Digital Collections

View digitized archival material from more than 50 collections on Historic Pittsburgh.

Interested to learn more about the various collections we have at the History Center? Check out highlights from our digital collection.

Manumission records are legal documents used to verify the status of freeborn Blacks and those released from servitude. These records, transferred to the Heinz History Center by Allegheny County, can be view online as part of the University of Pittsburgh’s Free at Last website.

Born in Westmoreland County, John Covode (1808-1871) was a businessman and member of the United States House of Representatives. Covode’s papers document his political activities during the Civil War era and his role in developing the coal and railroad industries in Western Pennsylvania. Digitized by the Penn State University Libraries, as part of The People’s Contest: A Civil War Era Digital Archiving Project.

Samuel W. Davis was a Methodist Episcopal Minister who was active as a missionary and temperance reformer in Southwestern Pennsylvania and surrounding states in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. In his diaries, Davis wrote of attending Methodist conferences in Pittsburgh, his attempts provide assistance following the Johnstown Flood, and his work with immigrant communities in Fayette County mining towns. Digitized by the Penn State University Libraries, as part of The People’s Contest: A Civil War Era Digital Archiving Project.