Rohrbach Library Home: HIS 378: Kelleher: Searching for Primary Sources

Searching for Primary Sources using the Web

Using the Web for finding primary sources. The free web is one of the richest sources of primary source material but it requires the user to carefully evaluate what they find.

Review this recommended Web Guide before you start your search: Evaluating Primary Sources on the Web. An excellent web guide by the American Library Association includes search strategies, recommended resources, and evaluation tips

Google

Try a Google.com search on your topic. Type in your topic include the words “primary source”

Example: “roman religion” “primary sources”

Also try limiting your results to .edu, .org, OR .gov web sites. For example:

"roman religion" "primary sources" site:edu

Some Recommended Web Sites

Professor Recommended Resources

Library of Congress Digital Collections
Internet Archive A digital library of internet sites, including the Open Library.
Hathi Trust Digital Library HathiTrust is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries.
Google Books Use the date limit to find primary source material. Older books are more likely to be out of print and freely available online.
Docs Teach Search documents from the National Archives.

AP Images This link opens in a new window Capturing the greatest moments in history, news, sports, and entertainment as seen by the Associated Press, AP Images is one of the largest collections of historical and contemporary news photographs, containing over 3.5 million images from the 1840s to the present, with thousands more added daily. The collection also includes over 60,000 graphics, containing logos, graphs, maps, and timelines. Excellent resource for primary source photographs. All content from AP Images may be downloaded and used for educational purposes.

Other Resources

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Cornell Home Economics Archive HEARTH is a core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked by teams of scholars for their great historical importance.
Cornell Making of America The Cornell University Library Making of America Collection is comprised of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
Emergence of Advertising Duke University Over 3,300 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.
Independent Voices “Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.”

Library of American Civilization Titles Available Online This link opens in a new window Project of Terry Ballard, a semi-retired Automation Librarian, to find free electronic copies of titles from the Library of American Civilization (LAC) microcard library on the web. The LAC is a collection of mostly primary source materials relating to virtually all aspects of American life & literature up to World War I.
The library owns the complete microcard collection. See a librarian for assistance.

Making of America Books Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
Prelinger Archives Prelinger Archives was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger in New York City. Over the next twenty years, it grew into a collection of over 60,000 "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films.
Women Working, 1800-1930 An exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression.
YouTube
YouTube has a lot of great primary sources but similar to searching on the Internet you need to carefully vet what you find.

Searching for Primary Resources Using Library Resources

Using the Library Catalog:

When searching in the Library Catalog do an advanced search and add the word “sources” to your search. Example:
“Thomas Jefferson” and sources

Other keywords to try:

sources
diaries
personal narratives
interviews
letters

Example searches:
civil war
personal narratives
slave narratives

NOTE: You can also use these techniques in WorldCat

Using Library Databases

Primary Source Databases
Access over 90 primary source databases available through the library. Spend some time reading the descriptions.

Professor Recommended Databases

New York Times, Historical This link opens in a new window
Access the full-text of the America's largest newspaper from 1851-2018. One of the best sources for primary source material.
Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Access Life magazine from 1936-2000.
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window Primary source database includes newspapers, magazines, county histories, books, pamphlets, and genealogical sources.

Other Primary Source Databases

Database Name	Focus	Content	Time Period
Accessible Archives	America	Includes African-American Newspaper Collection, American and WW I, American County histories, the Civil War Newspapers, Godey's Lady's Book, The Liberator, the PA Gazette (America's first "paper of record"), and other American primary source documents. View collections.	1700s - early 1900s
Adam Matthew Explorer	International	Access the entire Adam Matthew Digital Portfolio of published content through 2018. Discover unique primary source content from leading archives and libraries around the world. Includes hundreds of thousands of documents, hundreds of hours of video and oral histories, and thousands of images. Total of 78 collections. View title list	1600s - early 2000s
AP Images	International	Image database, includes complete archive of AP photos. Over 3 million images	1840 - current
Digital National Security Archives	America	Declassified US gov't documents relating to US foreign policy. Major collections include Afghanistan, Cuban Missile crisis, El Salvador, Irangate, Phillipines	1945 - current
Digital Sanborn Maps	America	Sanborn fire insurance maps are valuable historical tools for anyone who wants to learn about the history, growth, and development of Pennsylvania cities, towns, and neighborhoods.	1867-1970
Films on Demand	America	Includes archival news footage and films from American history. Examples: Nixon's address on Vietnam, WPA films, old TV commercials, WW II footage.	1919 - present
Gale Virtual Reference Library	Mostly American	Speeches, letters, legislation, treaties, journal entries	19th and 20th centuries
HarpWeek	America	Popular 19th century news and social magazine	Late 19th and early 20th century
HeinOnline	America	Legal research database. Also has a number of primary source collections including American Indians, Civil Rights, Social Justice, Pandemics, Executive Privilege, Gun Regulation, Impeachment Library, JFK Assassination, Legal Classics, Slavery, Supreme Court, Presidential Libraries.	Late 19th to current
Historical Statistics of the United States	United States	Historical Statistics of the United States is a compendium of statistics about United States.	1790s - 2000s
Life Magazine Archive (EBSCO)	America	Life Magazine Archive presents an extensive collection of the famed photojournalism magazine, spanning its very first issue in November, 1936 through December, 2000 in a comprehensive cover-to-cover format.	1936-2000
ProQuest Historical Newspapers	America	Search the full text of the following historical newspapers: Pittsburgh Post Gazette Philadelphia Inquirer New York Times Wall St Journal	1786 - 2016
Readex Digital Archives	America	Includes historical newspaper collection, Early American imprints, and broadsides/ephemera collections	1600s - current
Women and Social Movements	America	Brings together books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women.s activism in public life.	1600 - 2000