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Primary sources are historical materials produced by participants or observers at the time of an event or during a particular span of years. They are "original" in that the recording of the event or experience originates with the participants or direct observers. Some examples of primary sources are:
ProQuest Indian Claims Insight is a one-of-a-kind research tool that provides researchers with the opportunity to understand and analyze Native American migration and resettlement throughout U.S. history, as well as U.S. Government Indian removal policies and subsequent actions to address Native American claims. Content includes decisions, transcripts, docket books, journals of the Indian Claims Commission, a judicial panel for relations between the U.S. Government and Native American tribes; and related statutes and congressional publications.
The HeinOnline collection contains legal materials on slavery in the United States and western countries. Scholars will find judicial cases, statutes, essays, scholarly articles that date back to the 19th century through the modern history of slavery. Also included are ebooks and pamphlets. This is a collection critical to any scholar looking to find historical material on legal, economic and social aspects on the subject.
This collection was developed with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) as part of an effort to preserve serials related to African American religious life and culture. It documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922. More than 170 unique titles, approximately 60,000 pages of searchable primary source content, and reports and annuals from African American religious organizations and social service agencies and African American periodicals are included.
Also known as Early American Newspapers, Series I, 1690-1876. This historical collection contains hundreds of historic newspapers listed in Clarence Brigham's authoritative bibliography and in additional subsequent bibliographies.
American Prison Newspapers brings together hundreds of periodicals from across the country into one collection that will represent penal institutions of all kinds, with special attention paid to women's-only institutions.On March 24, 1800, Forlorn Hope became the first newspaper published within a prison by an incarcerated person. In the intervening 200 years, over 450 prison newspapers have been published from U.S. prisons. Some, like the Angolite and the San Quentin News, are still being published today.
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. 1931-2010.
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. 1893-1988.
A leading African American newspaper, with more than two-thirds of its readership outside Chicago. News articles, photos, advertisements, obituaries, cartoons, etc. Full page and article images with searchable full text.
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. (1934 - 1991) .
This historic newspaper was first in many ways: First U.S. newspaper to print a regular Sunday edition, first U.S. newspaper to publish court testimony, and the first American newspaper published in Europe when it began a London edition in 1881. A fundamental resource for labor relations, union history, and the automotive industry.
An archival collection comprising the backfiles of 15 major magazines (1918-2015), spanning areas including current events, international relations, and public policy. These titles offer multiple perspectives on the contemporary contexts of the major events, trends, and interests in these fields throughout the twentieth century. The collection will provide valuable primary source content for researchers in fields ranging from history and political science, through to law and economics.
Titles Provided:
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. 1922 - 1993.
Offers full page and article images with searchable full text of the New York Times back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue from 1858 to four years ago.
Research Portland history through the Oregonian Collection with coverage from 1861 through current. Study trends, issues, events, advertisements, companies and more through historical and current full newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online.
Searchable full text and full image articles from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper from 1874-2003.
An archival research resource comprising the backfiles of leading women's interest consumer magazines. Issues are scanned in high-resolution color and feature detailed article-level indexing. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005 and these key primary sources permit the examination of the events, trends, and attitudes of this period.
America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1876) Digitized historic newspapers. Check geographic coverage under places of publication.
American Periodicals Series: (1740-1900) Digitized American magazines and journals.
American Memory Project More than 9 million digitized items from the Library of Congress.
Avalon Project documents in law, history and diplomacy at Yale Law School Library.
Making of America a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction at the University of Michigan.
Nineteenth Century in Print Twenty-three digitized popular, literary and political periodicals and magazines. View titles and dates. Over 1500 digitized books from the 19th C.
This collection was developed with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) as part of an effort to preserve serials related to African American religious life and culture. It documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922. More than 170 unique titles, approximately 60,000 pages of searchable primary source content, and reports and annuals from African American religious organizations and social service agencies and African American periodicals are included.
This is a service provided by RLG, a non-profit organization of libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions. It is a centralized index to archival collections located throughout the world and is a valuable resource for locating records in other archives.
WorldCat is a global network of libraries that unite their collections in one master catalog. It is a union catalog of over 49 million records representing books, journals, dissertations, audio-visual materials, and manuscripts in repositories worldwide.
There are lots of primary source materials in libraries around the country; this catalog holds a growing number of more than 6,000 links to online finding aids. Included in their genealogy search are books, ship passenger lists, historical society records, archival photos, articles on research techniques, family histories, and digital image collections.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections is a print and online catalog of manuscript collections held in US repositories. The Library of Congress provides a Web interface for searching archival and manuscript cataloging in OCLC WorldCat.
National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States (NIDS)
By bringing together thousands of finding aids from libraries and archives across the United States and reproducing them on microfiche with a unified index, NIDS gives users unparalleled access to federal, state, academic and other documentary sources. In allowing researchers to examine actual finding aids, NIDS goes further than either NUCMC or RLIN which offer collection-level descriptions, but do not contain detailed listings of the contents of collections.
This is a current directory of over 5,500 repositories and more than 161,000 collections of primary source material across the United States. NUCMUC & NIDS were folded into this database.
Using ArchivesUSA, researchers are able to read descriptions of a repository's holdings to determine whether a collection contains material useful to their work as well as find the information they need to contact the repository directly. Repository records provide detailed information including phone and fax numbers, hours of service, materials solicited, email and home page URLs when available. Each collection record links to its corresponding repository record, simplifying the research process.
The UNESCO Archives Portal gives access to websites of archival institutions around the world. It is also a gateway to resources related to records and archives management and to international co-operation in this area.
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