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:
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.
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.
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.
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:
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:
This digital collection offers access to digitized resources from libraries around the world.
Contents: Full-text ebooks and articles.
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."
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:
There are many primary sources on the open internet. Here are some of my favorites, but there are more.
This digital collection offers access to digitized resources from libraries around the world.
Contents: Full-text ebooks and articles.
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.