Primary sources can be published in books. Use Library Search and include search terms personal narratives, sources, diaries, memoirs, papers, speeches, documents, or letters.
Personal narratives is a term assigned by librarians and is used for first person accounts. Diaries and memoirs are terms used by writers and editors to describe their document. These are also normally in the first person.
Autobiography is often assigned to diaries and memoirs.
Letters and correspondence are published correspondence and occasionally include both outgoing and incoming letters.
Papers include correspondence, speeches and other previously unpublished items by the author.
Speeches were written to be spoken and have often been published.
Sources is another term assigned by librarians and often includes all of the types of documents listed above as well as government records.
Image and document collections:
Digital collections about people, places, and events from New York State history.
Contents: Photographs, letters, diaries, newspapers, and books.
This collection of articles from the New York Times is a subset of U.S. Major Dailies -- Historical Newspapers.
Contents: Full-text, digitized NY Times articles. 1851-2021.
This collection of articles from the Wall Street Journal is a subset of U.S. Major Dailies -- Historical Newspapers.
Contents: Full-text, digitized articles from The Wall Street Journal from 1889-2013.
Newspaper titles covered includes The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Wall Street Journal.
Contents: Full-text, digitized newspaper articles including full-page views, front-page headlines, classified ads, marriage and death announcements, comic strips, reviews, display advertising, editorials, birth notices, and photographs.
Other newspapers are freely available on the internet. These are a few samples: