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.
General Collections
- History Vault This link opens in a new windowThis rich collection of federal records, letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, and diaries is organized in five subject categories: 1) Black Freedom Struggle; 2) NAACP Papers; 3) Slavery and the Law; 4) Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantations Records; and 5) Vietnam War and American Foreign Policy, 1960-1975
- American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new windowContains early contacts between Europeans and American Indians and the subsequent political, social and cultural effects of those encounters on American Indian life. It covers the period from early western frontier right through to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowBrings together a vast amount of information published by and about the United States Congress.
- 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.
- North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new windowNorth American Women's Letters and Diaries offers a large collection of women's diaries and correspondence spanning more than 300 years.
- Black Studies Center This link opens in a new windowThe Black Studies Center offers a collection of primary and secondary sources that record and illuminate the Black experience, from ancient Africa through modern times.
Newspapers
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowThis database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. Includes major papers like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.
- Newspapers.com – World Collection This link opens in a new windowNewspapers.com Library Edition offers full page newspaper images with searchable full-text of newspapers.
- African American Newspapers (1827-1998) This link opens in a new windowThis collection includes the full text of historically significant African American newspapers, published in 36 states.
Access requires on-campus authentication. - Alt-PressWatch This link opens in a new windowProvides news source coverage, viewpoints and perspectives to complement and challenge the mainstream media.
Websites
- Digital Public Library of America"The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America's libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world."
- National ArchivesDigitized collections from the National Archives.
- Documenting the American SouthA collection of primary sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. The Academic Affairs Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sponsors DAS, and the texts come primarily from its Southern holdings.
- The Vietnam ArchiveThe Vietnam archive at Texas Tech University. The largest archive on the war in the world.
Video Resources
- Meet the PressThis database contains streaming video of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” providing most of the show’s footage since it began in 1947.
- Television News Archive"The world's most extensive and complete archive of television news." Streaming video of news clips since 1968.
- 60 MINUTES: 1997–2014The 60 MINUTES: 1997–2014 collection provides access to nearly two decades of CBS News archives, including many episodes not widely seen since their original broadcast. It holds the record for the longest continuously running prime time program in the history of television, and is one of the most respected and influential TV journalism programs in the world.