SU Library: OER by Discipline: History: Find OER in My Discipline

Maryland Open Source Textbook Initiative

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Initiative is a huge source of support for open educational resources, open access, and open pedagogy in Maryland. Find OER through the M.O.S.T. Commons or Stevenson's M.O.S.T. Commons Hub.

Quick Search

Three states -- Maryland, California, and Georgia -- maintain large statewide OER databases. Try these quick searches that are already set for your discipline:

Textbooks and Books

These sites offer multiple books:

LibreTexts
Open Textbook Library
OpenStax
Pressbooks
UShistory.org Free online textbooks in the topics of US History, American Government, and Ancient Civilizations.

Here are some individual books on the topic of history:

World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of humankind from prehistory to 1500. Authored by six USG faculty members with advance degrees in History, this textbook offers up-to-date original scholarship. It covers such cultures, states, and societies as Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Dynastic Egypt, India’s Classical Age, the Dynasties of China, Archaic Greece, the Roman Empire, Islam, Medieval Africa, the Americas, and the Khanates of Central Asia.
The American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks. Yet for those that still yearn for the safe tether of a synthetic text, as either narrative backbone or occasional reference material, The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.
History in the Making: A History of the People of the United States of America to 1877 - 1 This textbook examines U.S. History from before European Contact through Reconstruction, while focusing on the people and their history.Prior to its publication, History in the Making underwent a rigorous double blind peer review, a process that involved over thirty scholars who reviewed the materially carefully, objectively, and candidly in order to ensure not only its scholarly integrity but also its high standard of quality.This book provides a strong emphasis on critical thinking about US History by providing several key features in each chapter. Learning Objectives at the beginning of each chapter help students to understand what they will learn in each chapter. Before You Move On sections at the end of each main section are designed to encourage students to reflect on important concepts and test their knowledge as they read. In addition, each chapter includes Critical Thinking Exercises that ask the student to deeply explore chapter content, Key Terms, and a Chronology of events.
Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature This textbook takes a distinctly socio-historical approach to introducing Early American literature
African American History and Culture It is important to learn about the history and heritage of African Americans that extends back into antiquity because throughout slavery and afterwards, people of European descent advanced what anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits called the “Myths of the Negro Past. (Drake 1990:1–14).” These myths were advanced particularly and primarily about African Americans as rationales to justify slavery, and later discrimination and segregation. (3) They advanced these myths, which portrayed Africa as a primitive and backward place, a ’Dark Continent,’ to justify slavery and create ideas of race and racial inferiority.
American Environmental History A comprehensive survey of American Environmental History
World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of humankind from prehistory to 1500. Authored by six USG faculty members with advance degrees in History, this textbook offers up-to-date original scholarship. It covers such cultures, states, and societies as Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Dynastic Egypt, India’s Classical Age, the Dynasties of China, Archaic Greece, the Roman Empire, Islam, Medieval Africa, the Americas, and the Khanates of Central Asia.
Western Civilization: A Concise History Volume 3 Western Civilization: A Concise History is an Open Educational Resource textbook covering the history of Western Civilization from approximately 8000 BCE to the recent past. The textbook is divided into three volumes. The core narrative of the textbook is a political history of the greater Mediterranean region in the ancient period in Volume 1, Europe and European empires in the medieval and early modern periods in Volume 2, and both European and world history in the modern period in Volume 3. Elements of intellectual, cultural, social, and religious history are present throughout, but the main focus of the text is politics over time.
U.S. History 1865 to Present Textbook covering U.S. history topics, designed by the Bay College Online Learning Department and Bay College Library
A History of the United States Vol. 2 Online textbook covering U.S. History from 1865 on

Single Activities, Assignments, and Lessons

American Folklife Center Guides exploring folklife in your region, topical areas, and the unique collections of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center (AFC), now one of the largest archives of ethnographic materials from the United States and around the world, encompassing millions of items of ethnographic and historical documentation recorded from the nineteenth century to the present.
Library of Congress Digital Collections Digital versions of primary sources and artifacts.
DOCSTeach Primary sources for use in classroom activities
National Archives Online Exhibits Curated exhibits from the National Archives.
National Archives Milestone Documents The primary source documents on this page highlight pivotal moments in the course of American history or government. They are some of the most-viewed and sought-out documents in the holdings of the National Archives.
Duke University Libraries Behind the Veil collection Interviews, photographs, and oral history project files chronicling African-American life in the American South with a particular focus on the era of legal segregation and its immediate aftermath from the 1890s to the 1970s
HathiTrust The HathiTrust Digital Library is home to millions of digitized books and publications. Our team works diligently alongside research institutions to preserve and grow this collection while providing lawful access to visitors around the world.
Library of Congress World Digital Library This collection contains cultural heritage materials gathered during the World Digital Library (WDL) project, including thousands of items contributed by partner organizations worldwide as well as content from Library of Congress collections. All item records include narrative descriptions submitted by the contributing partners and enhanced by WDL researchers to contextualize the item and its cultural and historical importance. Books, manuscripts, maps, and other primary materials in the WDL collection are presented in their original languages; more than 100 languages are represented, including many lesser known and endangered languages.

Full Courses

HIST103: World History in the Early Modern and Modern Eras (1600–Present) This course will present a comparative overview of world history from the 17th century to the present era. You will examine the origins of major economic, political, social, cultural, and technological trends of the past 400 years and explore the impact of these trends on world societies. This course will be structured chronologically and thematically, with each unit focusing on a significant historical subject. The units will include representative primary-source documents and images that illustrate important overarching themes, such as the emergence of modern nation-states, the economic and technological interactions between Western and non-Western peoples, the changing social and cultural perceptions about religion and the state, and the development of physical and virtual networks of information exchange.
HIST362: Modern Revolutions (2022.A.01) Explore political and social revolutions and modern independence movements by studying the causes of these social upheavals and how they have shaped our modern world.
HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization (2019.A.01) Explore the history and dynamics of industrialization, with a particular emphasis on the global nature of industrialization and its economic, social, and environmental effects from ancient times to the present.
Introduction to Ancient Greek History This is an introductory course in Greek history tracing the development of Greek civilization as manifested in political, intellectual, and creative achievements from the Bronze Age to the end of the classical period. Students read original sources in translation as well as the works of modern scholars.
Western Civilization Since 1648 HIST 1112 course from East Georgia State College. Includes seven lessons with PowerPoints, study guides, discussion questions, links to free online readings, links to short videos, a discussion grading rubric, a sample syllabus, and a LibGuide.
History of World Civilizations Part I This course shell has been designed to provide similar materials as to what you might find with a paid text but compliant with Open Educational Resource (OER) policies. The primary text for this course is World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500. In addition to the OER textbook, Ancient History Encyclopedia, an OER complaint educational website, was used extensively for research. As you explore the course shell, you will find a variety of resources that you can adopt and adapt for your class. These include: Recommended course calendar and aligned textbook sections PowerPoint presentations Course documents (primary and secondary sources which correspond to each module) Question banks (for quizzes or exams) Discussion Board prompts (that pull on course documents)
United States History I Online course covering U.S. History from pre-1492 to 1877
United States History II Online course covering U.S. History from 1865 to the 21st century

Articles

History Commons Collection of open access articles from more than 400 institutions.

OER by Discipline: History