Humanities Librarian
28 Westhampton Way
804-289-8823
What Are Primary Sources
For a student of rhetoric, primary sources are texts of any kind, not just verbal, but visual, and physical--any medium, in short, in which the structure that manifests ideas or information carries a message of its own. Thus the resources listed below will lead you to many types of texts, from printed and video news reports to works of art to social media.
Primary Resources & Archival Collections
- Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Search for primary sources on the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. The content dates from the sixteenth century to the present. (Gale)
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new windowSearch for primary source documents on the role of women in movements throughout American history. Documents include publications by State and Local Commissions on the Status of Women (1963-2000), writings of hundreds of black women suffragists (1830-1960), proceedings of the National Women's Anti-Slavery Conventions in the 1830s, publications of the League of Women Voters (1920-2000), and more. (Alexander Street Press)
- Everyday Life & Women in America c.1800-1920 This link opens in a new windowSearch for primary source documents that offer insights into the daily lives of women during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This database contains books, pamphlets, periodicals, and broadsides that address political, social, and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes. (AM)
- Women's Studies Archive This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents focusing on the evolution of feminism and political activism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics covered include suffrage, abolition of slavery, alcohol and temperance movements, birth control, pacifism, civil rights, socialism, and more. Also included is a collection that focuses on "female forerunners," women who broke new paths in society through business, social reform, popular culture, health care, and more. (Gale)
- North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new windowSearch a collection of letters and diaries written from colonial times to 1950 by famous and not-so-famous women from all age groups, life stages, ethnicities, and geographical regions. (Alexander Street Press)
- Women's Periodicals: Social and Political Issues This link opens in a new window
Search for articles from historical women's periodicals published from the late 18th century to the early 1930s. Some of the titles were conceived and published by men, for women; others were conceived and published by male editors with strong input from female assistant editors or managers; while others were conceived and published by women, for women. These periodicals illuminate the lives of women, the role of women in society, and the development of the public lives of women as the push for women's rights—woman suffrage, fair pay, better working conditions—grew in the United States and England. (Gale)
- Women, War and Society, 1914-1918 This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents that illuminate the broad scope of British women's activities during World War I. The database includes materials from the Imperial War Museum in London, such as charity and international relief reports, pamphlets, photographs, press cuttings, magazines, posters, correspondence, minutes, records, diaries, memoranda, statistics, circulars, regulations and invitations, and interpretative essays from leading scholars. (Gale)
- Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents on the prosecution of witchcraft from the 15th century to the early 20th century. Documents include anti-persecution writings, works by penologists, legal and church documents, exposés of persecutions, philosophical writings, and transcripts of trials and exorcisms. (Gale)
U.S. News Sources
- Access World News (Historical and Current) This link opens in a new windowSearch for articles from thousands of US and global news sources. It includes some audio and video news sources, as well as traditional newspapers. (Newsbank/Readex)
- Newswires This link opens in a new window
Access near real-time news from the past 30 days from the Associated Press, United Press International, CNN Wire, and Business Wire. (EBSCO)
- Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new windowSearch for newspaper articles from hundreds of national and regional newspapers, as well as transcripts of television and radio news. (EBSCO)
- New York Times Historical Newspaper & Index This link opens in a new windowAccess the archives of the New York Times from 1851-2019. (ProQuest)
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowSearch for newspaper articles and legal materials such as court cases, legislation, statutes, regulations, law reviews, and more. (Lexis-Nexis)
- Richmond Times-Dispatch (1903-present) This link opens in a new windowSearch the complete archives of the Richmond Times-Dispatch from its inception in 1903. PDF scans are available from 1903-present and transcriptions of individual articles are available from 1985-present. (Newsbank/Readex)
- Wall Street Journal Historical Newspaper This link opens in a new windowAccess the archives of the Wall Street Journal from 1889-2011. (ProQuest)
- GovinfoThe U.S. Government Publishing Office's online portal to government information.
- Congressional (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowSearch for Congressional hearings, reports, testimony, bills, laws, and regulations from the first Congress to the current Congress. (ProQuest)
Other Visual Resources
- Advertising Archivesvintage images from the UK.
Finding Images
- Artstor This link opens in a new windowAccess thousands of images from art, architecture, archaeology, decorative arts and design, and visual culture in general. The content comes from museums, individual photographers, scholars, special collections at libraries, and photo archives. (ITHAKA)
- Creative CommonsYou can use this web site to find images that the creators/license owners are willing to share.
- FlickrPhoto sharing web site.
- Google ImagesAs easy as any Google search.
- PexelsFree stock photos. Search by topic, style, even dominant color.
- UnsplashFreely usable images of people, places, and spaces. Artsier than those in Pexels.
Social Media
Of course you're familiar with social media, but you may not have thought of it as a resource for finding primary resource material.
- Twitter Search PageHere is a guide to searching Twitter
https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-advanced-search - Tip on Searching Twitter from an Expert"The one word journalists should add to Twitter searches that you probably haven’t considered"
- Twitonomyanayses of Twitter activity, hashtags, users, etc,
- BacktweetsSearch for links on Twitter.