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World War One

Primary and secondary resources on the history or World War I

Introduction to Finding Primary Sources

The resources here and through the links in the tabs to the left are a brief sampling of the available primary sources on World War I. Explore these collections and resources first.

If you're having trouble finding primary sources on your research question, contact me, and I can help you find more options!

Find Printed & Online Primary Sources in the Library Catalog

Many primary-source documents from the early 20th century have been reproduced in books commonly held in research libraries. You can use Library Search to retrieve this material.

Try adding keywords such as Correspondence, Diaries, Interviews, Personal Narratives, and Sources along with your research topic to identify printed primary sources.

When you find a title of interest, such as personal narratives from the first World War, select the hyper-linked subjects in the item record to find additional titles. For example, the heading: World War, 1914-1918--Personal Narratives.

Broad Primary Source Database Collections

These databases contain primary and some secondary source content from a broad historical time period, which includes World War I. Try browsing the categories of sources to find relevant material.