History: Primary Sources
Primary Sources
Primary sources exist in many different formats. Photographs, videos, manuscripts, artwork, government and organization reports, newspaper articles, diaries, and papers or records kept by individuals are all examples of a primary source. Below are some databases that contain primary sources. You may find some of these helpful for your project.
National Biography Sources
Will find archive locations and primary sources listed at end of these entries.
- American national biographyOver 19,000 biographies of significant, influential or notorious figures from American history written by prominent scholars
- Oxford dictionary of national biographyOver 60,000 biographies, 72 million words, 11,000 portraits of significant, influential or notorious figures who shaped British history
Other Resources
- U.S. National ArchivesExplore American history through primary documents, photos, and records.
- Library of CongressSearch articles, photos, drawings, web pages, and more.
Ravensbruck
The Dawn of Hope by ISBN: 1559704985Publication Date: 1999-11-03The author shares her journey from the Ravensbruck concentration camp to the French Resistance and eventually a life led helping the poorest of the poor.
Primary Source Databases
- Accessible Archives This link opens in a new windowAccessible Archives has moved to History Commons. Access to the old platform ended August 30, 2024.Find primary source material from throughout U.S. history, including eyewitness accounts of historical events, descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records.
- American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new windowFind historic periodical titles from the American Antiquarian Society dating from 1693 to 1877.
- Black Life in America This link opens in a new windowResearch the experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the global news media. This collection offers a map search to focus by world region and suggested searches to guide students to pertinent topics. Coverage: 18th century-present.
- Civil Rights in America: From Reconstruction to the Great Society This link opens in a new windowArchive of official publications and primary source material related to civil rights in the United States from the 19th century through the 20th century.
- European views of the Americas, 1493-1750 This link opens in a new windowIndex to European works relating to the Americas written prior to 1750. Covers the history of European exploration, as well as portrayals of Native American peoples.
- Historical Statistics of the United States Millennial Edition Online This link opens in a new windowSource for quantitative facts of American history. HSUS provides data on social, behavioral, humanistic, and natural sciences including history, economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural resources, climate, religion, international migration, and trade. The fully searchable and downloadable electronic edition permits users to graph individual tables.
- Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new windowExplores the political, social, and cultural history of Native peoples from the 16th century well into the 20th century.
- Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new windowBrowse photographs, ephemera, memorabilia, and printed material pertaining to Popular Culture in Britian and America from the years between 1950 and 1975.
News Article Sources
- New York Times - Historical This link opens in a new windowExplore New York Times articles published from 1851 up to two years ago. Includes the complete paper with full-page and article images in PDF format.
- The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new windowAccess more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded newspapers of 19th 20th Century, in its original published context.
- African American Newspapers, Series 2, 1835-1956 This link opens in a new windowDiscover more than 350 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African-American experience. Includes historically significant papers from more than 35 states and many rare 19th-century titles.
- Nineteenth-Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowA multi-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the nineteenth century, with archives releasing incrementally. Currently, this resource includes the following collections: British Politics and Society; European Literature 1790-1840 : the Corvey Collection; Asia and the West : Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; and British Theatre, Music, and Literature : High and Popular Culture.
- Record-Courier Collection (Historical & Current) This link opens in a new windowAccess Kent, Ohio's Record-Courier Newspaper collection archives (1935 to Present). Includes historical and current full newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Available remotely 24/7 on any device.
Civil Rights Sources
- Black Life in America This link opens in a new windowResearch the experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the global news media. This collection offers a map search to focus by world region and suggested searches to guide students to pertinent topics. Coverage: 18th century-present.
- Civil Rights in America: From Reconstruction to the Great Society This link opens in a new windowArchive of official publications and primary source material related to civil rights in the United States from the 19th century through the 20th century.
- Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new windowBrowse photographs, ephemera, memorabilia, and printed material pertaining to Popular Culture in Britian and America from the years between 1950 and 1975.
Minstrelsy
- DPLA - Blackface Minstrelsy in Modern AmericaBlackface minstrelsy was a popular nineteenth-to-early-twentieth-century American musical and theatrical art form.
- University of Pittsburgh - GuideThis guide has been developed by The Center for American Music to provide resources for researching blackface minstrelsy and other demonstrations of blackface performance.
Salem witchcraft trials
- Salem Witch Trials Documentary ArchiveThe Salem Witchcraft Trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people, men women, and children included, stood accused of witchcraft and thirty were eventually found guilty.