Research Help: HIST 4500: Senior Seminar (Fava Thomas): Primary Sources

World History Primary Sources

Following are some reputable sites to find primary source materials related to world history:

General:

A-Z Maps Online This link opens in a new window
The world’s largest subscription-based database of proprietary, royalty-free world, continent, country, and state maps. Included in the 4,000+ maps are: political maps, physical maps, outline maps, population maps, precipitation maps, climate maps, and other thematic maps. New maps are added to the collection every month.

World Digital Library

World History In Context This link opens in a new window
Provides multicultural and international content with access to full-text periodicals, reference works and primary sources related to world history from antiquity to the present.

Ancient History:

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
Perseus Digital Library
Collection of resources on ancient art, architecture, and artifacts.
Beazley Archive: Classical Art Resource Center
Photographic Archive of Papyri in the Cairo Museum
Giza Archives
Sumerian Literature

Europe:

British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials including the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 100,000 pages of diaries and letters.
European Views of the Americas: 1493 To 1750 This link opens in a new window
This database provides citations for European printed works written about the Americas before 1750 and provides researchers with the libraries that hold the original documents.

REESWeb: Virtual Library for Russia and East European Studies

Latin & South America:

Middle East:

Asia:

Africa:

United States History Primary Sources

Primary sources can come in a wide variety of forms. The key is limiting it to works that were created during the scope of the event under study. Here's a range of what you could find: books or pamphlets, newspapers or magazines, government documents, organizational records, diaries, letters, scrapbooks, paintings, photographs, maps, oral interviews, sound or video recordings, even websites or blogs.

Hints -

When searching the library catalog, add keywords like "sources", "personal narratives", "maps" or "photographs" to your topical search to find primary sources here in the library.

Following are some reputable sites to find primary source materials related to United States history:

General:

Library of Congress: American Memory

Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new window
This genealogy database covers the United States and the United Kingdom. It includes census, vital, church, court, and immigration records.

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Dilplomacy

A-Z Maps Online This link opens in a new window
The world’s largest subscription-based database of proprietary, royalty-free world, continent, country, and state maps. Included in the 4,000+ maps are: political maps, physical maps, outline maps, population maps, precipitation maps, climate maps, and other thematic maps. New maps are added to the collection every month.
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Contains 1,303 sources with 1,210 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans.
America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
Complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.

Historical Maps of the United States

U.S. History In Context This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive topic overviews and integrates reference, journals, newspapers, primary source documents, images and video to provide context to events and topics in U.S. history.
Oral History Online This link opens in a new window
Provides in-depth indexing to more than 2,700 collections of primary source Oral History in English from around the world.
Social and Cultural History: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Primary source accounts of ordinary men and women from all walks of life with the personal accounts of well-known historical figures.

17th & 18th Centuries:

European Views of the Americas: 1493 To 1750 This link opens in a new window
This database provides citations for European printed works written about the Americas before 1750 and provides researchers with the libraries that hold the original documents.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals: Series 1, 1691-1820 This link opens in a new window
More than 500 Colonial America and American magazines and journals from 1691 through 1820 covering a broad base of topics and geographical areas. Pulled from the American Antiquarian Society collection, almost every 17th and 18th-century American title is represented in addition to the majority of works published before 1821.

19th Century:

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Primary source material containing 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs.

North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories This link opens in a new window
Primary sources material including 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information on American and Canadian immigrants between 1800 and 1950.

20th Century:

Finding Primary Sources

Librarians at Loyola Marymount University created a helpful tutorial video on finding primary sources with the same search system as FalconSearch. We recommend watching their video for tips until we can make a similar video for FSU.