LibGuides: Open Educational Resources: History

History Resources

This is a selection of openly licensed textbooks that has been created for free use in courses. These resources may be adopted for use as classroom text, modified to create new texts, or used as a supplemental learning tool to aid in understanding key concepts.

U.S. History

The American Yawp edited by Joseph L. Locke; Ben Wright
The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. ... All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms. Licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA.
History in the Making by Catherine Locks; Sarah K. Mergel; Pamela Thomas Roseman; Tamara Spike

An open, peer-reviewed textbook that presents an overview of U.S. history from before European contact through Reconstruction. Licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA.
U. S. History by P. Scott Corbett; Volker Janssen; John M. Lund; Todd Pfannestiel; Sylvie Waskiewicz; Paul Vickery
An open, reviewed textbook from OpenStax that is intended to act as an introductory U.S. history text. It seeks to present U.S. history from both a top-down and bottom-up approach. Licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0.

World History

Western Civilization: A Concise History by Christopher Brooks

An open, internet-based text map from LibreTexts that covers covers the origins of civilization in Mesopotamia c. 8,000 BCE through the early Middle Ages in Europe c. 1,000 CE. All content created by LibreTexts is licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA, unless otherwise noted.
World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 by Eugene Berger; George L. Israel; Charlotte Miller; Brian Parkinson; Andrew Reeves; Nadejda Williams

World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 covers such cultures, states, and societies as Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Dynastic Egypt, India’s Classical Age, the Dynasties of China, Archaic Greece, the Roman Empire, Islam, Medieval Africa, the Americas, and the Khanates of Central Asia. Licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0.

U.S. History Courses

Open Yale Courses
Yale University has published a number of open courses that address U.S. history. Most contain syllabi, as well as videos of the lectures given as part of the course. Unless otherwise noted, most of the lectures and course material produced by Yale are licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0. Courses include:

The American Revolution, by Professor Joanne Freeman
The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: 1845-1877, by Professor David W. Blight

World History Courses

Open Yale Courses
Yale University has published a number of open courses that address European History. Most contain syllabi, as well as videos of the lectures given as part of the course. Unless otherwise noted, most of the lectures and course material produced by Yale are licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0. Courses include:

The Early Middle Ages, 284-1000, by Professor Paul Freedman
Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600, by Professor Frank Snowden
European Civilization, 1648-1945, by Professor John Merriman
France Since 1871, by Professor John Merriman

Saylor Academy Open Courses
Saylor Academy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free and open online courses to anyone who wishes to learn. Most courses include readings, assignments, and quizzes, and some links to outside content. All content authored by Saylor Academy is made available under a Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0 Unported License. Topics Include:

General History Resources

TeachingHistory.org
TeachingHistory.org is a national clearinghouse of educational resources that are made openly available. Unless otherwise noted, the site is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 Unported license.

U.S. History Resources

American Government 3e
An open, reviewed textbook from OpenStax that provides an introduction and overview of the United States government. Licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0.
Civil War Interactive Poster
An interactive website that uses primary source materials to educate students on the Civil War. Unless otherwise noted, the site is licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.
Sage American History
An open website that offers mini, chronological lessons on key events in U.S. history. The site is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 Unported license.
USHistory.org
USHistory.org contains thousands of pages covering a wide array of topics related to U.S. history. Many of the historic documents are in the public domain. All other items are individually licensed.

World History Resources

Animated Atlas of African History
A visual map that allows students to trace political developments throughout the history of the African continent, from 1879-2002. The atlas is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 United States license.

The collections below are repositories containing a variety of primary source materials, and each collection contains its own individual license(s) that must be adhered to. For additional material types, see the drop down menu to the left.

Digital Public Library of America	The DPLA is a digital library of millions of resources held in libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each item is licensed individually, so be sure to pay attention to the specific permissions of use granted to you.
Europeana	Europeana is a digital collection of more than 50 million items held in libraries and museums across Europe. Each item is licensed individually, so be sure to pay attention to the specific permissions of use granted to you.
Google	Google's 'Advanced Search' feature allows results to be limited to openly-licensed resources.
Library of Congress Digital Collections	The Library of Congress has an extensive online digital collection of primary source resources. The copyright permissions for use vary according to the individual item.
New York Public Library Digital Collection	The New York Public Library has an extensive digital collection of more than 740,000 items that have been digitized from the library's collections. Items primarily include still images, texts, music, and other recordings. Permissions for use vary according to the individual item.
U.S. National Archives	The United States National Archives acts as the nation's record keeper, keeping important legal or historical documents and materials for preservation. Most of the documents and images contained within the archive, unless otherwise noted, are in the public domain.
Wikimedia Commons	Wikimedia Commons is a collection of nearly 50 million freely usable media files, which are contributed by individual users. Each item is individually licensed by the author who submits it to the collection.
World Digital Library	The World Digital Library is a project started by the U.S. Library of Congress, in conjunction with UNESCO. It contains primary resources from a wide variety of countries and cultures in a multilingual format, free of charge. Licensing is dicated by the individual contributing partners.

**Note: Not all results returned are guaranteed to be openly licensed. Pay special attention to check the licenses on each item you intend to use.