Where Hotties Study History: A Guide

Elexus Jionde
May 19
3 min read

Updated: May 22

Are you writing an essay? Do you want to better articulate your thoughts during online discourse by enriching your arguments with cold, hard facts? Do you just want to know where to study history?

I've got you covered! People often ask where I get my sources from, so here's a starting list of fourteen to get you going. This is in addition to books, modern news sites, and finding retro footage on youtube to draw from!

Archive.Org- This site has a BUNCH of free books, videos, website captures from the olden days of the internet, and more. It’s essentially a library that I always check before buying something
Various college archives- Pretty much any major research institution has digitized archives that can provide excellent regional history lessons and resources. You can directly go to college websites, but there are databases that list out collections, like the attached link. Navigating these pages takes a bit of finesse because things are organized differently on each site. Try out a bunch of keywords in different time periods and regions. You can go in looking for nothing, clicking aimlessly, or you can search specifically by subject. Check out the Cornell Hip Hop History Archive.
Public Library Collections— Similar to above, except you’re dealing with state library collections. These tend to be a bit more organized thematically, and you’re always bound to find some fun photos and maps. Check out what your city/state has to offer and expand your search to include other locales that interest you. The attached link showcases sets of primary sources.
Public Museum Collections— I’m currently obsessed with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture collection, but a bunch of local museums in your city/state have things online if you harness the power of google.
National Archives Centers— There are 16 federal archive locations that are great for genealogy, news clippings, microfilm, etc. When I visited the Atlanta federal records center, I got to hold and analyze documents from the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments, as well as learn about documenting STD’s in american soldiers during WW1. Visit websites of the centers you’re going to and browse their holdings prior to your visit, because it may be overwhelming. They also may be strict about items you can bring near materials, so check ahead.
Free E-Books at Project Gutenberg: If you don't want to drop money on a book, check this useful resource out first.
Library of Congress This federally funded archive has a bunch of good stuff— like this is where I found Rosa Parks’ handwritten peanut butter pancake recipe, but a bunch of stuff on here is only available in person. There are a long list of places I need to visit the next time I'm in DC. Be sure to also check out their Chronicling America database for newspapers from 1765 to 1963.
UNC Chapel Hill North American Slave Narratives This website has a bunch of documents and sources pertaining to the antebellum south. I really enjoy being able to search the enslaved narrative archives.
JSTOR— The best $20 academic text database a girl can have. There are SOOOOOO MANY journals (not all, and they’re more humanities leaning than STEM leaning), and they’re both retro (perfect for unpacking and contextualizing past attitudes) and modern (perfect for contextualizing current events). There are also lots of images and underground publications that can make your work more dynamic. One of the proudest moments of my life was JSTOR following me back on twitter before Elon Musk ruined the app.
Academia.edu-- The best FREE academic text database. This site is great because it allows you to see various writers other works, peer-reviewed commentary, and even shows you papers related to what you've read recently. Be mindful that some of these are dissertations and can be quite dense.
Pew Research Center-- This website has objective statistics from studies and surveys on everything from race to religion and gender. There are also exhaustive explanations on methodology so you can interrogate the facts presented.
Online Timelines. There are a bunch of niche topics that people have organized timelines for, but here are a few to get you started: History of The World|Food Timeline| Timelines of World History | Human Sexuality Timeline | US Historical Events from 1900 to Present | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline |Global African History Timeline| TIMELINE OF PALESTINE'S HISTORY |
Intelexual Media-- Shameless bias alert: I cant help but to plug one of my personal favorites! From black womens history to American history to world history and everything in between, my youtube channel (and this growing website) are filled with gems to deepen your historical dives.
Bonus: Institute of Historical Research Master Database List