LibGuides: History : Primary Sources

General Primary Source Databases

Archive Finder This link opens in a new window
Archive directory database that combines a number of separate databases to list primary source collections in the US, UK and Ireland. On the Chadwick-Healey platform.
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Database of records of archival materials held in over 1000 institutions worldwide.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Group of digital collections of historical documents covering a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history. On a Gale platform.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
A database provided by Gale that combines several of Gale's primary source databases such as Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Indigenous Peoples: North America, and several others.
Global Issues Library This link opens in a new window
Collection of digitized primary source material, government documents, publications, and videos covering issues, topics, and events from the late 1890s to the present.

U.S. Primary Source Databases

American History, 1493-1945 This link opens in a new window
This unique collection of documents brings to life American History from the times of the earliest settlers until the end of World War II.
Archive of Americana This link opens in a new window
Archive of Americana enables students and scholars to explore virtually every aspect of United States history, culture, and daily life across three centuries. Providing online access to newspapers, books, broadsides, ephemera, government publications and more, the Archive of Americana puts tens of millions of pages of primary documents at researchers' fingertips.
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
Colonial America will make available all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series from The National Archives, UK, covering the period 1606 to 1822.
Everyday Life & Women in America, c.1800-1920 This link opens in a new window
American history full-text archive that covers magazines, pamphlets, books and broadsides covering roles of women. On the Adam Matthew platform.

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Searchable American Civil War database contains diaries and memoirs from 2,009 authors. On the Alexander Street Press platform.
Civil War Era This link opens in a new window
History archival database that includes primary sources including newspaper articles and pamphlets from 1840 to 1865. On the ProQuest platform.
Civil War Primary Source Documents This link opens in a new window
Includes letters, diaries, administrative recores, photographs, and illustrations from the New-York Historical Society's Civil War collection.
Images of the American Civil War This link opens in a new window
Searchable American Civil War database containing photos, posters, and ephemera. On the Alexander Street Press platform.

Slavery, Abolition, and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text archive that reproduces manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings and maps between 1490 and 2007. On the Adam Matthew platform.
Race Relations in America This link opens in a new window
Archive of speeches, reports, surveys, and analyses produced by the Race Relations Department and its annual Institute at Fisk University from 1943-1970.

Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America This link opens in a new window
Manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books dating from early contact with European settlers to photographs and newspapers from the mid-twentieth century. On the Adam Matthew platform.
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
American Indian full-text archive that reproduces biographies, autobiographies, personal narratives, speeches, diaries, letters, oral histories and images from 17th to the 21st centuries. On the Alexander Street Press platform.
North American Indian Drama This link opens in a new window
Searchable theatre database that includes scripts, scrapbooks and reference materials. Part of the Alexander Street Drama package. On the Alexander Street Press platform.
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
A database containing monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals and photographs that are relevant to the history of American Indian tribes. On the Gale platform.

American West This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text archive that reproduces selected manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material and rare printed materials from the Everett D. Graff collection at the Newberry Library. On the Newberry Library platform.
General Land Office Records This link opens in a new window
Land records database from the General Land Office (GLO) that provides conveyance records, titles records, and survey plats and field notes back to 1820. On its own platform.

Newspaper Databases

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
African-American full-text archive that reproduces full runs of newspapers from 35 states. A subset of America's Historic Newspapers on the Readex platform.
Historical Index to the New York Times, 1851-1922 This link opens in a new window
History indexing database that covers all newspaper articles from 1863 to 1905, and 1913 to 1922. Part of the Historical Newspapers on the Chadwyck-Healey platform.
Illustrated Civil War Newspapers and Magazines This link opens in a new window
Searchable Civil War database that includes electronic access to HarpWeek's collection of 40+ original 19th century newspapers and magazines. On the Alexander Street Press platform.

Communist Historical Newspaper Collection This link opens in a new window
Collection of Communist American and British papers: The Daily Worker (1936-1958); The Ohio Socialist (1917-1919); People's Daily World (1986-1990); People's Weekly World (1990-2013); Sunday Worker (1936-1958); The Toiler (1919-1922); The Worker (1922-1924); New York; and The Worker (1958-1968); London.
Service Newspapers of World War Two This link opens in a new window
This digital resource reveals the story of war as told by the newspapers that brought information, entertainment and camaraderie to the forces at home and overseas.

Daily Mail Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
The Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2004, provides digital access to one of Britain’s most influential papers. With nearly 1.2 million pages of content from the paper, it includes all of the major news stories, features, advertisements and images. As well as the regular edition of the newspaper, the Daily Mail Historical Archive also includes the Daily Mail Atlantic Edition, which was published on board the transatlantic liners that sailed between New York and Southampton between 1923 and 1931.
British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Collection of digitized British regional and local newspapers from the mid-eighteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. On the Gale platform.
Chinese Newspapers Collection This link opens in a new window
A collection of English language newspapers providing a look into Chinese History. On the ProQuest platform.
Globe and Mail, 1844-2020 This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text Toronto newspaper that covers 1844 to 2011. Part of the ProQuest Historical Newspaper series.

European Primary Source Databases

China, America and the Pacific This link opens in a new window
Includes manuscripts, rare printed sources, visual images, objecs, and maps from international libraries and aims to cover the trading relationships between America, China, and the Pacific.
East India Company This link opens in a new window
A collection of India Office Records from the British Library, London. Containing royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types, this resource charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1595 to 1947. Modules include: Trade, Governance and Empire, 1600-1947; Factory Records for South Asia and Southeast Asia, 1595-1830; and Factory Records for China, Japan and the Middle East, 1596-1870.
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980 (Sections 1-6) This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text archives that reproduces British files from 1919 to 1980. On the Archives Direct/Adam Matthew platform.
Meiji Japan This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text archive of Edward Sylvester Morse's notebooks, letters and drawings about Japan from 1877-1925. On the Adam Matthew platform.

Apartheid South Africa, 1948-1980 This link opens in a new window
Historical digital archive that reproduces available British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices. On the Archives Direct/Adam Matthew platform.
Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text archive that reproduces books; pamphlets; magazine and newspaper articles; court cases and manuscript collections from 1700 to early 20th century. On the Gale platform.

British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries includes the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 100,000 pages of diaries and letters.
British Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary full-text database that includes magazines from the late 17th century to the early 21st. On the ProQuest platform.
Cecil Papers This link opens in a new window
English history archival database of the papers and documents of William Cecil and Robert Cecil, both involved in administration during the reign of Elizabeth I. On the ProQuest platform.
Early European Books This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary full-text database includes facsimile images of books published before 1700.

Brazilian and Portugese History and Culture: The Oliveira Lima Library This link opens in a new window
This collection brings together over 80,000 pages of pamphlets from 1800 to the late twentieth century. Topics covered include colonialism, the Brazilian independence period, slavery and abolition, the Catholic Church, indigenous peoples, immigration, ecology, agriculture, economic development, medicine and public health, international relations, and Brazilian and Portuguese literature.
Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century This link opens in a new window
World Scholar: Latin America & the Caribbean provides a rich collection of primary source documents about Latin America and the Caribbean; academic journals and news feeds covering the region; reference articles and commentary; maps and statistics; audio and video; and more.
Latino American Experience This link opens in a new window
Chicano studies database with full-text articles, documents, media, speeches, maps, songs, interviews, and photographs. On the ABC-CLIO platform.

Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969 This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text archive of British diplomatic dispatches and publications from 1839 to 1969. On the Archives Direct/Adam Matthew platform.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, 1947-1980 This link opens in a new window
Historic full-text archives that reproduces British files from 1947 to 1980. On the Archives Direct/Adam Matthew platform.
Loeb Classical Library This link opens in a new window
This virtual library contains all important in Greek and Latin literature: Eepic and lyric poetry; tragedy and comedy; history, travel, philosophy, and oratory; the great medical writers and mathematicians; those Church Fathers who made particular use of pagan culture—in short, our entire Greek and Latin Classical heritage is represented here with up-to-date texts and accurate English translations. More than 530 volumes of Latin, Greek, and English texts are available, allowing readers to browse, search, bookmark, annotate, and share content with ease.

History : Primary Sources

Introduction

General Primary Source Databases

U.S. Primary Source Databases

Newspaper Databases

European Primary Source Databases