HIS 114 (Campus) - United States 1860 - 1945
Research guidance and support for HIS 114 U.S. History research assignments.
What are primary sources?
Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons.
Taken from the American Library Association / Reference and User Services Association http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources
Databases with Primary Sources
The library subscribes to a number of databases that include primary source material. Please note that not everything within each database is a primary source; you will need to evaluate each source carefully to determine if it meets the criteria of a primary source for your research.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodical Collection - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowThe digitized periodical collection of the American Antiquarian Society (AAS), the premier library documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. It is the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912. Includes Series 1-5: 1684-1820, 1821-1837, 1838-1852, 1853-1865, and 1866-1912.
- Biography In Context - Gale This link opens in a new windowBiography In Context offers authoritative reference content alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images. Covering a vast array of people from historically significant figures to present-day newsmakers, it’s continuously updated to ensure that students have access to the very latest information.
- Black Studies Center - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowBlack Studies Center, from Chadwyck Healey US, brings together essential historical and current material for researching the past, present and future of African Americans, the wider African Diaspora, and Africa itself. It is comprised of several cross-searchable, component databases including: Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience; International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP); The Chicago Defender; the Black Literature Index, the HistoryMakers oral history video resource, and Black Abolitionist Papers .
- Congressional Legislative & Executive Publications - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowProvides legislative history information and access to a wide range of congressional documents, including published and unpublished hearings, CRS reports, committee reports, and committee prints.
- Gerritsen Women's History Collection of Aletta H. Jacobs - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowThe Gerritsen Collection is the definitive cross-cultural resource for information on women's history. The collection provides immediate access to many primary sources, periodicals, and books, from around the world concerning women's history, feminism, and anti-feminism including titles such as The Suffragist (1913-21) and The Women's Protest Against Woman Suffrage (1912-18).
- History Reference Center - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowDesigned for secondary schools, public libraries, junior/community colleges and undergraduate research, this database features full text for thousands of primary source documents and informational texts.
- History Vault - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowHistory Vault consists of manuscripts and archival collections digitized in partnership with many archival institutions. This rich collection of federal records, letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, and diaries is organized into nine subject categories: 1) Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle; 2) Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War; 3) Women's Studies; 4) Workers, Labor Unions, Progressives, and Radicals; 5) American Indians and the American West; 6) American Politics and Society; 7) International Relations and Military Conflicts; 8) Latinx History; 9) Revolutionary War and Early America.
- New York Times (Historical) - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowDigitized articles from the New York Times from 1851 - 2020. Looking for the most recent NYT editions?
- Nineteenth Century Index (C19) - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowThe Nineteenth Century Index (C19) is the most comprehensive and dynamic source for discovering nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers, and archives. C19 Index includes the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC), The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index, Periodicals Index Online, the Cumulative Index to Niles' Register 1811–1849, and more to total over 25 million records.
- ProQuest (ProQuest Central and Primary Source) This link opens in a new windowProQuest includes all ProQuest Central databases as well as many primary source databases. If you would like to access ProQuest Central only, you can do so at the following link: ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window.
- U.S. History In Context - Gale This link opens in a new windowIncludes more than 5,000 primary source documents, full-text articles drawn from top periodicals and newspapers, thousands of images, videos, and audio selections.
- World History In Context - Gale This link opens in a new windowWorld History In Context reaches back to the ancient world — and forward to today's headlines — to deliver a chronicle of the great cultures and societies that have formed the history of the human race. Includes primary sources, reference, and multi-media content.
American History Primary Sources
The following is a list of selected digital collections that include images, manuscripts, maps, and government documents.
- American Memory This link opens in a new windowMaintained by the Library of Congress, American Memory has well over 5 million primary source documents related to American history online.
- David Rumsey Historical Map Collection This link opens in a new windowThe David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has over 20,000 maps and images online and focuses largely on North and South America.
- Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new windowResources from US libraries, archives and museums, including photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and more.
- Documenting the American South This link opens in a new windowDAS is maintained by the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and is dedicated to "providing access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture.
- Edward E. Ayer Digital Collection This link opens in a new windowOne of the world's premiere sources of primary documents on American Indians. Topics covered include Native American archaeology, ethnology, art, and language; the history of the contact between Europeans and native peoples; voyages, travels, and accounts of early America; the development of cartography of the Western Hemisphere; and the history of the aboriginal peoples under the jurisdiction of the U.S. in the Philippine Islands and Hawaii.
- Harvard University Digital Collections This link opens in a new windowHarvard University has a number of digital collections that focus on different topics, geographical areas, and time periods.
- Library of Congress Picture Collection This link opens in a new windowThe Library of Congress has made 1.25 million digitized photographs searchable using this new interface. Collections range from digitized cartoons and baseball cards to depression-era photographs documenting the struggle of migrant workers.
- The Making of America This link opens in a new windowFrom the University of Michigan, Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
- National Archives This link opens in a new windowSearch the entire collections of the Nation's Record Keepers.
- NY Historical Society | Making History Matter This link opens in a new windowNYHS manuscript collections relating to slavery
- NYPL Archives & Manuscripts This link opens in a new windowFrom the New York Public Library you can search "over 60,000 linear feet of personal papers and organizational records supporting historical research".
- Oral Histories of the American South This link opens in a new windowA project to digitize 500 interviews, this collection contains interviews with civil rights leaders in the south and southern politicians such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
- Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image This link opens in a new windowOver 2,000,000 images from various collections of rare books, manuscripts, papyri, photographs and sheet music are available for your viewing. Each collection has its own web site that is unrestricted in the interests of knowledge and learning.