Research Guides: English: Primary Texts Online

Gale Primary Sources

British Primary Source Databases

Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
Books printed in English from 1473-1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Books, pamphlets, essays, and broadsides published during the 18th century (1701-1800).
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Brings together printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices, and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by scholarly essays, maps, and an interactive chronology.
Women Writers Online/Women Writers Project This link opens in a new window
English language texts written by pre-Victorian women.
The Times Digital Archive, 1785-current (5-year embargo) This link opens in a new window
Published in London, The Times is one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage.
17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
17th and 18th century collection of English news media including newspapers, newsbooks, proclamations, and pamphlets.
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.
British Literary Manuscripts Online This link opens in a new window
Facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. Two collections: Medieval & Renaissance, and 1660-1900.
Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926 This link opens in a new window
This collection covers 65,000+ volumes in North, Central, and South America and the West Indies. Highlights the society, politics, beliefs, culture, and events of the time through political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, and literature.
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Contains the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
In Principio This link opens in a new window
Index to incipits covering Latin literature from its origins to the Renaissance. Click "Enter databases" and then select "In Principio" to use this resource.

Images

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Images from around the world on JSTOR. Get started by browsing all image collections, narrowing down to Artstor collections, or navigating by classifications or geography.

eBook Collections

ProQuest Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
eBooks from a variety of publishers. Includes both a large interdisciplinary subscription and select individual titles purchased by the CSB and SJU Libraries.
ACLS Humanities Ebook This link opens in a new window
Ebooks from a variety of fields in the humanities, developed by scholars.
Project MUSE eBooks This link opens in a new window
Multi-user eBooks from a variety of publishers.
EBSCO eBooks Collection This link opens in a new window
eBooks from EBSCO
CREDO Reference This link opens in a new window
"Background information to start your research." Includes full-text articles from 1200+ dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Reference books by Oxford University Press, including the Oxford Digital Reference Shelf.
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Online reference works from a variety of publishers.

Google Books
Search within and preview millions of books from libraries and publishers worldwide. Note: Google Books' previews shows you varying amounts of a book depending on publishers' preferences; pages might be missing.

Hathi Trust This link opens in a new window
Repository of e-texts from multiple research libraries. Many public domain texts are freely available, and some are only available to members of the owning institution.
Search with WorldCat