Subject Portal » History - Primary Sources
librarians:
- Anne Garrison (SC)
- James Gulick (HC)
- Eric Pumroy (BMC)
- Margaret Schaus (HC)
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Accessible archives
Contains full-text primary resource materials in American history including newspapers, magazines, and genealogical records originally only offered on microfilm. Covers 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
African American newspapers
Contains a wealth of information about the cultural life and history during the 1800s, and is rich with first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day, including presidential and congressional addresses, Congressional abstracts, business and commodity markets, the humanities, world travel and religion. They also contain large numbers of early biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements all of which embody the African-American experience.
American broadsides and ephemera. Series I
"Based on the American Antiquarian Society's landmark collection ... American Broadsides and Ephemera offers fully searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900. The remarkably diverse subjects of these broadsides range from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters to official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports. Featuring many rare items, the pieces of ephemera include clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, bill heads, theater and music programs, stock certificates, menus and invitations documenting civic, political and private celebrations."--Help screen.
American Memory
Provides information on, and access to, digitized versions of primary-source collections on American history and culture, including photographs, documents, sound recordings, and motion pictures.
American state papers, 1789-1838
Provider: Readex
Provides access to U.S. congressional materials from 1789 through 1838, including 1st Congress, 1st Session through 25th Congress, 2nd Session.
America's historical newspapers
Provider: Readex
Ser.I, 1690-1876. This collection provides images and full-text content access to historic newspapers listed in Clarence Brigham's authoritative bibliography, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820, and in additional subsequent bibliographies. -- Ser.II, 1758-1900. This collection focuses on the 18th- and 19th-century newspapers. -- Ser. III, 1829-1922. This collection focuses on the 19th- and 20th-century newspapers including Civil War, Reconstruction, the Progressive Era and beyond.
ArchiveGrid
Provides access to nearly a million collection descriptions from thousands of libraries, museums, and archives. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.
ArchivesUSA
Provides descriptions of manuscripts, archive collections and other primary resource materials. This resource also serves as a directory of primary resource repositories located in the United States. Coverage varies.
ARTFL project
Provides full-text access to classical French writings. Includes literary works, political tracts, philosophical writings, dictionaries, and technical treatises. Emphasis on 18th, 19th, and 20th century publications with some coverage for earlier eras.
Documenting the American South
A collection of sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the twentieth century.
Early American imprints. Series I, Evans (1639-1800)
Provider: Readex
Covers American history and literature from the colonial period to the eighteenth century. Provides full-text digitization of the Early American Imprints microform set, Series I (1639-1800).
Early American imprints. Series II, Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)
Provider: Readex
Covers American history and literature from the colonial period to the eighteenth century. Provides full-text digitization of the Early American Imprints microform set, Series II (1801-1819). Covering every aspect of American life during the early decades of the United States.
Early English books online text creation partnership.
Offers text editions for a significant portion of the Short Title Catalog of Early English books published between 1473 and 1700. Currently contains digital images for 125,000 works, distributed under the title Early English Books Online. Upon completion this resource will contain 25,000 searchable and readable editions that link to a corresponding image file. Covers 15th to the 18th century.
Early English books online.
Contains digital images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700. Includes books, pamphlets, manuscripts and newspapers.
Eighteenth Century collections online.
Offers full-text access to English-language titles and editions published between 1701 and 1800 including books, pamphlets, almanacs, Bibles and treatises. Subjects covered include history, geography, fine arts, medicine, science, literature, language, religion, philosophy and law. Significant collections of women writers, collections on the French Revolution, and numerous eighteenth-century editions of the works of Shakespeare are also included.
Empire on-line.
Offers images of original documents taken from libraries and archives around the world including correspondence, diaries, literature and illustrations. Includes essays by leading scholars in the field of Empire Studies. Covers a range of topics and includes Africa, the Americans, Australasia, Oceania and South Asia. Includes documents published between 1492-1969.
Gallica
Gallica is a digital library of French and francophone culture maintained by the Bibliothque nationale de France. Contains numerous electronic texts, images, maps, animation, and sound files of French and other publications in history, literature, science, philosophy, law, economics, and political science. Covers the Middle Ages to the present.
Harper's weekly
Holdings:
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1857-1912.
Publisher: [New York, Harper's Magazine Co., etc.]
Provides citations to Harper's Weekly magazine. Also contains browsable full-text of Harper's Weekly from the Civil War Era to the Gilded Age. Covers 1857-1912.
Historical newspapers online
Provides online indexing to the Times (London) from 1790-1980 and the New York Times from 1851-1923. Offers information in a variety of fields including history, politics, economics, business and journalism.
In the first person
Provides in-depth indexing of English language personal narratives, including letters, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, and oral histories from thousands of collections around the world. Dates of coverage vary.
LexisNexis Congressional
Provides daily updated information on the U.S. legislature, including full text of bills starting in 1989, public laws starting in 1988, committee reports starting in 1990, House and Senate documents starting in 1995, Congressional Record starting in 1985, Federal Register starting in 1980, National Journal starting in 1977 and other government information.
Library of Latin texts
Contains texts from the beginning of Latin literature (Livius Andronicus, 240 BC) through to the texts of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Covers works from the classical period, important patristic works, an extensive corpus of Medieval Latin literature as well as works of recentior latinitas. Also includes the complete works of writers such as Cicero, Virgil, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas a Kempis. Texts taken from the Corpus Christianorum series and from other editions.
Making of America
Provides access to approximately 10,000 books and over 50,000 journal articles in the University of Michigan and Cornell University Libraries from the antebellum through reconstruction periods. Covers American social history focusing especially on education, psychology, religion, science, and technology.
Making of America
Collection of 19th-century books and journals serving as primary sources in American social history. Includes search engine.
Nation (New York, N.Y. : 1865)
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1865-present except most recent 1 month(s).
(Haverford College) Available from 1988-2005.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1865-present except most recent 1 month(s).
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : J.H. Richards,
Contains scanned page images and searchable text for all issues of The Nation published from 1865. Covers 1865-present.
The New York times on the Web
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1851-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1851-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1851-present.
Publisher: [New York, N.Y.] : New York Times.
Offers full-page-images and article images from the New York Times from its first issue in 1851 to three years before the current date. The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable image files. An ongoing project covers 1851 to 3 years before the current date.
Pennsylvania gazette
Holdings:
Full text from: Folio 1 (1728) - Folio 4 (1800)
Publisher: Malvern, PA : Accessible Archives, [1728-1800]
Provider: AA
Provides full-text access to the Pennsylvania gazette a newspaper published in Philadelphia from 1728-1800. This archive is fully digitized.
Pennsylvania Newspaper Record
Contains full-text transcriptions of articles, advertisements and statistics from newspapers published in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Covers works published from 1819-1870.
Triptych
Provides access to the digital collections of Bryn Mawr College Special Collections, Haverford College Special Collections, Swarthmore College Friends Historical Library and Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Includes primary source material in the areas of advertising, botany, peace studies, Quakerism, theater, women's studies and more.
U.S. Congressional serial set
Provider: Readex
The online version of the multi-volumes resource that contains all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Provides primary source material on all aspects of American history. A work in progress; 1817 - 1926 completed thus far.
Washington post (Washington, D.C. : 1974)
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1877-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1977-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1877-present.
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The Washington Post Co.,
Offers full-page-images and article images from the Washington Post. The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable image files. Covers 1877 - 1991.
Women and social movements in the United States 1600-2000
This resource provides documents pertaining to women and social movements. Includes document projects that interpret and present documents to address a question or a scholarly debate. Also includes images, a dictionary of social movements, a chronology and teaching tools. Covers the 17th century to the 21st century.