Research Guides: History: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

In History Research, Primary Sources are used to provide evidence on how people lived and thought in the time period that we are studying.

Features of Primary Sources are:

They can be any format.
- Most commonly people use personal papers like letters, diaries, or speeches, because they are text-heavy and provide a lot of evidence, but other formats like news, images, datasets, films and music, maps, clothing, etc. can also be very helpful!
They are original and have not been changed or modified.
- Any interpretation of an item is generally considered a Secondary Source.
They are in close proximity to your topic, both in location and time frame.
- For example, a letter from the year and city of the event you are studying is much more helpful than a letter from a neighboring country or from five years after the event.

Don't forget Primary Sources also have to be cited! Use the Citation Guidelines if you have questions, and you can always email Annie with questions!

Historical Newspapers and Periodicals

17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers

17th and 18th century collection of English news media including newspapers, newsbooks, proclamations, and pamphlets.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collections
A collection of American magazines and journals published from 1691 to 1877.
Early American Newspapers, Series I (1690-1876)
Historical newspapers from early America.
Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926
Offers a perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late fifteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth century.
American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900

American magazines and journals published prior to 1900.
Washington Post - Historical Newspapers
Archival access to the Washington Post, 1877 - current (minus the last 17 years). One more year of content is added annually.
New York Times - Historical Newspapers
Archival access to The New York Times from 1851 - present (minus the last 4 years). One more year of content is added annually.
British Library Newspapers
Comprehensive range of national, regional, and local newspapers in Victorian Britain, in partnership with the British Library.

Statistics and Data

United States Census Bureau

Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.

National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS)
The IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides free online access to summary statistics and GIS files for U.S. censuses and other nationwide surveys from 1790 through the present.

Manuscripts & Other Collections

Early American Imprints, Series I (Evans)
Explore history through primary source documents like books, broadsides, pamphlets, and other rare printed materials published in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
Books, pamphlets, essays, and broadsides published during the 18th century (1701-1800).
British Literary Manuscripts Online
Facsimile images of literary manuscripts including letters, diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works. Two collections: Medieval & Renaissance, and 1660-1900.
Empire Online
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
English language texts written by pre-Victorian women.
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries
Contains the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
Composed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives, the series provides a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Covers the immediate experience of women in the form of diaries and letters from Colonial times to 1950. The collection also includes biographies and an annotated bibliography of the sources in the database.

Tribal Treaties Database
Agreements between tribal nations and the United States (1778-1886) published in the 1904 work “Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties” (Volume II), compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. A project from the Oklahoma State University Library.