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Primary Sources: Religion

Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.

Religion

-The Association for Religion Data Archives

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) strives to provide access to the best data on religion. Data included in the ARDA are submitted by the religion scholars and research centers and are available to educators, journalists, religious congregations, and researchers.

-Harvard University: Islamic Heritage Project

"Harvard University has cataloged, conserved, and digitized hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from Harvard’s renowned library and museum collections. These rare—and frequently unique—materials are now freely available to Internet users worldwide." 

-Internet Sacred Text Archive

Free Internet archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore, and the esoteric.

-Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

The American Jewish Archives strives to “ preserve, and make available for research, materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere (primarily focusing on America) including data of a political, economic, social, cultural, and religious nature.” A selection of the materials are digitized and available for viewing online.

-Pew Research Center: Religion and Public Life

The Pew Research Center’s website provides valuable data relating to religious practices in the United States and around the world.

-United Methodist Church: General Commission on Archives and History

The General Commission on Archives and History “serves the Church's Ministry of Memory so we may continue to learn from our past and anticipate our future.”  A selection of the materials are digitized and available for viewing online.

-The United States Memorial Holocaust Museum

The United States Memorial Holocaust Museum was established by an act of Congress that mandated the creation of a “permanent living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.” The Museum’s digital collections offers over 200,000 documents, image, moving images, music, and oral histories relating to the Holocaust and its dark legacy.

-Vatican Library: Digita Vaticana

Digita Vaticana “promotes the conversion of the Vatican Library manuscripts into digital format.”

-Witchcraft Collection

An online selecton of titles from the Cornell University Library's extensive collection of materials on Witchcraft. The collection focuses on witchcraft not as folklore or anthropology, but as theology and as religious heresy.

-World Digital Library: Religion

A collection of manuscripts, books and images relating to religion.

-Yiddish Book Center

The Yiddish Book center strives to “tell the whole Jewish story by rescuing, translating, and disseminating Yiddish books and presenting innovative educational programs that broaden understanding of modern Jewish identity.” The Center offers a number of digital materials available for viewing online.