Judiciary
Resources that may be particularly useful for court history projects — includes histories of the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, District Courts, and the historic (1789–1911) Circuit Courts, plus dedicated sections on courthouses (a photo gallery and detailed descriptions), notable cases, historical exhibits and timelines, and further-study resources such as oral history guides and a bibliography of published court histories.
