United States History
Newspapers
- New York Times (1851-2020) (ProQuest)
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. 1851-2020.
- Wall Street Journal (1889-2012) (ProQuest)
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 1889-2012.
- U.S. Major Dailies: Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
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:
- Chronicling America: Historic American NewspapersSearch America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963.
- NYS Historic NewspapersThe NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history
- California Digital Newspaper CollectionA freely accessible repository of digitized California newspapers from 1846 to the present.
Databases
- Gale Primary Sources
This collection allows for searching across three primary source collections:
Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, Part I; Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century: Far-Right and Left Political Groups in the US, Europe, and Australia; and American Historical Periodicals (series 1-5).Contents: Newsletters, papers, propaganda, government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, periodicals, and other primary source materials.
- Readers' Guide Retrospective (EBSCO)
Subjects covered include general news, business, fashion, politics, education, food, sports, history, science and film reviews.
Contents: Citations and abstracts for articles from general-interest journals and magazines. 1891-1982.
- Ancestry Library Edition
Contents: Genealogical information including US and UK census data, vital records, directories, photos, and church, court, and immigration records.
Need search tips? See our Guide for more information.
Ancestry often includes the primary sources underlying the genealogical data.
Colonial and Revolutionary America Primary Sources
- European Views of the Americas 1493 to 1750 (EBSCO)
Archive of indexed publications on the Americas written in Europe before 1750. Includes primary source records covering the history of European exploration, portrayals of native American peoples, natural disasters, disease, slavery, pirates, commerce, religion, and more.
Contents: Index of primary source documents.
Books in the library:
- The papers of Benjamin FranklinThis 41 volume set contains Franklin's correspondence from 1706 until 1784.
- The papers of Alexander Hamilton.This 27 volume set covers the Revolution, the Confederation and early Republic periods.
Unchained Voices: an anthology of Black authors in the English-speaking world of the eighteenth century by ISBN: 9780813190761Publication Date: 2003-12-31Vincent Carretta has assembled the most comprehensive anthology ever published of writings by eighteenth-century people of African descent, capturing the surprisingly diverse experiences of blacks on both sides of the Atlantic--America, Britain, the West Indies, and Africa--between 1760 and 1798.
The Revolutionary Era: primary documents on events from 1776 to 1800 by ISBN: 0313320837Publication Date: 2003-12-30From 1776 to 1800, the United States ceased to be a fantastic dream and became a stable reality. Newspapers were increasingly the public's major source of information about people and events outside of their community. This is a resource those interested in the Revolutionary War, the birth of the new nation, and the actual opinions and words of those involved.
Interpreting a Continent: voices from colonial America by ISBN: 1282479423Publication Date: 2009-01-01This reader provides key documents from colonial American history, including new English translations of non-English documents.
Primary Sources in Books
Primary sources can be published in books. Use the main search in 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.
Some sample searches in Library Search:
Primary Source E-books
- HathiTrust Digital Library
This digital collection offers access to digitized resources from libraries around the world.
Contents: Full-text ebooks and articles.
- Google Books
Contents: Full-text books and magazines.
Note: Some newer books are searchable but may not be viewable.
Ebook Central has primary sources. For example, search "Annual Register" and a year and you should get a volume from that time, reviewing the events of the year. For example: 1865. There is always a chapter on "America."
19th Century sources
- American State Papers, 1789-1838The American State Papers, comprising a total of thirty-eight physical volumes, contain the legislative and executive documents of Congress during the period 1789 to 1838.
20th Century sources
- Readers' Guide Retrospective (EBSCO)
Subjects covered include general news, business, fashion, politics, education, food, sports, history, science and film reviews.
Contents: Citations and abstracts for articles from general-interest journals and magazines. 1891-1982.
Search the Journal List to see if we have the title that you need.
A few books with primary sources:
The Muckrakers and the Progressive Era by ISBN: 9780780810938Publication Date: 2009Provides a detailed account of the muckraking movement in early twentieth-century American journalism and its contribution to progressive reforms. Explores how the muckraking tradition and progressive political ideas have continued through the modern era. Includes primary sources.
Primary Sources on the Internet
There are many primary sources on the open internet. Here are some of my favorites, but there are more.
- National Archives and Records AdministrationThe National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.
- Library of Congress Digital CollectionsCollections from the diverse resources at the Library of Congress including many photographs.
- Digital Public Library of AmericaDPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions.
- HathiTrust Digital Library
This digital collection offers access to digitized resources from libraries around the world.
Contents: Full-text ebooks and articles.
- Documenting the American SouthDocumenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture.
- The Avalon ProjectDocuments in Law, History, and Diplomacy from Yale Law School.
- SAADA: South Asian American Digital ArchiveSAADA digitally documents, preserves, and shares stories of South Asian Americans.
Want to help make primary sources available?
There are a number of crowdsourcing opportunities for transcribing historic documents. They will require you to create a free account and to read through their best practices before you start.
- Citizen Archivist at the US National Archives
You can contribute to the National Archives Catalog by tagging, transcribing and adding comments to our records, making them more accessible and searchable. Join us! Every contribution you make helps unlock history. - Anti-Slavery Manuscripts at Boston Public Library
We need your help to turn our collection of handwritten correspondence between anti-slavery activists in the 19th century into texts that can be more easily read and researched by students, teachers, historians, and big data applications. - African American Civil War Soldiers
Transcribe the military records of African American soldiers in the American Civil War - Operation War Diary: Reports from the FrontThe story of the British Army on the Western Front during the First World War is waiting to be discovered in 1.5 million pages of unit war diaries. We need your help to reveal the stories of those who fought in the global conflict that shaped the world we live in today.
- Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: Transcription CenterBecome a Smithsonian Digital Volunteer and help us make historical documents and biodiversity data more accessible.
- Transcribing Modern ManuscriptsTranscribing Modern Manuscripts allows users to transcribe letters, diaries, journals, and other material from the Newberry’s Modern Manuscripts Collections, a repository of American manuscripts from the mid-18th through the 20th centuries. The materials comprise a range of items, including letters exchanged by three generations of an immigrant family, the Everetts, and the Civil War diaries of Private Ferdinand Kilbourne, of Covington, Pennsylvania.
