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
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 This link opens in a new window
Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian magazine and newspaper advertisements in five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda. 1911-1955.
- African American Experience This link opens in a new window
Contributions to arts, entertainment, sciences, business, military, and politics from prominent individuals as well as nameless others who endured the travails of slavery and institutionalized discrimination. Late 1700s to present.
- American Indian Experience This link opens in a new window
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.
- Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection 1 & 2 This link opens in a new window
Historical content about U.S. Hispanic history, literature, political commentary, culture,and creative life of Latinos and Hispanics from the late 19th century to 1960.
- Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new windowFull-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.
News Articles
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 This link opens in a new window
The oldest Black daily newspaper in the nation, which also featured the first Black white-house correspondent. 1931-
- Chicago Defender - Historical This link opens in a new window
This newspaper was a proponent of The Great Migration of Black Americans from the segregated South to the industrial North from 1915 to 1925. Includes reporting on the Red Summer race riots of 1919, editorializing for anti-lynching legislation, and much more. 1909-
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowVariety of primary sources from the 15th to the 21st centuries. Includes 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 This link opens in a new window
Hundreds of Hispanic American newspapers, including many long scattered and forgotten titles published in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Indigenous Newspapers in North America This link opens in a new window
Articles from 45 newspapers from Indigenous peoples of the US and Canada. Includes bi-lingual and Indigenous-language editions, such as Hawaiian, Cherokee and Navajo languages. 1828-2016.
- New York Times - Historical This link opens in a new window
One of the longest running national daily newspapers. Based in New York City. 1851-
Other Useful Databases
OTHER USEFUL DATABASE LISTS
PRIMARY SOURCE WEBSITES
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!