Finding Primary Sources for History Research: Primary Documents
How to find books, documents, magazine articles, newspaper articles and other first hand or eyewitness accounts.
Primary Documents and Archives
Select sites for accessing historical documents and archives
- AmDocs: Documents for the Study of American HistoryExtensive collection of links to U.S. historical documents from 1000 c.e. to the present.
- ArchiveGrid includes four million records describing archival materials, bringing together historical documents, personal papers, and family histories. 1,000 different archival institutions represented, The site helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
- Archives of Sexuality and Gender The full-text documents in the Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity: LGBTQ History and Culture include material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups since 1940. They present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century.
- Avalon ProjectA broad collection of digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government, from ancient times to the present.
- Black Abolitionist Papers Primary source of individual and community activism within the Black abolitionist community. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the massive, international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings and publications of the activists themselves.
- A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and DebatesContains digitized early U.S. government documents from 1774-1885 including the American State Papers, early U.S. Serial Set vols, the Congressional Globe, and House & Senate Journals.
- Congressional Publications U.S. Government publications U.S. Bills & Laws (1789-2013); House and Senate Hearings & Reports (1817-2018) and Miscellaneous documents (1789-2003); Maps (1789-2007); CRS-Congressional Research Service Reports (1916-2003); Executive Orders & Proclamations (1789-2017)
Digital Library of America. "Uncovers millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country available to all in a one-stop discovery"
- EuroDocsSite created by BYU, it provides links to full text historical documents from European countries. Also lists other websites that link to historical document sites for other regions, nations, continents.
- History Vault Includes Women’s Studies Manuscript Collections from the Schlesinger Library: Voting Rights, National Politics, and Reproductive Rights; American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971; American Politics and Society from Kennedy to Watergate, 1960-1975; Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century; Workers, Labor Unions, and Radical Politics.
- Internet East Asia History SourcebookDirectory to hundreds of documents and sites that have links sources for Asian history.
- Internet History SourcebookThis "is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly... for educational use. Quite extensive, all periods, all regions.
- Legislative and Executive Historical Publications U.S. Government publications U.S. Bills & Laws (1789-2013); House and Senate Hearings & Reports (1817-2018) and Miscellaneous documents (1789-2003); Maps (1789-2007); CRS-Congressional Research Service Reports (1916-2003); Executive Orders & Proclamations (1789-2017).
- Mapping Inequality: HOLC Redlining MapsA digital scholarship project housed at the University of Richmond, Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America lets you explore and download "residential security" (redlining) maps created by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s. Choose a city in "Download the Data" to find scans of original maps.
- North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories Provides a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada. ... Several thousand pages of Ellis Island Oral History interviews, indexed and searchable for the first time, are included, along with thousands of political cartoons.
- Online Archive of California Provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California
- Political Extremism and Radicalism in the 20th Century Collection of primary documents covering a range of fringe political movements and a broad assortment of both far-right and radical left political groups. Cover 1900s to 2010 when the world saw the formation of several movements. Some collections included are Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda; John Birch Society; Black Panthers; Norwegian Nazi Party; American Radicalism Collection; Searchlight Archive; and more.
- Security Issues Online
Primary materials on world conflicts, terrorism and counterterrorism, cybersecurity and ethnic conflicts and resolutions.
- The Sixties: Primary Sources and Personal Narratives 1960-1974
Diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, videos, alternative press newsletters, cartoons, political buttons, etc.
- Slavery & Antislavery: A Transnational Archive This 4-part archive includes 5.4 million pages of history, including collections on the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery, the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system, and the dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions.
SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Context) "a free, online resource that helps users discover biographical and historical information about persons, families, and organizations that created or are documented in historical resources (primary source documents) and their connections"
- Women and Social Movements Library Contains over 5,100 documents and 175,000 pages of full-text documents that focus on U.S. women’s history from 1600-2000. Includes documents related to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Woman Suffrage Movement, Civil Rights Movement, and others. Includes Women and Social Movements in the United States,1600-2000; Women and Social Movements, International - 1840 to Present; Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1820; and Women and Social Movements: Development and the Global South, 1919 - 2019
- Women’s Studies Archive Global archive of primary sources on the social, political, and professional aspects of women's lives. Includes records from Planned Parenthood, the Malthusian League, the Women Pioneers and Women Missionaries collections, the Women’s Labor League and Trade Union League collections, and others.