What are Primary Sources?
Primary Sources are original sources: they were created by someone who participated in or observed an event. They include diaries, letters, newspapers, government documents, photographs, and other manuscripts.
Newspapers & Periodicals
- ProQuest Historical Newspapersincludes several major papers of the 20th century, including the New York Times (1851-2001) and the Washington Post (1889—1987). Offers feature articles as well as classifieds and advertisements.
- Associated Press Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Associated Press Collections Online Explores the history and back story of the Associated Press, and offers decades' worth of wire copy, correspondence, memos, internal publications, and more. The collection includes 1) News Features & Internal Communications; and 2) Washington, D.C. Bureau Collection.
- America's News"local, regional, and national sources. It has diverse source types including printed and online newspapers, blogs, journals, newswires, broadcast transcripts, and videos."
- NewspaperARCHIVE.comA range of newspapers. Depth of the coverage varies state-by-state. Click the “Advanced Search” tab for the most precise searching.
- Nation Archive, The This link opens in a new window
The Nation offers a 135-year archive of reporting opinion and criticism. It includes primary source material covering the history of politics, culture, books and the arts - in America and around the world. The Nation Digital Archive is a fully searchable electronic version of the magazine's complete backfile.
International Newspapers & Periodicals
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Gale Primary Sources offers a comprehensive platform for research, enabling users to search multiple collections simultaneously. It goes beyond basic retrieval, providing tools for analysis and discovery of new material.
- Keesing's World News ArchiveSince 1931 Keesing’s has collected news reports on a daily basis from all over the world in a wide range of languages. The Keesing’s editorial team, based in Cambridge, UK, takes this mass of raw data and refines and processes it into a series articles which are published each month.
- Pravda Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowThis archive of the premier Soviet/Russian newspaper of the 20th century includes all images and text in a fully searchable format.
Newspapers & Periodicals-Ethnic Press
- Ethnic NewsWatchIncludes Hispanic American newspapers. Titles in English and Spanish.
- African American Newspapers, Series 1 This link opens in a new window
This collection includes the full text of historically significant African American newspapers, published in 36 states.
- African American Periodicals, 1825-1995 This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to periodicals by and about African Americans. Representing 26 states, the publications offer a range of material, including academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations’ bulletins, annual reports and other genres.
Declassified Documents
- HeinOnline Foreign Relations of the United States This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline Foreign Relations of the United States presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which began in 1861 under President Abraham Lincoln, contains books and documents from various Presidential libraries as well as different governmental agencies.
- ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new window
Primary source material pertaining to the civil rights movement and to U.S. foreign policy during the Vietnam War era. Includes federal records, letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, and diaries is organized in five subject categories.
- The National Security ArchiveDeclassified reports based on U.S. surveillance.
- The Cold War International History Project"Cold War letters, treaties, dispatches and other primary sources, including documents relating to international crises, the roles of specific countries or areas, communist activities, notebooks of famous Russian leaders, as well as intelligence and military operations"
- CIA Declassified Documents DatabaseRead declassified CIA materials, including files on clandestine operations!
Presidential Papers
- The American Presidency ProjectA searchable database containing a large collection of presidential papers/documents.
We have many print collections of Presidential Papers in Gorgas Library. Just go to Scout or The Classic Catalog and do an author search (you'll need to use the drop-down menu by the search bar to change to author) for the president you're looking for (for example: "Reagan, Ronald"). This is a good way to find memoirs also!
Military Records
- Fold3 This link opens in a new windowThis genealogical database contains personal records, photographs and historic documents. It also includes collections of census materials, military records from the American Revolution, Civil War, World War II and Vietnam, African American and Native American archives, naturalization records and more.
Congressional Documents
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Brings together a vast amount of information published by and about the United States Congress. It provides a seamless link to the full range of legislative and public policy resources, including: Congressional documents and related resources as well as a number of publications such as the Congressional Record, United States Code, Code of Federal Regulations, and the National Journal.
- U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new windowThis set includes Congressional reports and documents as well as executive agency and departmental reports ordered to be printed by Congress. The Serial Set captures American life from the late 19th century onward from westward expansion, scientific exploration, politics, international relations, business and manufacturing.
- Congressional RecordOffers the texts of congressional debates in the 20th century.
Social History/Oral History/Personal Texts
- Trench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War This link opens in a new windowTrench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War is an archival research resource containing a large collection of rare magazines by and for servicemen and women of all nations during the First World War. It contains periodicals written and illustrated by serving members of the armed forces and associated welfare organizations published between 1914 and the end of 1919.
- Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives This link opens in a new windowThis collection of primary resources documents the history, culture, and politics of the 1960s and early 1970's. Included are diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
- The Vietnam Center & ArchiveThis vast digital archive was created by Texas Tech University.
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new window
Published histories and records of women’s reform organizations throughout the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It includes The History of Woman Suffrage; proceedings of the national conventions of female Anti-Slavery societies in the 1830s and of women’s rights conventions in the 1850s and 1860s; annual reports of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union; and local and national histories of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs.
- North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
North American Women's Letters and Diaries offers a large collection of women's diaries and correspondence spanning more than 300 years.
- Documenting the American SouthInterviews, diaries, and other personal materials from Southerners who fought in the World Wars.
Personal Texts
Personal texts--diaries, memoirs, letters, autobiographies, and papers--usually make excellent primary sources because they were written by a historical person you're studying.
Personal texts are scattered throughout the internet, in databases, and on the shelves of the UA Libraries. Here are some techniques for locating diaries, letters, and other primary sources using Scout, Google, or Classic Catalog:
- Combine keywords describing your subject with such words as sources, letters, speeches, writings, documents, diaries, papers, etc. For example, searching for “World War II ” and diaries will locate diaries written during World War II.
- Search for key people as authors. For example, let us say that you are researching the European Discovery of America. Searching for Christopher Columbus as an author will locate journals and speeches of Columbus. You can set your search to author in the "Basic Search" screen.
- Find secondary sources on a historical figure in Scout. Scan the bibliographies of these secondary sources for diaries, memoirs, letters, and papers.
Images from the Web
- The Vietnam Center & ArchiveThis vast digital archive was created by Texas Tech University.
Streaming Video
- Vanderbilt Television News Archive This link opens in a new window
The TVNA collection holds individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks - ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN - and hours of special news-related programming, including ABC's Nightline since 1989.
Government Documents in the UA Libraries
One of the greatest assets of the UA Libraries' collection is its government documents section: the UA Libraries is a U.S. regional government depository with over a million government publications in print!
To search for government documents in print at Gorgas Library:
- Go to the Libraries' Catalog
- Select "Advanced Search"
- Change the "Location" drop-down menu to "Gorgas Government Documents"
- Type keywords in the search boxes and hit "Search"
- Write down the call numbers for the documents you would like.
Some government documents are kept in the first floor Government Documents Area; others are kept in the basement mezzanine. Please feel free to ask for assistance at the Information Desk.