Krupp Library: History 9: Early Modern World: Finding Primary Sources

What is a Primary Source?

Cartoon shows King George, dressed as an old woman, the Queen, and the Prince of Wales Gillray, James, Artist. Monstrous Craws, at a New Coalition Feast, 1787. [London: Pubd. by S. W. Fores, th] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/97515727/.

Primary sources are original materials. They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation. Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based. They are usually the first formal appearance of results in physical, print or electronic format. They present original thinking, report a discovery, or share new information.

Examples of primary sources include: artifacts, audio recordings, diaries, interviews, letters, newspaper articles, original documents, photographs, records of organizations, speeches, video recordings, and works of art.

Primary Sources in Subscription Databases

All subscription databases include primary sources, as well as articles, critical essays, and other types of information. So, when you search for information, you can select primary sources from the results of your search. See the screenshot below that shows the types of resources, including primary sources, available in one database after a search for "Cold War era." If you only want to see the primary sources, just click on that link.

Large Primary Source Collections on the Web

Digital Public Library of America
DPLA has resources from libraries, museums and archives.
You can search, explore by date or place, or browse the exhibitions.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Over 18 million digitized items from the Library Congress Collections, including manuscripts, photographs, maps, sound recordings and more.
National Archives
The holdings of the National Archives date back to 1775 and contain public records that trace the story of America, its government, and the American people.
National Library of Israel
Millions of primary sources including images, videos, photographs, music, manuscripts, maps and newspapers about Jewish history and culture. There is also a section for educators with primary source sets, lesson plans, and interactive activities on many topics.
Wilson Center Digital Archive: International History Declassified
Explore 6 themes in U.S. and world history. Each theme includes an overview of the topic, a timeline, and primary source documents.

Primary Sources on the Web by Topic

Cold War History
Archival documents on the Cold War era from the once secret archives of former communist countries. From the Wilson Center Digital Archive.

The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship The Civil Rights Era
The exhibition The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship, showcases the incomparable African American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings, this is the largest black history exhibit ever held at the Library, and the first exhibition of any kind to feature presentations in all three of the Library's buildings.

Imaging the French Revolution
Imaging the French Revolution—an experiment in digital scholarship—is organized in three sections: a collection of 42 images, essays about the images and the historical events they depict, and discussions of interpretation, methodology, and the impact of digital media on scholarship.
more...less...
A project of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History & New Media, George Mason University and the Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles for the American Historical Review.
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution
LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY: EXPLORING THE FRENCH REVOUTION provides an accessible and lively introduction to the French Revolution as well as an extraordinary archive of some of the most important documentary evidence from the Revolution, including 338 texts, 245 images, and a number of maps and songs.
more...less...
a collaboration of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (George Mason University) and American Social History Project (City University of New York), supported by grants from the Florence Gould Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities

After 500 Years: The Protestant Reformation from University of Arizona special collections.

Click on the menu button (top left of the home page) to see this online overview of the Reformation, with pamphlets, texts, illustrations and more. Topics include: Late Medieval Catholicism, Renaissance and Humanism, Printing, Luther's Life and Theology, the Bible, Other Reformers, Confessional Conflicts, Impact on Daily Life, and Afterlife of Reformation.

From the Reformation to the Thirty Years War (1500-1648)

A combination of primary source documents and articles from German History in Docments and Images (GHDI). Click on Introduction for articles covering the period. Each section has been compiled by one or two leading scholars.

Martin Luther from PBS

Martin Luther as Priest, Heretic, and Outlaw: The Reformation at 500 from the Library of Congress European Division.

A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the US Constitution
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History invites visitors to explore more than 800 artifacts from its More Perfect Union collection. Archival photography, publications, original manuscripts, artworks, and handmade objects comprise this outstanding collection of items related to the Japanese American experience.
Calisphere: World War II
A University of California online exhibition featuring primary sources that document changes to life and the social and economic structures in California during the 2nd World War.
Voices of the Manhattan Project
"Voices of the Manhattan Project" is a joint project by the Atomic Heritage Foundation and the Los Alamos Historical Society to create a public archive of our oral history collections of Manhattan Project veterans and their families. Our online collection features 400 audio/visual interviews with Manhattan Project workers and their families

Newspapers, Data and Statistics, and other Sources of Historical Information

Boston Globe Historical Newspapers 1872-1990 This link opens in a new window
Every issue of each title includes the complete paper, cover-to-cover, with full-page and article images in easily downloadable PDF format. Researchers can study the progression of issues over time through these historical newspaper pages, including articles, photos, advertisements, classified ads, obituaries, editorial cartoons, and more.
Google News Archive This link opens in a new window
Google has digitized newspapers from around the world and made them available on the web. Search or browse the newspapers to find articles of interest.
New York Times: Historical, current, and also the Learning Network This link opens in a new window
1. Visit nytimes.com/passes to activate your school New York Times digital pass.

2. On nytimes.com/passes, click on "Register" and create a free account using your school email address. If you already have registered a free NYTimes.com account associated with your school email address, log in with those credentials.

3. Validate your email address. Check your email inbox for a confirmation message from The New York Times. Click on the link in your confirmation message to validate your email address and claim your New York Times Academic Pass. This will bring you back to the academic pass page, where you will select whether you are a student or faculty member and select your graduation year if relevant.

Data USA
Why look here?
Data USA is a great spot to find data about occupations, education, locations, and industries.
What's included?
The data is culled from governmental websites and is presented in visualizations.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
The Voyages Database contains records of nearly 35,000 separate slaving voyages between 1514 and 1866, gleaned from original documents and historical publications located in archives, libraries, and other institutions throughout the world. Each record in the Voyages Database offers information on a single slaving voyage; some of the details include the country of origin, the individual(s) who sponsored it, the voyage itself (its itinerary, dates of travel, and outcome), captains and crew members, slaves transported, and the sources providing this voyage information.

Civil War Maps
Brings together materials from three premier collections: the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of Virginia. Among the reconnaissance, sketch, and theater-of-war maps are the detailed battle maps made by Major Jedediah Hotchkiss for Generals Lee and Jackson, General Sherman's Southern military campaigns, and maps taken from diaries, scrapbooks, and manuscripts all available for the first time in one place.
Historical Maps from Library of Congress
This category documents the discovery and exploration with both manuscripts and published maps. Many of these maps reflect the European Age of Discoveries, dating from the late 15th century to the 17th century when Europeans were concerned primarily with determining the outline of the continents as they explored and mapped the coastal areas and the major waterways. Also included are 18th and 19th century maps documenting the exploration and mapping of the interior parts of the continents, reflecting the work of Lewis and Clark and subsequent government explorers and surveyors.

Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley
The Oral History Center (OHC), a division of The Bancroft Library, documents the history of California, the nation, and the interconnected global arena. OHC produces carefully researched, audio/video-recorded and transcribed oral histories and interpretative historical materials for the widest possible use.