Digital Public Library of America
dp.la
A unified search portal aggregating millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, and moving images from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States.
Why it is useful
Acts as a single front door to primary sources scattered across thousands of institutions that have never been digitized in one place before. For researchers and educators, it eliminates the tedious process of hunting institution by institution for historical materials. The timeline and map views turn archival research into a genuinely exploratory experience.
More in Archives
Other archives you might not have heard of.
- Anna's ArchiveOpen search engine for books, papers, and educational materials across major libraries.
- Internet ArchiveNon-profit digital library offering free access to millions of books, movies, music, software, and archived web pages.
- Sounds of the ForestCrowdsourced library of forest sounds from around the world, freely downloadable for any use.
- Internet ArcadeThe Internet Archive's collection of over 900 classic arcade games playable directly in the browser — including Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Space Invaders, and hundreds of more obscure titles.
- CalisphereCalifornia's digital collections portal with 1.5 million items from UC libraries, the California Historical Society, and hundreds of local archives.
- archive.phA webpage archiving service that creates permanent, searchable snapshots of any URL — including pages behind paywalls — stored independently of the original site, which may change or disappear.