Resources and archives

Primary sources

The heart of the archive is its collection of original documents, almost all drawn from the public domain. Reading a source directly, rather than only through a summary, is the best way to understand how historians work.

Our primary-source reading packets pair each document with an introduction, a set of guiding questions, and a note on its origin. Samples in the current catalog include the Code of Hammurabi, excerpts from Herodotus, the Magna Carta of 1215, the logs of early navigators, and the resolutions of twentieth-century international bodies.

When a translation is provided, the archive states that plainly and names the text from which it was drawn. Where a passage has been lightly adapted for classroom use, as with the paraphrase of Pericles' funeral oration, that fact is always labeled rather than concealed.

Dated events timeline

This table records representative events by century and region. It is a working reference, not a complete chronicle, and it is updated as new material enters the collection.

When citing any item from the archive, use the following format so that readers can locate the source:

Maps and atlases

Geography is inseparable from history. Empires rise along rivers, trade follows passes and ports, and migrations reshape continents. The map below is a stylized illustration of the world's continents used in our orientation exercises; full historical atlases are available in the reading room.

Map literacy means learning to read more than location. A historical map also shows political boundaries that change over time, trade routes that carry goods and ideas, and physical features that shape settlement. When you study a map, ask what it includes, what it omits, and whose perspective it represents. Maps, like all sources, must be read critically.

Key historical figures

Click any card to flip it and reveal the figure's dates and main achievement. Your progress is tracked locally so you can see how many figures you have reviewed.

0 figures studied