Research Guides: United States History: Finding Primary Sources

Finding Primary Sources

Primary sources are a moving target because what constitutes a primary source very much depends on your research.

What is a primary source?

Search Albert (Library catalog) for "personal narratives" in book form. For example, civil war and "personal narratives" would search the subject headings and titles and return some suggested books or video that fit. Try other subjects, but stay broad in your search-- colonial and revolution and letters, for instance, or civil rights and diaries. If "personal narratives" doesn't work, try: sources, narratives, letters, diaries, diary, etc.

An example of an overview of historical documents in American history:

Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents. (Ref 973.03 R724) 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, 2004.

Other suggestions if you are having trouble identifying primary sources:

Pay attention to the articles and books that you find on your subject. If they are using historical sources to write what they write, they will cite the primary sources in their citation list.
Check the Web to see if there are other sources you can use-- for instance, for government documents, speeches, interviews, etc.
Newspapers reporting on a contemporary event are considered primary sources.
Ask for help from your professor or your librarian!

The Library has an excellent collection of historical newspapers. Search by event, person, and/or date. Remember that what makes a newspaper a primary source is the contemporary account of the event. A retrospective article written years after the event may not be a primary source (it really depends on your research).

American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection 1684-1912 This link opens in a new window
EBSCO partners with American Antiquarian Society (AAS), the premier library documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, to provide digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912.
America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Three centuries of American newspapers, from 1690 to the near present, with titles from every state.
American History, 1493-1945 This link opens in a new window
Documents American history from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century through letters, newspapers articles, diaries, and ephemera.

California Digital Newspapers - A freely accessible repository of digitized California newspapers from 1846 to the present."

Chronicling America - Online newspapers from 1860 to 1922. Browse by state, or do a general search. From the Library of Congress.

Civil War: Antebellum Period to Reconstruction This link opens in a new window
A collection of historical newspapers, congressional documents, broadsides and ephemera that relate to the American Civil War.
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 This link opens in a new window
Hundreds of searchable newspapers published in the United States by Hispanics
New York Times (Historical) This link opens in a new window
This database offers full-page-images and article images from the New York Times dating back to 1851. Digital reproductions of each page in downloadable PDF files.
San Francisco Chronicle This link opens in a new window
Browse and search the complete run of the San Francisco Chronicle from its start in 1865 to the present day. Image content available from 1865-1993 and 2017 to today's issue. Text only from 1994-2016. Web content from 2016 to now. (Content provided via our Access World News database interface.)

Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
SMC subscribes to Archives Unbound, which has specialized primary source collections. These include: "We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death:" Freedom Riders in the South, 1961, Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life (scanned copies of newsletters of many of the relocation camps detailing every day lives in extraordinary times), Personal Justice Denied: Public Hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment, 1981 (relating to the Japanese-American internment), and U.S. Relations with the Vatican and the Holocaust, 1940-1950.

Here are various primary source collections of possible interest (below). If you are looking for something specific, try searching for it on the web. For instance, if you would like the text of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, go to your favored search engine, and put your search in quotes like this: "i have a dream" "martin luther king". The results will be actual video of him making the speech as well as links to the text of the speech. Always put the named object in quotes to keep the words as a phrase. Obviously, only do this if you know what the source is called! This is a great way to find government documents of all sorts, speeches, interviews, and even contemporary news stories if someone has scanned said stories and placed them on the web. Please do ask for help if you can't find what you are looking for!

American Presidency - A Website from UC Santa Barbara with an online archive of presidential papers (searchable), plus documents relating to the presidency itself.

Black Freedom Struggle in the United States - primary sources from 1790 to the present relating to the civil and human rights of African Americans.

Documents for the Study of American History - Bibliography of primary documents available on the Internet. Most of the documents fall between Colonial times and the end of the 1800's. Look chronologically for the document you need. From the University of Kansas.

Immigration to the United States 1789-1930 - From the Open Collections Program at Harvard University, this online exhibit features diaries, letters, maps, books, pamphlets, and photographs, primarily from the 19th century, focused on the influx of immigrants to America.

Library of Congress Digital Collections provides primary textual and graphical sources relating to American history and culture. Searchable.

National Archives and Records - Explore the exhibits for propaganda posters from World War II, and the "People at War". View photographs of Chicago's African American community, and historical documents such as the Emancipation Proclamation. Searchable.

Pacifica Radio Archives - an online source for interviews and other audio, providing excellent primary sources for a variety of events worldwide.