American Memory
No search for primary-source material is complete without a virtual visit to American Memory at the Library of Congress. This vast online collection can be keyword searched or browsed by topic, time period, or media types that include manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, photos, video recordings, and more.
Highly Recommended
U.S. National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration is a rich resource for U.S. history. Only a relatively small portion of the collection is available online, however. Begin on the Research page, which includes access to the [National] Archives Library Information Center (ALIC).
The Archival Facility for NARA's Mid-Atlantic Region is located in Center City Philadelphia.
Video Online
Making of America
"Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology" (University of Michigan).
- Making of America Books - The book collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books with 19th century imprints.
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Making of America Journals - Over 50,000 journal articles currently available.
DocSouth
"Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs" (University of North Carolina).
Civil Rights Archive
"In 1965, Robert Penn Warren wrote a book, now out of print, entitled Who Speaks for the Negro? To research this publication, he traveled the country and spoke with a variety of people who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He spoke with nationally-known figures as well as people working in the trenches of the Movement. The volume contains many of the transcripts from these conversations. The Who Speaks for the Negro? Archive [from Vanderbilt University Libraries] contains digitized versions of the original reel-to-reel recordings, as well as copies of the correspondence, transcripts, and other printed materials related to his research for the provocatively-titled book."
Search for Primary Sources with MultiSearch
BOOKS: Primary-Source U.S. History Databases
The following databases -- four Temple-only, one open-access -- provide electronic reproductions of full-text primary-source books. See also the Find Books tab.
- Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800)
Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans, EAI "is the definitive resource for every aspect of life in the 17th- and 18th-century British colonies of North America and early United States". - Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819) Covering every aspect of life during the first two decades of the 19th-century, this primary source collection provides full-text access to roughly 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
With the recent acquisition of ECCO II, this combined database now contains over 180,000 titles (200,000 volumes) — in essence, every significant English-language and foreign-language book printed in the United Kingdom during the 18th century, along with thousands of titles printed in America. - Google Books This open-access database offers thousands of titles published prior to 1900. The Advanced Book Search, while not as flexible as Diamond or OCLC's Worldcat, nevertheless permits a researcher to limit by title (e.g., Pittsburgh) and date published (e.g. 1865-1890).
- Making of America Books (University of Michigan) "Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction."
- Pennsylvania County Histories to 1900 Full-text, page-image access to county histories written during the late 19th century. Researchers will appreciate the inclusion of beautiful period maps, illustrations, and portraits of prominent individuals. Note: Click "Search American Counties".
PERIODICALS: Primary-Source U.S. History Databases
The following databases -- many Temple-only, a few open-access -- index and in most cases provide electronic reproductions of full-text, primary source magazines, journals, and newspapers.
- African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
Full-text, full-page image coverage of 19th Century America through the prism of the African-American experience. Available titles: Freedom's Journal (1827-1829), The Colored American (1837-1841), The North Star (1847-1851), The National Era (1847-1860), Provincial Freeman (1854-1857), Frederick Douglass Papers (1851-1859), and The Christian Recorder (1861-1902; completed through 1898, excluding 1892). - American Periodicals Series Online This unique and valuable collection contains digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals that originated between 1741, when Andrew Bradford's American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine were launched, and 1900.
- Black Historical Newspapers This database provides full-text, full-page access to six highly influential 20th-century African-American newspapers: Chicago Defender (1909-1975), Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), and now the Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) and the Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988).
- C19: The Nineteenth Century Index C19 indexes millions of documents published between 1790 and 1919. It is comprised of numerous sub-databases. Click on the "i" icon for more information.
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (BETA) This Library of Congress project allows users to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
- Early American Newspapers (EAN), Series 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 EAN Series 1 (1690-1876), 2 (1820-1860), 3 (1861-1900), 4 (1756-1922), and 5 (1777-1922) are major components of NewsBank's Archive of Americana.
- Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1974-1996 FBIS is an important new digital archive of full-text translations of foreign news sources from all areas of the world. Click "i" for more information.
- Google News Archive Paper of Record was a freely accessible database of historical newspaper images from around the world. In January 2009 the site's content disappeared after having been purchased by Google for its Google News Archive, causing much consternation among historians. Click "i" for more information.
- HarpWeek The HarpWeek database contains all the pages of Harper's Weekly (1857-1877) as scanned images, together with a series of manually generated indexes.
- Historical Newspapers Online (title list from UPenn) Nick Okrent, history librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, maintains his own list of primarily U.S. historical newspapers available online. Many but not all of the titles available on Nick's list are freely accessible. Most of the subscription-only newspaper titles listed there are available to Temple affiliates through the databases described and linked to in this box, e.g. Early American Newspapers and others.
- ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers (CRL) "This page highlights and links to past, present, and prospective digitization projects of historic newspapers. The focus is primarily on digital conversion efforts, not full-text collections of current news sources" (Center for Research Libraries).
- Making of America Journals (University of Michigan) "Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction." Over 50,000 journal articles currently available.
- New York Times (1851-2003) Full-text, full-page image access to the most important U.S. newspaper. The NYT is also available full-text, but not full-page image, from our Lexis and Newsbank databases. See the Newspapers Libguide for more information. Update: Now includes the Historical New York Times with Index! The index allows researches to search by location, person, or subject for focused and targeted results.
- Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1800 Full-text access to the newspaper often called the "New York Times of the 18th Century". Invaluable source for the study of colonial American history.
- Pennsylvania Newspaper Record: Delaware County 1819-1870 This database documents the industrialization of the predominantly agrarian culture established by Quaker farmers in the 18th century.
- Reader's Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) This retrospective version of the well-known Reader's Guide indexes 400 popular U.S. magazines of the past century, 200 of which are full-text. Limit by article type (feature, review, short story) and physical description (chart, illustration, etc.).
- Wall Street Journal (1889-1989) Via Proquest's Historical Newspapers database; full-text, full-page image access. The WSJ is also available full-text, but not full-page image, from 1984 to date in the ABI/INFORM database. See the Newspapers Libguide for more information.
MISCELLANEOUS Primary-Source U.S. History Databases
The following databases -- most Temple-only, one open-access -- provide electronic reproductions of full-text primary-source documents including maps, letters, diaries, oral histories, memoirs and other personal narratives. Many of these databases are relevant to the history of other parts of the world such as Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
- African American Experience
The African American Experience (AAE) includes the full-text of over 300 reference works from Greenwood Publishing as well as over 4,000 interviews with former slaves from the WPA slave narratives project. Excellent mix of primary and secondary material. - American Civil War Letters & Diaries This database, like other Alexander Street Press databases, is well indexed. It can be searched by date (including by day), geographic location, and personal event in the life of the diarist (e.g. participation in in a battle, death of a child, etc.)
- Black Thought and Culture Landmark electronic collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major black leaders in North America. Works by teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and others.
- CQ Researcher (1923- ) Founded in 1923 as Editorial Research Reports, CQ Researcher is noted for its in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Reports published weekly. Update: Now includes reports back to 1923!
- Early Encounters in North America
This primary-source database documents the relationships among native, African, and European peoples and the environment in North America from 1534 to 1850. Nearly 1,500 authors and over 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, and memoirs. - The Gerritsen Collection: Women's History Online, 1543-1945 This database constitutes a tremendous collection for the study of women's history around the world, including in the U.S. It contains both books and periodicals spanning roughly the first 400 years of the Modern Era.
- In the First Person (FIRP) FIRP indexes and links to oral histories and other "first-person" accounts available for free on the web, but it no longer indexes primary-source material in other Alexander Street Press databases.
- Letters & Diaries Online Letters and Diaries Online: Social and Cultural History from Alexander Street Press in its entirety forms perhaps the largest online archive of social experiences over time. Click the "i" icon for more information.
- North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, & Oral Histories North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories (IMLD) includes 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information, so providing 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 When complete, this database will be the largest collection of women's diaries and correspondence ever assembled. Spanning more than 300 years, it will bring the personal experiences of 1,500 women to researchers, students, and general readers.
- Oral History Online (OHI) This Alexander Street Press database indexes over 2,700 collections of Oral History in English from around the world. Click "Places" on the Homepage, and then the plus (+) icon next to the words North America > United States > State Name > City Name.
- Oxford African American Studies Center Over 7,500 articles, images, and maps dealing with African American history and culture drawn from Oxford University Press reference sources. A wide range of primary sources are available as well. See also African American Experience, above.
- Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower (The Johns Hopkins University Press) Online version of the 21 volume print collection of the same name, which includes the most significant letters, memoranda, cables, and directives written or dictated by Eisenhower from the years prior to World War II through the full term of his presidency. This collection includes documents, many of them previously classified, from private collections and public archives in the U.S. and U.K., as well as papers from the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
- Pennsylvania Genealogical Catalogue: Chester County 1809-1870 This database is a listing of marriages, deaths and obituaries from the Village Record, published in West Chester, PA. Included, however, is information about emigration patterns, customs and traditions, important events, medical history, biography, etc.
- Sanborn Maps (Digital), 1867-1970 Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 provides digital access to more than 660,000 large-scale maps of more than 12,000 American towns and cities.
- Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974 This database brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
- Slavery, Abolition, and Social Justice, 1490-2007 Important resource for slavery and abolition studies, this database brings together documents and collections covering an extensive time period 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world.
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 A database of 60+ document projects with 1,600+ primary documents & 20,000+ pages of additional secondary material including book reviews. Nice mixture of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources such as encyclopedias and bibliographies.
GOV DOCS: Primary-Source U.S. History Databases
The following databases -- most Temple-only, two open-access -- provide electronic reproductions of full-text primary-source documents originating from domestic and foreign government agencies.
- AccessUN AccessUN is a commercially published index with limited full-text to United Nations documents and publications. It indexes resolutions, treaties, and UN periodicals and includes some full text. Covers the years 1945 to date.
- CQ Historic Documents Published annually since 1972, the Historic Documents Series now contains 34 volumes of primary sources. Each volume includes approximately one hundred documents covering the most significant events of the year.
- Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) After 1974 thousands of previously classified United States government documents were declassified. DDRS was developed to organize this tremendous volume of material and to make it easily accessible to researchers.
- Digital National Security Archive (DNSA) This database maintains full-text access to "more than 63,000 of the most important declassified documents regarding critical U.S. policy decisions" during the 20th century.
- Early Republic The Early Republic currently includes 17 volumes of digitized primary material documenting the actions, debates, and thoughts of the First Federal Congress and its members as collected by the First Federal Congress Project (FFCP) and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Footnote.com Free access to the Constitutional Convention Papers, Continental Congress Papers, George Washington Correspondence, Lincoln Assassination Papers, Pennsylvania Archives, and American Milestone Documents. Click "Original Documents"; search the list of collections on the resulting page for the word "free".
- LexisNexis Congressional with U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection Provides access to the full text of congressional working papers, legislation, information about Congress including member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, financial data, and the full text of the Congressional Record.
- Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926 (MOML) Access the full-text of over 21,000 Anglo-American legal works including casebooks, local practice manuals, form books, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, and speeches. The material has been separated into 99 distinct subject areas to aid in searching.
- Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926 (MOMLT) Books, pamphlets, official and unofficial trial documents, legal transcripts, administrative proceedings, and arbitrations. Covers trials from all countries and languages, but the majority are English-language and published in the U.S. or Great Britain.
- Pennsylvania Archives (1664-1880) Digital version of the multi-volume printed work published by The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, and made available for free on Footnote.com.
- Senate Executive Journals (1789-1921, eventually up to 1980) The digital Senate Executive Journals feature the deliberations of American Senators on a wide variety of events, organizations and people, with a strong focus on nominations across military, judicial and executive branches and on international treaties.
- U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978 Supreme Court Records and Briefs (SCRB) comprises over 150,000 cases from the generation before the American Civil War to the decade of the Vietnam War and Watergate.
STILL IMAGES & VIDEO: Primary-Source U.S. History Databases
Visual materials such as drawings and paintings, still photographs and videos constitute an invaluable record of the past. The following Temple-only databases provide access to millions of such documents.
- AP Images About 800 photos per day feed into this photo archive moments after moving onto the AP's spot picture system. Over 3 million U.S. and international photos, from 1826 to present. Also includes over 60,000 graphics, charts, and timelines.
- ARTstor ARTstor is a digital library of art images, associated information, and software tools designed to enhance teaching, learning and scholarship. ARTstor contains approximately 500,000 images of art, architecture and archeology from a wide range of cultures.
- CAMIO: Catalog of Art Museum Images Online Contains images of works of art from prominent museums around the world. Showcasing a wide range of fine and decorative art, CAMIO provides high-quality art images for education, research and enjoyment. All content is rights-cleared for educational use. Every work in CAMIO is represented by at least one high-resolution image and a description. Many have additional views of the work, sound, video and curatorial notes.
- Films on Demand Films on Demand is a library of thousands of streaming videos (often containing primary-source imagery) from across all disciplines. There are over 5,000 educational films available for immediate online viewing, including over 600 history titles! Temple users can search and view films or specific segments of films. Establishing a user account allows for the creation of playlists from the various films/segments for your own use or for sharing with other Temple users.
- LIFE Photo Archive via Google "Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google."
- National Archives Video via Google Includes 61 United Newsreel Motion Pictures from 1942-1945, as well as 22 Department of the Interior videos from the Depression Era and beyond.
- Vanderbilt University Television News Archive This database encompasses the world's most complete archive of television news. More than 30,000 individual network evening news broadcasts are available from the major U.S. national networks: ABC, CBS, NBC (since August 5, 1968), and CNN (since 1995).
Reference Librarian |
David C. MurrayChat requires JavaScript. Try one of the other communication options below.
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Contact Info:
Paley Library, Room 319
(M-F, 10-6) AND
History Dept., GH, Room 937
(M & Th, 11-noon)
Phone: 215-204-4250
Send Email
Subjects:
History, Latin American Studies (particularly Ancient Mesoamerica), Spanish & Portuguese
 |  |  |
Contact Info:
Paley Library, Room 319
(M-F, 10-6) AND
History Dept., GH, Room 937
(M & Th, 11-noon)
Phone: 215-204-4250
Send Email
Subjects:
History, Latin American Studies (particularly Ancient Mesoamerica), Spanish & Portuguese
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