Research Guides: American History: Primary Sources

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Subjects: Archaeology, Geography, History, Open Resources, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Science, Sociology and Anthropology, Using the TRU Library, Women's / Gender Studies

About Primary Sources

TRU Library owns or has access to a number of primary sources for history. This page outlines how to locate these primary source documents.

Primary sources are first-hand accounts from the time period involved. They were created by someone directly involved in the events you’re studying, at the time of the event (or very soon after). They serve as “raw material” to help researchers get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period

For example: diaries, letters, photographs, art, maps, original video, film or sound recordings, interviews, or newspaper articles

Secondary sources are created after the fact by individuals or groups who did NOT witness the events being discussed. They describe, analyze, interpret, report, or correlate the information about an event, thing, idea, or someone's life based on their study of primary material AFTER the events in question. They are often based on primary sources.

For example: scholarly or popular books and articles, reference books, biographies, or textbooks

Historical documents : how to read them
Guide. Provides tips on how to read and use primary sources in historical research.
Primary Sources on the Web: Finding, Evaluating, Using
A brief guide designed to provide students, teachers and researchers with information to help them use and evaluate the quality of primary source materials that can be found on the web.

Finding Primary Sources

Discover

Two options (and you will get very different results, so try both):

Option 1:

Run your search and then click on "all filter" and then select "publication date" > "custom range" and then enter the date range that would be considered contemporary publication dates for your topic.

Option 2:

Run your search and then click on the "Advanced Search" link underneath the search box. In the first empty search box, add one of the following subheadings to limit your search results and change the search from "select a field" to " SU subject":

correspondence
diaries
early works to 1800
interviews
pamphlets
personal narratives
sources

Note: "sources" is usually the most useful term

For example, if you wish to do a search for primary sources on American women, use:

women history sources united states

Or, if you wish to do a search for primary sources on Indigenous peoples in the US, use:

history sources indians of north america

(NOTE: for online searching, capitalizing the search terms (i.e., history) does not make a difference, but captitalizing the search operators (i.e., AND, OR) does.

Another great resource is a multi-volume work full of primary sources:

American decades primary sources / edited by Cynthia Rose
E169.1 .A471977 2004

Here are some collections of primary sources on American history. Be sure to use the tips in the "Via Discover" tab to locate many more primary sources

American decades primary sources by edited by Cynthia Rose
Call Number: E169.1 .A471977 2004 - Print & E-book
Collection of primary sources relating to twentieth century American history.
Milestone documents in American history : exploring the primary sources that shaped America by Paul Finkelman
Call Number: E 173 .M535 2008 V.1-4
This four volume set contains 133 full-text primary source documents from American history from 1763 to 2003. Sources are introduced and analyzed.

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
Covers the 15th century onwards and links to primary documents pertaining to American History. Links are compiled by Lynn Nelson, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Kansas.
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
Contains digital copies of documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government from 4000 BCE until the 21st century.
Google Books
Full-text of thousands of books. Use advanced search to limit to "full view" (full-text) and to have access to the most searching options.
Hanover Historical Texts Collection
Collection of primary sources on European, American, African, and Asian history, digitized by Hanover College's History Department.
HathiTrust Digital Library
A partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
Internet Archive: Text Archive
Provides access to over 10,000,000 fully accessible pubic domain eBooks and texts, including many historical primary sources from various libraries and from Project Gutenberg.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook
Provides links to numerous primary documents related to modern history. Includes European, Canadian, Australian and American history.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Digitized resources in in the US Library of Congress collections. Can be searched by specific collections or by keyword search..
Making of America
Digital library of primary sources in American history. Includes over 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
Many Pasts - History Matters
Contains over 1000 primary documents in text, image, and audio about the experiences of ordinary Americans throughout U.S. history. All of documents are accompanied by annotations that address their larger historical significance and context. A project of George Mason University and the Center for Social History and the New Media.
Medical Heritage Library
Digital collection of historical resources in medicine from some of the world’s leading medical libraries, Includes a growing collection of digitized medical rare books, pamphlets, journals, and films number.
National Library of Medicine: Digital Collections
Provides free online access to historical books and videos in the public domain from the National Library of Medicine's Digital Collections .
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Provides access to over 860,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the New York Public Library collections such as illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, letters, illustrated books, and printed ephemera. Topics covered include: Arts & Literature; Cities & Buildings; Culture & Society; History & Geography; Industry & Technology; Nature & Science; and Printing & Graphics.
Points to the Past
Provides permanent access to all of the Gale Digital Collections products – nearly 200 million pages of digitized historical content.
US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Provides access to digitized copies of important American documents such as the American Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Provides digitized copies of newspaper pages from 1880-1910. Also contains directory information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Currently contains the newspapers from 9 states and the District of Columbia, but it's an ongoing process.
Google News Archive Search -
includes magazines, newspapers, and other resources. List of available newspapers at: https://news.google.com/newspapers

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Contains over 17,000 business, legal and news sources

Points to the Past
Provides permanent access to all of the Gale Digital Collections products – nearly 200 million pages of digitized historical content.

Antislavery Collection, 1725-1911
Collection of hundreds of speeches, sermons, proceedings, and other publications regarding slavery and antislavery written between 1725 and 1911. Hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Children and Youth in History: North America
Primary source database relating to children and youth in North American history.
Documenting the American South (DocSouth)
A digital publishing initiative by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill of texts, images, and audio files related to southern US history, literature, and culture. Includes fourteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs. Themes cover include Southern literature, slave narratives, the church, and the southern homefront during the Civil War.
Founders Early Access
Documents from the six founding fathers of the United States: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, the Adams family, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.
France in America / France en Amérique
A bilingual collection of digitized 16th century to 19th century books, maps, prints and other documents housed at the Library of Congress (U.S.) and the Bibliothèque National de France (France).

Frontier Life This link opens in a new window
This digital collection of primary source documents helps us to understand existence on the edges of the anglophone world from 1650-1920. Discover the various European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia through documents that reveal the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in these areas.

Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
Provides online access to Harvard University Libraries' immigration resources.
Points to the Past
Provides permanent access to all of the Gale Digital Collections products – nearly 200 million pages of digitized historical content.
Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality in the US and UK, 1815-1914
Presents over 420 separately published American, British, and Irish trial narratives from the Harvard Law School Library. Cases involving domestic violence, bigamy, seduction, breach of promise to marry, custody of children, murder, and rape are included.
Valley of the Shadow: Two American Communities in the American Civil War
Project details life in two American communities, one Northern and one Southern, during the Civil War era. Contains diaries, letters, newspaper articles, speeches, census records, and church records.

Ad*Access - Duke Libraries
Collection of over 7000 digitized advertisements printed in US and Canadian newspapers and magazines from the 1910s to the 1950s. Product categories include: Beauty and Hygiene; Radio; Television; Transportation; and World War II propaganda.
Antislavery Collection, 1725-1911
Collection of hundreds of speeches, sermons, proceedings, and other publications regarding slavery and antislavery written between 1725 and 1911. Hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst
American Radicalism - Michigan State University Libraries : Digital Collections
Provides digitized texts and images from the American Radicalism collection at Michigan State University. Includes resources on topics such as the American Indian Movement, the Hollywood Ten, Black Panthers, birth control, IWW, Wounded Knee, the Ku Klux, Klan, the Rosenberg Case, and Students for a Democratic Society.
Children and Youth in History: North America
Primary source database relating to children and youth in North American history.
Documenting the American South (DocSouth)
A digital publishing initiative by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill of texts, images, and audio files related to southern US history, literature, and culture. Includes fourteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs. Themes cover include Southern literature, slave narratives, the church, and the southern homefront during the Civil War.
Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History Online
Typescripts of interviews conducted between 1967-1972 with native Americans in Oklahoma regarding their history and culture, with particular emphasis on traditional way of life, changes in life and culture since the end of the reservation, contemporary life and culture, and beliefs about the past. Also includes tape recordings of contemporary activities such as council meetings and traditional ceremonies. Transcripts are arranged by tribe and can be browsed or searched by keyword.
Emergence of Advertising in America
Collection from Duke University that includes over 9,000 advertising images from 1850 to 1920.

Frontier Life This link opens in a new window
This digital collection of primary source documents helps us to understand existence on the edges of the anglophone world from 1650-1920. Discover the various European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia through documents that reveal the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in these areas.

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google
Contains over 10,000 million images from the LIFE photo archive relating to US history and world events. Images range from the 1750s to the 2000s. Search by keyword, browse by decade, or explore featured events, people, or places.
Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
Provides online access to Harvard University Libraries' immigration resources.
Points to the Past
Provides permanent access to all of the Gale Digital Collections products – nearly 200 million pages of digitized historical content.
Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality in the US and UK, 1815-1914
Presents over 420 separately published American, British, and Irish trial narratives from the Harvard Law School Library. Cases involving domestic violence, bigamy, seduction, breach of promise to marry, custody of children, murder, and rape are included.
University of Washington Digital Collections
Digital collection is primarily pictorial, but does include some essays and text. Also includes newspapers, reports, pamphlets, posters and maps.
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections: Alaska Western Canada and United States collection
Digital collection of historic photographs on the Gold Rush of 1898-1900, mining activities, street scenes, Aboriginal peoples, hunting and fishing, transportation, and World War II installations. in Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, the Yukon, and BC.