Resources for American History

The 4th of July isn’t just for cookouts and fireworks – it’s a great time to learn about our nation’s history! Your library can help with free online resources.

U.S. History from Gale In Context is an in-depth collection of American history, including overview essays, primary sources, articles from journals and newspapers, and more. Read about the Colonial Era and other time periods, biographies of prominent people, African American perspectives, and other historical topics. For those writing reports, look for the “Cite” button near the top of the page to see how to list the articles on your works cited or bibliography page.

Would you rather watch all about it? Check out Kanopy, our streaming video service. Watch “George Washington: Founding Father” from A&E Biography, three-part History Channel series “America: Our Defining Hours,” or “The History of the United States” from the Great Courses, and so much more! Use your library card to create a free account and get up to 30 "tickets" per month (see each video's details for more information on ticket use).

To access U.S. History or Kanopy, start at chandlerlibrary.org and choose Browse the Library > Online Resources > All. Scroll down to choose your resource. You’ll need your library card and PIN to sign in from home. Then start exploring. It’s all free with your library card - Chandler Public Library pays the subscription for you, so there are no ads or paywalls! It’s another benefit to your library card!

Can’t make it to the library to get a card? We offer eCards that allow access to all our online resources. If you’re a Maricopa County resident, you can fill out the online form to register for your eCard. See more at our Get a Card page. eCard users can come to the library at any time to upgrade to a full-access card that allows checkout of books and other physical materials.