Resources: Primary Sources
FINDING PRIMARY SOURCES
LETTERS/ PAPERS/ DIARIES/ MEMOIRS/ SPEECHES
Search the Library Catalog for your topic.
- Catalog searches Books, Ebooks, Streaming Media, Items like Models, Kits & Games
- There is no limiter for Primary Sources in the Catalog so you may want to add the following to your search string:
- correspondence or letters or papers or diaries or speeches
- For primary sources authored by an individual, use the Advanced Search (the link to the Advanced Search is below the search box on the Catalog homepage):
- To search for an event or general subject, use the Advanced Search and limit the search to the Subject field:
Search Start Your Research for your topic.
- Start Your Research searches more library collections than the Catalog so your results list will usually be a lot larger and probably contain items that are not relevant to your search. Start Your Research also returns records for items the library does not own so you would need to request the item through On Demand or Interlibrary Loan.
- Recommended search strategy:
- (1) Click the Advanced Search below the search box on the Library homepage
- (2) Use the limiters such as Author and Subject to narrow your results list.
- (3) Add the terms correspondence or letters or papers or diaries or speeches to your search string.
MAGAZINE COVERS/ PROPAGANDA POSTERS/ PHOTOGRAPHS
- Search the Image Databases for Magazine covers, Propaganda Posters and Photographs.
- On the Databases page click in the field Types then select Images.
- TIP: Most of the databases include document types other than images so you may find it helpful to limit your search results to particular document types. Under the entries for the databases there are search tips to help you limit your results to images.
- Select Image Databases:
- Ad*Access
- U.S. and Canadian advertisements in five categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda. 1911-1955.
- African American Experience
- Comprehensive survey of African American history and its heartbreaking struggles, major movements—political, social, artistic, and literary—and most notable events and legislative reform.
- Search Tip: Under the Search Box use the Filter tool to limit your results to Media or Photos & Illustrations, Political Cartoons, Posters & Document Images.
- American Indian Experience
- Articles and primary sources on the history and culture of indigenous peoples from precontact through the 21st century. Includes treaties, speeches, captivity narratives, traditional storytelling, maps, photographs, and video.
- Search Tip: On the Search page select Filter then select type of item
- Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collection 1 & 2
- Digital collection of historical content pertaining to Hispanic history, literature, political commentary, and culture in the United States. Series I focuses on the creative life of U.S. Latinos and Hispanics, Series II on the evolution of Hispanic civil rights, religious thought, and the growing presence of women writers from the late 19th and 20th centuries.
- Search Tip: Under Limit Your Results select your limiter under Publication Type.
- Life Magazine Archive
- Full-text, full-image digital archive of the Life Magazine. 1936-2000. A valuable resource for 20th-century events, politics and culture, as well as the history of business, advertising, and popular culture.
- Search Tip: Under Limit your results select your limiter under Document Type such as Front Cover.
NEWS ARTICLES
- Search the News Databases for News articles.
- On the Databases page click in the field Types then select News.
- Suggested News Databases:
- Atlanta Daily World - Historical
- Full-text, full-image archive of the Atlanta Daily World, the first black daily in the nation. 1931 - 2010
- Search Tip: Limit your results under Document Type.
- Chicago Defender - Historical
- Historical newspaper archive of a leading African-American newspaper that includes digital reproductions of every page from every available issue. 1909-1975
- Gale Primary Sources
- Primary source materials from a variety of sources: 19th Century UK Periodicals; 19th Century US Newspapers; Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO); The Making of the Modern World :The Goldsmiths’-Kress Library of Economic Literature, 1450-1850; 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers; Archives Unbound; Times Digital Archive; Illustrated London News Historical Archive; Sunday Times Digital Archive; American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1990; Archives of Sexuality & Gender; Archives Unbound; Associated Press Collections; British Library Newspapers; Sabin Americana, 1500-2013, Religions of America.
- Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980
- The largest compilation of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Indigenous Newspapers in North America, 1828-2016
- Articles from 45 newspapers from Indigenous peoples of the US and Canada. Some content is bi-lingual, English translations of Hawaiian, Cherokee and Navajo languages.
- New York Times - Historical
- Full-text, full-image archive of the The New York Times. Since 1851
OTHER USEFUL DATABASE LISTS
PRIMARY SOURCE WEBSITES
- Library of Congress
- See primary sources from the Library of Congress. See teacher resources for using primary sources.
- National Archives
- The National Archives has primary sources and information on primary sources for educators.
- Portal to Texas History
- The Portal to Texas History has primary sources and is maintained by the University of North Texas. Also has Resources for Educators.
- New York Public Library
- The New York Public Library has over 187,000 digital items in the public domain (not subject to copyright) available for download. Take a look!