Terms of Use

Last updated: September 24, 2026

Welcome to forgingUS, a project of the Center for Digital Editing at the University of Virginia. The materials published through forgingUS are intended to support research, teaching, and public engagement with American history. 

Copyright and Permissions: Content published through forgingUS includes materials with different copyright and licensing statuses.

Many historical documents and images are in the public domain or are made available with permission from partner institutions. Other materials remain subject to copyright held by archives, libraries, publishers, or other rights holders. Rights and credit information is provided whenever possible on individual resource pages.

Original editorial content created by forgingUS—including annotations, essays, exhibits, metadata, and other scholarly materials—should be cited appropriately when used in research, teaching, or publication.

Unless otherwise noted, you may use transcriptions and editorial content for personal research, classroom teaching, student projects, and other non-commercial educational purposes. For publication or commercial use, users are responsible for determining whether additional permission is required from the appropriate rights holder.

Links to Other Websites: forgingUS provides links to external websites and partner institutions for the convenience of users. We are not responsible for the content, availability, or privacy practices of those websites. 

Changes: These Terms of Use may be updated periodically. Continued use of forgingUS constitutes acceptance of the current version.

Contact: Questions about these Terms of Use or the use of materials published through forgingUS may be directed to: Center for Digital Editing at the University of Virginia