ResearchGuides: History of Technology: Digital Collections

Digital Collections

A sampling of web accessible digital collections of primary materials related to the History of Technology. Use the comments to suggest additional links to include here.

Digital Collections
Collections of particular interest include, "Early Engineering Indexes, 1867-1920"; "History of Engineering & Technology"; "Panama Canal, Nichols Collection"; and "Railroad Journals".
The Textile Industry During the Industrial Revolution
Transport and communications during the Industrial Revolution
echo
Primary and other materials on the History of Science, Technology, and Industry. From George Mason University's Center for History and New Media.

Hathi Trust This link opens in a new window
Scanned materials from over 60 institutions.

Internet Archive: Texts
Scanned copies of many historical texts, trade publications, and other materials.
Library of Congress: The Industrial Revolution in the United States
Primary documents available as PDFs from the Library of Congress.
LSE Library: Transport Pamphlets
From the British Library of Social Sciences. This collection includes information about documents in the LSE Library as well as many digitized documents.
Making of America
"Making of America (MOA) represents a major collaborative endeavor to preserve and make accessible through digital technology a significant body of primary sources related to development of the U.S. infrastructure."
National Archives: Digital Copies
Smithsonian Institution Libraries' Trade Literature Collection
"The trade literature collection of the Smithsonian is internationally known as an important source for the history of American business, technology, marketing, consumption, and design. Manufacturers issued trade catalogs to promote and sell their products. The present collection contains more than 500,000 catalogs, technical manuals, advertising brochures, price lists, company histories and related materials representing more than 30,000 companies." Some are available online.
Thomas Edison Papers
Available from Rutgers University.
University of Wisconsin: History of Science and Technology
Among the interesting works available here is Ephraim Chamber's "Cyclopædia, or, An universal dictionary of arts and sciences" 1640(ca.) - 1740.

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A Reference Specialist is available during library hours, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST.

Contact us:

Phone: 800.662.1545 or 816.926.8701.
For questions about the collections or resources: reference@lindahall.org, or complete the Reference Request Form.
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Hathi Trust

Hathi Trust This link opens in a new window
"The HathiTrust Digital Library brings together the immense collections of partner institutions in digital form, preserving them securely to be accessed and used today, and in future generations."

Some materials are full text and some are searchable with limited views.

Google Books

Google Books provides a searchable archive of published books, journals and other materials, many from the 18th Century and before.

Linda Hall will have many of these materials. If you are looking for a copy of an article contact us to check our holdings.