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: Library Databases
These collections will include various types of primary sources (newspaper articles, images, government documents, letters, etc.).
- Civil War Era This link opens in a new windowThis database offers primary source materials covering the American Civil War and the sectional controversies leading up to the war, and, additionally, offers several key newspapers. It is especially rich in pamphlets that expressed radical, alternative opinions on the issues of the era.
- Civil War in the American SouthCivil War in the American South provides a central portal to access digital collections from the Civil War Era (1850-1865) held by members of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL).
- Making of America: Cornell University This link opens in a new windowThis digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collections currently contain books, monograph volumes and journal articles with 19th century imprints.
- 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.
More Info - Accessible Archives Complete This link opens in a new windowPrimary source material from 18th and 19th Century periodicals. Included in the collection is Godey's Lady's Book, The Civil War: A Soldier's Perspective, African American newspapers, American county histories and various other newspapers, gazettes and collections.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowSlavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive includes 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. It consists of books, serials, manuscript collections, supreme court records and briefs, reference articles, and encyclopedias.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowNCCO is an ongoing digitization project focusing on primary source collections of the nineteenth century.
- Archives Unbound This link opens in a new windowArchives Unbound provides collections of historical primary documents that cover a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages to twentieth-century political history.
- Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new windowBased on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more.
General Collections: Websites
These collections will include various types of primary sources (newspaper articles, images, government documents, letters, etc.). These are all freely accessible websites
- 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. Includes collections such as First-Person Narratives of The American South and North American Slave Narratives.
- The American Civil War: A Collection of Free Online Primary SourcesA really useful collection of free primary source websites. From the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL).
- The National Archives: Civil War CollectionThe website for The National Archives in Washington, D.C. Includes a variety of records and documents about the war.
- American MemoryA collection of documents from The Library of Congress.
- The Digital Public Library of AmericaA portal for information held in U.S. archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions.