Digital Public Library of America

Discover 49,459,972 images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States

DPLA provides free digital access to banned books

DPLA has launched The Banned Book Club to ensure that all readers have access to the books they want to read. The Banned Book Club makes e-book versions of banned books available to readers in locations across the United States where titles have been banned via the free Palace e-reader app.

Access banned books now

Online Exhibitions

Browse all Exhibitions

Race to the Moon

A History of US Public Libraries

Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

From Colonialism to Tourism: Maps in American Culture

Primary Source Sets

Browse all Sets

The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Fannie Lou Hamer and the Civil Rights Movement in Rural Mississippi

Second Ku Klux Klan and The Birth of a Nation

John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

The Equal Rights Amendment

How can I use DPLA?

Illustrated image of a graduation mortarboard hat

Education

Educators and students explore our Primary Source Sets to discover history and culture through primary sources and ideas for classroom use.

Family Research

Genealogists use our search tools to find free materials for their family history research projects.

Illustrated image of an electronic table reader with a video displayed

Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learners enjoy browsing by topic and viewing Online Exhibitions to learn more about their interests.

Scholarly Research

Scholarly researchers use DPLA to find open access sources from archives across the country through a single portal.

If you’re new to DPLA, these research guides will give you a head start using our site. The guides reflect a few key activities that attract visitors to DPLA, but you can explore many other interests here too.

View all user guides

DPLA News

Browse the archives

DPLA By The Numbers
November 28, 2023
Did you know that DPLA provides free access to more than 49 million cultural heritage artifacts from 6,000 organizations across the country? Check out how our free resources can benefit…
DPLA Fall Event Round-Up
November 3, 2023
It has been a busy fall at DPLA, with a variety of informative events organized by our working groups. And it is not over yet: On November 16, at 1p…
DPLA partners with the University of Chicago Library to expand The Banned Book Club
October 3, 2023
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce a new partnership with the University of Chicago Library to expand The Banned Book Club. We launched The Banned…