LibGuides: Primary Sources for Historical Research: Databases that contain primary sources

Databases that Contain Primary Source Materials

Use these databases with caution. Just because a database contains primary sources, does not mean that all the resources available in that database are primary sources. Some also contain secondary sources. Ask yourself the questions listed on the Overview page to determine if what you're looking at is a primary source.

United States History

African American Periodicals, 1825-1995 This link opens in a new window
170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans, published in 26 states. Includes academic & political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations' bulletins, annual reports, and other genres.
American Indian History Online This link opens in a new window
Biographies, events & topics, primary sources, timelines, images & videos, maps & charts.
American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
1740-1940. Special interest & general magazines; literary & professional journals; children's & women's magazines; other historically significant periodicals.
American West This link opens in a new window
Sources from the Everett D. Graff collection at the Newberry Library, Chicago. Includes a wide range of primary source materials on Native Americans, pioneers and explorers, homesteaders and cattle ranchers, on all aspects of the history of the western United States and Canada.
Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
Archives Unbound: African American Studies This link opens in a new window
Primary source collections.
Includes these collections:
- Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League
- Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle
- Bush Presidency and Development and Debate Over Civil Rights Policy and Legislation
- Civil Rights and Social Activism in Alabama: The Papers of John LeFlore, 1926-1976 and Records of the Non-Partisan Voters League, 1956-1987
- FBI Surveillance of James Forman and SNCC
- Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984
- Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress
- Franklin D. Roosevelt and Race Relations, 1933-1945
- Grassroots Civil Rights and Social Action: Council for Social Action
- Integration of Alabama Schools and the U.S. Military, 1963
- James Meredith, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Integration of the University of Mississippi
- The Legal Battle for Civil Rights in Alabama: Vernon Z. Crawford Records, 1958-1978 Civil Rights Cases and Selections from the Blacksher, Menefee & Stein Records
- Liberation Movement in Africa and African America
- The Minority Voter, Election of 1936 and the Good Neighbor League
- Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement
- Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement
- Rastafari Ephemeral Publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project
- Republic of New Afrika
- Transcripts of the Malcolm X Assassination Trial
- U.S. Military Activities and Civil Rights: Integration of the University of Mississippi and the Use of Military Force, 1961-1963
- U.S. Military Activities and Civil Rights: The Little Rock Integration Crisis, 1957-1958
- U.S. Military Activities and Civil Rights: The Military Response to the March on Washington, 1963
- War on Poverty: Office of Civil Rights, 1965-1968
- We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death: Freedom Riders in the South, 1961
Archives Unbound: Business and Economic History This link opens in a new window
Collections of primary sources in U.S. business, labor, and economic history.
Includes these collections:
- Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League
- Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Commercial Relations, 1910-1949
- Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Commercial Relations, 1950-1963
- National Farm Worker Ministry: Mobilizing Support for Migrant Workers, 1939-1985
- Quest for Labor Equality in Household Work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979
- Revolution in Honduras and American Business: The Quintessential "Banana Republic"
- Savings and Loan Crisis: Loss of Public Trust and the Federal Bailout, 1989-1993
Archives Unbound: Native American Studies This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from the collections American Indian Correspondence: Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Missionaries' Letters, 1833-1893 and American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism.
Black Studies (Alexander Street text & video) This link opens in a new window
Text and video from Black Thought & Culture and Black Studies in Video.
Black Thought and Culture (1700 to present) consists of African-American authors of works of non-fiction, including books, interviews, journal articles, letters, & other formats, covering all aspects of the black experience.

Black Studies in Video has documentaries, newsreels, interviews, and archival footage covering history, politics, sociology, art, and culture.
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875 This link opens in a new window
Congressional bills, statutes, debates ,journals.
Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Contains themed collections of over 80,000 declassified and FOIA'd documents that led to U.S. policy decisions.
Consists of over 45 themed collections of more than 90,000 declassified and FOIA'd documents that led to U.S. policy decisions from 1942 to 2014. Includes collections on Afghanistan, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Iran, Japan, Korea, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, and the Soviet Union. Topic collections include The Berlin Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War and more.

Contains documents created 1945-2015.
Documenting the American South This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from several libraries, including books, pamphlets, and manuscripts, all searchable.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Complete runs of digitized major trade and consumer magazines, from their inception to 2000, including Variety, Billboard, and others.
Including the collections "Cinema, Film and Television" and "Music, Radio and The Stage," this archival research resource contains the essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries. Core US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting, and theater, together with film fan magazines, and music press titles, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000.
Harper's Weekly: 1857-1912 This link opens in a new window
Online version of the 19th-century American magazine Harper's Weekly, with original page images and searchable full-text.
Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of articles published by interned Japanese-Americans between 1942 and 1945.
Offers rare first-person accounts and seldom-heard voices. It contains 24,838 pages of articles published by interned Japanese-Americans between 1942 and 1945.

The 25 newspapers presented here are sourced from the Library of Congress. Many of the titles in this archive are complete or substantially complete. Editions have been carefully collated and omissions are noted. Although articles in these files frequently appear in Japanese, most of the papers are in English.
Jewish Life in America, c1654-1954 This link opens in a new window
Digital collection of manuscripts, rare books, and pamphlets, from the American Jewish Historical Society, maps, American Jewish Year Books.
Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
Making of America (Michigan) This link opens in a new window
Digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through Reconstruction. Particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
Making of Modern Law This link opens in a new window
Historical legal treatises, cases, and other primary sources from the United States, Great Britain, and other countries around the world.
Includes the following collections:
- U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 18321978
- Legal Treatises, 18001926
- Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 16001926
- Primary Sources
- Foreign Primary Sources, 16001970
- Trials, 16001926
National Geographic Virtual Library This link opens in a new window
1888-present. Complete archive of National Geographic magazine every page of every issue along with a cross-searchable collection of National Geographic books, maps, images, and videos.
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States This link opens in a new window
Contains material that was compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. Covers the administrations of Presidents Herbert Hoover through Bill Clinton.
Covers the administrations of Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Created by the University of Michigan Digital Library.
Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 This link opens in a new window
Large-scale plans of urban areas. Maps of over 12,000 US cities and towns.
Sanborn maps, large-scale plans of a city or town, were created to assist fire insurance companies assess the risk associated with insuring a particular property. This collection includes 660,000 maps of more than 12,000 American towns and cities.

Veterans' Service Records
Website dedicated to accessing veteran records. Most of the holdings are not available online, but you are able to request them. Includes guides on searching databases, requesting records, and correcting records.

Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of texts related to witchcraft dating from the 15th century to the early 20th century.
This archive on witchcraft includes texts dating from the 15th century to the early 20th century. The majority of the material concerns the so-called "classic period" of the 16th to 18th centuries. In addition to these classic texts, the archive includes:
- Anti-persecution writings
- Works by penologists
- Legal and church documents
- Exposs of persecutions
- Philosophical writings
- Transcripts of trials
- Exorcisms
The majority of these texts, sourced from the Cornell University library, are in Latin, English and German, although there are also selected items in French, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, and Spanish. Covers 1500-1930.
Women and Social Movements (Alexander Street text & video) This link opens in a new window
Primary documents from the history of women in social movements between 1600 and the present.
Includes these collections:
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
- Women and Social Movements, International - 1840 to Present
- Women and Social Movements: Development and the Global South, 1919 - 2019
- Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1820

British History

Archives Direct This link opens in a new window
Archives Direct is a suite of collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew, the official archive of the United Kingdom.
Includes dozens of collections that can be searched together, individually, or as part of the following series:
- Apartheid South Africa, 1948-1980
- Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922
- Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966
- Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969
- Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969
- Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961
- Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980
- Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980
- Foreign Office Files for Japan, 1919-1952
- Foreign Office Files for South East Asia, 1963-1980
- Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981
- Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963
- Nixon Years, 1969-1974
- Women in The National Archives
Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
Early English Books Online (Early Modern Books) This link opens in a new window
Facsimiles of English language texts, 1470-1700.
Digital facsimile page images of works printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, and English-language works printed elsewhere, from 1470-1700.

Beginning with the very first book published in English, EEBO draws from four authoritative bibliographical resources both Pollard & Redgraves Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and Wings Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) in their revised versions, as well as the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) and the Early English Books Tract Supplement to present more than 146,000 titles and over 17 million scanned pages of content.

Transcribed texts TCP I and TCP II are now included on EEBO, adding transcriptions to approximately 50% of the texts featured. EEBO also covers texts in more than 30 languages, ranging from Algonquin to Welsh, and incorporates variant editions and multiple copies.

This collection is included in the more comprehensive database Early Modern Books.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Digital images of books published during the 18th Century. Full-text searching; access to critical information in the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science & more.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Images of original manuscripts related to Empire Studies sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
Covers 1492-1962. Original manuscripts and printed material related to imperialism. Topics include: Cultural Contacts; Empire Writing; the Invisible Empire; Religion and Empire; Race, Class & Colonialism. Covers Africa, the Americas, Australasia, Oceania & South Asia.

Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
U.K. Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
Documents from Parliament, concerning parliamentary affairs, legislation, policy, politics.
Includes over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to 2005, with supplementary material back to 1688.

More info
Internet Library of Early Journals This link opens in a new window
Full-text searchable index to Notes and Queries; subject index to Gentleman's Magazine and other major 18th- and early 19th-century journals.
Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new window
Essays, photos, diaries, day surveys, directive replies covering the social and cultural history of Great Britain from 1937 to 1965, including abortion, old age, crime, eating habits, shopping, fashion, dance, popular music, sex, sport, reading, ethnic minorities, and the decline of Empire.
Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Digital primary source collections of the long nineteenth century.
Primary source collections of the long nineteenth century, including monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more from around the world, including from national libraries, academic and public libraries, and a variety of special collections, archives, and repositories.

Currently contains four collections:
- Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
- British Politics and Society
- British Theatre, Music and Literature: High and Popular Culture
- European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection
State Papers Online, 1509-1782 This link opens in a new window
Searchable archive of 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century British State Papers, Domestic and Foreign.
Includes these collections:
Part I: The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Domestic
Part II: The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Foreign, Scotland, Borders, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council
Part III: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Domestic
Part IV: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Foreign, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council
Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782, Part I: State Papers Domestic, Military, Naval and Registers of the Privy Council
Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782, Part 2: State Papers Foreign, Low Countries and Germany
Virginia Company Archives This link opens in a new window
Records relating to the Virginia Company, 1606-1624.
Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.

World History

Archives Direct This link opens in a new window
Archives Direct is a suite of collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew, the official archive of the United Kingdom.
Includes dozens of collections that can be searched together, individually, or as part of the following series:
- Apartheid South Africa, 1948-1980
- Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922
- Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966
- Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969
- Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969
- Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961
- Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980
- Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980
- Foreign Office Files for Japan, 1919-1952
- Foreign Office Files for South East Asia, 1963-1980
- Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981
- Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963
- Nixon Years, 1969-1974
- Women in The National Archives
Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Topically-focused digital collections of historical documents.
Archives Unbound: African Studies This link opens in a new window
Primary text collections.
Includes these collections:
- Egypt: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1853-1962
- Evangelism in Africa: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1835-1910
- Liberation Movement in Africa and African America
- Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1918-1935
Archives Unbound: Holocaust Studies This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from the collections Correspondence from German Concentration Camps and Prisons and Jewish Underground Resistance: The David Diamant Collection, 1939-1945.
Archives Unbound: Middle Eastern Studies This link opens in a new window
Primary source collections from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Includes these collections:
- Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Classified Files
- Arab-Israeli Relations, 1917-1970: The Middle East Online Series 1
- Evangelism and the Syria-Lebanon Mission: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1869-1910
- Iran (Persia): Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1883-1959
- Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Trans-Jordan: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1836-1944
- The Middle East Online: Iraq 1914-1974
- Records of the Persian Gulf War
First World War: Personal Experiences, Propaganda & Recruitment, Visual Perspectives & Narratives, and A Global Conflict This link opens in a new window
Primary source material for the study of the First World War, from personal narratives and printed books to military files, propaganda pamphlets, and visual documents.
The material is complemented by a range of contextual secondary material, including scholarly essays, case studies, and interactive maps. Contains four modules: Personal Experiences, Propaganda & Recruitment, Visual Perspectives & Narratives, and A Global Conflict.

Digitized materials include:
Diaries and journals
Letters
Personal narratives and reminiscences
Trench literature and soldiers journals
Postcards
Scrapbooks and albums
Photographs and 360 views of personal items and objects
Sketches and paintings
Ephemera
Sheet music
Photographs
Film
War art
Cartoons and comics
Propaganda and recruiting posters
Extracts from local newspapers
Minute books
Papers of the Ministry of Information
Papers of the Kriegspresseamt
Tribunal case files
Instructions for the distribution of propaganda
Leaflets and Pamphlets
Trench maps

Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
Digitized manuscripts & visual primary source material for the study of global commodities in world history.
Emphasis is on transport, exchange, and consumption of commodities represented. Types of materials include business accounts, mercantile papers, government reports, dock records, and advertisements. Materials are drawn from several libraries, and cover these commodities: chocolate, coffee, cotton, fur, opium, oil, porcelain, silver and gold, spices, sugar, tea, timber, wheat, and wine and spirits.

Tips for using this collection are available in the Adam Matthew Digital Help Centre.
LA84 Foundation Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Sports publications, including academic journals, scholarly books, popular sports magazines of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and an extensive offering of Olympic publications.
Making of Modern Law This link opens in a new window
Historical legal treatises, cases, and other primary sources from the United States, Great Britain, and other countries around the world.
Includes the following collections:
- U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 18321978
- Legal Treatises, 18001926
- Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 16001926
- Primary Sources
- Foreign Primary Sources, 16001970
- Trials, 16001926
Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Collection devoted to the transatlantic history of slavery; includes books, manuscripts, court records, and serials from US and European archives.
Includes four parts:
Part I) Debates over Slavery & Abolition
Part II) Slave Trade in the Atlantic World
Part III) The Institution of Slavery
Part IV) The Age of Emancipation
World Newspaper Archive This link opens in a new window
Provides full text searchable access to historical newspapers published in Africa, East Europe, Latin America, and South Asia.
World Newspaper Archive is a fully-searchable, digital collection of historical newspapers newspapers from around the world. It includes a gradually expanding digitized backfiles of 19th and 20th century newspapers from Africa (1800-1922), East Europe (1835-1922), Latin America and Latin America Series 2 (1805-1922) and South Asia (1864-1922). As the project expands, it will grow to include newspapers from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
World Scholar: Latin America and the Caribbean This link opens in a new window
Primary source material from archives in the United States & Europe. The historical collections include original manuscripts, signed letters, expedition records, reports, maps, diaries, descriptions of voyages, ephemera, & more. Covers 1492 - late 20th century.