Find Primary Sources in Our Library Catalog
Use the Libraries' WorldCat catalog (the main search box on the library homepage) to find primary sources. Just type in your usual search terms and add one of the terms listed below!
- Sources
- Personal narratives
- Diaries
- Correspondence
- Interviews
- Autobiography
- Memoirs
- Description and travel
- Pictorial works
Library Databases
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowTo narrow your search for information on Missionaries and Africa when using “Empire Online”
First, click on "Documents"
In the left sidebar you will see "Filter by Section" > Check box for Section IV: Religion & Empire
Dropdown "Region" and check box for "Africa"
Click "Apply" at the bottom of the section. - British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive range of national, regional, and local newspapers in Victorian Britain, in partnership with the British Library.
- Hathi Trust This link opens in a new windowRepository of e-texts from 50+ research libraries. Many (public domain) texts freely available, some only available to members of the owning institution.
Search with WorldCat - Artstor This link opens in a new window
Repository of digital images and related data as well as tools to actively use those images. Note: In order to download or save images, register for a login with your campus email address. You can also share with other users.
- The Times Digital Archive, 1785-current (5-year embargo) This link opens in a new windowPublished in London, The Times is one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage.
- Atla Historical Monographs Collection - Series 1 This link opens in a new window
Titles from the 13th century through the 1893 World Parliament of Religions with the majority of titles from the 19th century.
- Atla Historical Monographs Collection - Series 2 This link opens in a new window
Titles published from 1894 through 1922. This collection offers material on the significant shifts in the religious identification of Americans and the growing interest and experimentation with non-Western religions.
Open Online resources
- europeana collectionsExplore 58,504,107 artworks, artefacts, books, films and music from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives
- Smithsonian Open Access CollectionDownload, share, and reuse more than 3 million 2D and 3D digital items from the Smithsonian collections. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
Primary Source Books
18th & 19th century Africa travel books at Alcuin Library
These books are available to view by contacting Matthew Heintzelman at HMML. Links to digitized versions are included when available.
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Allen, William, and T.R.H. Thomson. A Narrative of the Expedition Sent by Her Majesty’s Government to the River Niger in 1841. Two volumes. London: Richard Bentley, 1848.
Volume one: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015050597452
Volume two: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3114048
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Bruce, James. Voyage aux sources du Nil, en Nubie et en Abyssynie, pendant les années 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, & 1772. 13 of 14 volumes, plus atlas. Londres, 1790-1792.
An English edition in four large volumes is also available (not yet cataloged).
English edition printed in Dublin: http://find.gale.com/.../
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Burton, Richard F. First Footsteps in East Africa; or, An Exploration of Harar. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1856.
The print edition from 1894 is available at Alcuin Library: https://CSBSJU.on.worldcat.org/oclc/3941533
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Falconbridge, A.M. Narrative of Two Voyages to the River Sierra Leone, during the years 1791, ---2, ----3. London: Printed for L.I. Higham, 1802.
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Park, Mungo. The Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa, in the year 1805. London: Printed for John Murray, 1815.
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Poole, Sophia Lane. The Englishwoman in Egypt; Letters from Cairo written during a residence there in 1842, 3, & 4. Philadelphia: G.B. Zieber & Co., 1845.
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Riley, James. Loss of the American Brig Commerce, Wrecked on the Western Coast of Africa, in the Month of August, 1815, with an Account of Tombuctoo, and of the Hitherto Undiscovered Great City of Wassanah. London: John Murray, 1817.
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Waddington, George, and Barnard Hanbury. Journal of a Visit to Some Parts of Ethiopia. London: John Murray, 1822.
HathiTrust: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015067872252
Humanities Librarian
Find Primary Sources Online
Primary sources are increasingly available online as historical societies, museums, and other organizations digitize their primary source collections. Try adding the terms below to your online search:
- "primary sources"
- interview
- "oral history"
- "digital library"