Digital Collections

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials related to the presidential election of 1908, including manuscripts, photographs, printed ephemera, newspaper articles, and sound recordings. Provided below is a link to the home page for each relevant digital collection along with selected highlights.

Historic Newspapers

Chronicling America
Historic American newspapers selected and contributed by state partners in the National Digital Newspaper Program.

Selected articles from this collection:

In addition, the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room has created a series of topics guides to the newspapers included in Chronicling America, including the presidential election of 1908.

National Jukebox

National Jukebox
The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. Recordings in the Jukebox were issued on record labels now owned by Sony Music Entertainment. The National Jukebox contains sound recordings of speeches delivered by William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan during the 1908 presidential election.

Printed Ephemera

Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
The Printed Ephemera collection comprises 28,000 primary source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history.

Selected highlights from this collection:

Prints & Photographs

Photos, Prints, Drawings
Search the Library's digital collections to find prints, political cartoons, and other images related to the presidential election of 1908.

Selected images from the 1908 election:

Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film

Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film
This presentation features 104 films that record events in Roosevelt's life from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to his death in 1919. Besides containing scenes of Roosevelt, these films include views of world figures, politicians, monarchs, and friends and family members of Roosevelt who influenced his life and the era in which he lived.

Selected highlight from this collection:

The sculptor's nightmare (1908)
At a political club, the members debate whose bust will replace that of Theodore Roosevelt. Unable to agree, each goes to a sculptor's studio and bribes him to sculpt a bust of the individual favorite. Instead, the sculptor spends their fees on a dinner with his model during which he becomes so inebriated that he is taken to jail. There he has a nightmare, wherein three busts are created and animated from clay (through stop-motion photography) in the likenesses of Democrat William Jennings Bryan and Republicans Charles W. Fairbanks and William Howard Taft. Finally an animated bust of Roosevelt appears.

Theodore Roosevelt Papers

Theodore Roosevelt Papers
The papers of Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), public official, author, decorated veteran of the Spanish-American War, governor of New York, and president of the United States (1901-1909), consist of approximately 276,000 documents (roughly 461,000 images), most of which were digitized from 485 reels of previously reproduced microfilm.

Selected highlight from this collection:

Panting the Banner
Political cartoon by C. R. Macauley of the New York World, June 11, 1908.
Letter, Roosevelt congratulates William H. Taft on a recent speech, July 20, 1908
Letter, Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft, September 5, 1908, advising on the 1908 presidential campaign
Roosevelt congratulates William H. Taft on his election as president

William H. Taft Papers

William H. Taft Papers
The papers of William Howard Taft (1857-1930), twenty-seventh president of the United States and tenth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, consist of approximately 676,000 documents (785,977 images), which have been digitized from 658 reels of previously reproduced microfilm.

Presidential Election of 1908: A Resource Guide

History, Humanities & Social Sciences: Ask a Librarian

Digital Collections

Historic Newspapers

Selected articles from this collection:

National Jukebox

Printed Ephemera

Selected highlights from this collection:

Prints & Photographs

Selected images from the 1908 election:

Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film

Selected highlight from this collection:

Theodore Roosevelt Papers

Selected highlight from this collection:

William H. Taft Papers

Selected highlights from this collection: