In an interconnected world, you may find traces of archival materials from around the world in Western Hemisphere portals; once you have some relevant material, you can then investigate where it came from, and if the place of origin might have an archive. Talk to a librarian about Finding Aid portals for your region.
- Archives Portal Europe: the most comprehensive portal for researching across Finding Aids of archives in Europe; also acts as a directory to archives by country.
- ArchivesCanada: Search across archives in Canada. Official archival portal maintained by the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA), and a joint initiative of CCA, the Provincial and Territorial Archival Networks, and Bibliothèque et Archives Canada (BAC) .
- ArchiveGrid: contains nearly a million collection descriptions, or Finding Aids, from thousands of libraries, archives, and museums.
- CLIR Hidden Collections Registry (Council on Library and Information Resources): highlights rare and unique library, archival, and museum collections. Features projects funded through CLIR’s Cataloging and Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives programs as well as numerous other special collections throughout the US and Canada.
- Digital Public Library of America (DPLA): connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All materials found through DPLA—photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and so on—are free and immediately available in digital format.
- Europeana Europe's Digital Heritage
- Gallica the French National Library
- Library of Congress: America’s de facto national library, with many unique international materials. Getting an LC Reader’s card is now easier than ever, and LC has access to subscription resources that the user can access on site.
- NUCMC. National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections: provides and promotes bibliographic access to the nation’s documentary heritage through listings of archival collections.
- SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Content): helps in researching descriptions of persons, families, and organizations, including their socio-historical contexts, in the context of historical resources. Provides researchers with convenient, integrated access to historical collections held by multiple private and public archives and libraries around the world.
