LibGuides: History : Primary Sources

Offensive Material Warning

Primary source materials may contain language or images that are considered to be offensive in today's world.

These materials are a reflection of the language and culture of the time period in which they were written.

What is a Primary Source?

Primary Sources

For personal diaries click on the Advanced tab of the Library Catalog. In the first box enter: personal narratives, diaries, correspondence (any of these) WITHIN: select: Subject. In the next box add your subject such as Civil War (as a phrase).

ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid includes over 7 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,400 archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
Yale
HathiTrust
A digital preservation repository and access platform for long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in-copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives.
Historical Text Archives
Selected full-text primary documents arranged geographically
Library of Congress | Finding Primary Sources
The Library of Congress makes millions of unique primary sources available online to everyone, everywhere.

Decameron Web - Plague
Brown University
Digital Archive Wilson Centre
The Digital Archive contains ‘once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, uncovering new sources and providing fresh insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
BYU
Europeana
A catalog of over 2 million digital objects from European libraries, archives, museums, and special collections.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies
World War I Document Archive
BYU
Persus Digital Library
Tufts University - Resource for primary source documents. Under the tab “collections and text” you can browse from thousands of resources all archived in digital format.

The library has collected papers and writings of almost all the U.S. Presidents and early statesmen such as Benjamin Franklin. Search person as author in the library catalog.

Annals of America E 173.094 vol 1-21. Source materials and original writings

Historic Documents E 839.5 H57, 1972-1998, 2000-2012

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
American Memory
The Library of Congress provides online access to its unique collections of historical Americana including written and spoken words, photographs, maps, music, and moving pictures.
Chronicling America
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1770-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Founders Online
Searchable correspondence and other writings of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.
Historic Government Publications from World War II
SMU Libraries
Making of America
University of Michigan
Milestone Documents
U.S. documents dated 1776 to 1965 from the Library of Congress
National Archives | DocsTeach
provides thousands of primary source documents that span the course of American history. You can search by keyword and further refine your search by historical era and document type.
Primary Documents in American History
Documents dated 1775 to 1870 from the Library of Congress
Women in Government Documents -United States Women's History 1879-Present
University of Montana
World War I Poster Collection: Answering the Call
HathiTrust
World War I Posters
Library of Congress
World War I U.S. Government Posters
University of Virginia