LibGuides: HISTORY RESEARCH GUIDE: Primary Source Databases

U.S. History Primary Sources Online

19th Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Collections of 19th century newspapers, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life, among other subjects.

Full-text; 1800 - 1900
AAS Historical Periodicals Collection: 1684-1820 This link opens in a new window
This collection of periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society documents the life of people in the United States from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Primarily American newspapers from the 18th and 19th centuries, including important African-American newspapers. Includes the Pennsylvania Gazette, Frank Leslie's Weekly, suffragist materials, Civil War articles, and Godey's Lady's Book.

Full-text; 1728 - 1899
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
Provide access to U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience, including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.

Full-text; 1827 - 1998
African Americans and Jim Crow, 1883-1922 This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 1,000 fully searchable printed works from the beginning of Jim Crow to post-World War I. These works provide insights into African American culture and life during this period of segregation and disenfranchisement and include such topics as African American identity, relationships with peoples of other nations, and literature.
African Americans and Reconstruction, 1865-1883 This link opens in a new window
Contains nearly 1,400 fully searchable printed works from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of Jim Crow. It includes documents related to African Americans and citizenship, voting rights, literacy, land rights, employment, and more, including the gaps between written law and practice.
American History, 1493-1945 This link opens in a new window
Sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, this resource documents American History from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century.
American History in Video This link opens in a new window
Includes a wide range of documentaries (like those from The History Channel), newsreels including the complete series of both Universal News and United Newsreel and other contemporaneous films.

The technical features make it easy to zoom in on exact moments of footage, make clips, create playlists (of clips by theme, entire films, and anything else anywhere on the web) and share them with a class, for example. There are synchronized scrolling transcripts for every video (and those are searchable, too).; Streaming video; 1900 - 2009
American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new window
Manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books dating from the earliest contact with European settlers to photographs and newspapers from the mid-twentieth century.
American Periodicals Series Online This link opens in a new window
Digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals published from colonial days to the dawn of the 20th century.

Full-text PDF images of original pages; 1741 - 1940
American West This link opens in a new window
Wide range of rare and original documents including printed books, journals, historic maps, broadsides, periodicals, advertisements, photographs, artwork and more.
AM Explorer: Americana This link opens in a new window
Broad collection of primary source documents and papers from American history and popular culture.

Full-text and images
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Provides centralized access for searching and retrieval of archival finding aids for historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives from thousands of libraries, museums, and archives from around the world.

Index
Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, social movements and activism, erotica, and many other interesting topical areas.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a wide array of primary, unpublished archival documents, drawing from institutional, governmental and private collections.
Black Freedom: Struggle in the 20th Century This link opens in a new window
This collections includes federal government records related to the civil rights movement from the FBI investigations to documents from the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations. It also contains organizational papers from major civil rights organizations like SCLC and SNCC. There are personal papers from activists like A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin.
City and Business Directories: Virginia, 1801-1929 This link opens in a new window
Provides historical, personal, and professional information about the inhabitants of Richmond and other Virginia cities, and information about the city’s civic, social, benevolent, and literary organizations.
Cold War Intelligence: The Secret War Between the U.S. and the USSR, 1945-1991 This link opens in a new window
The declassified documentary record about the successes and failures of the U.S. intelligence community in its efforts to spy on the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Images and full-text; 1945-1991
The Daily Worker Online (1924 - 1958) This link opens in a new window
The official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA).

Originally, its articles and campaigns were intended to raise working-class awareness in the US and to promote the tenets of socialism there. However, gradually, The Daily Worker started to appeal to a broader audience, not just rank-and-file Communists. Its main target became the victims of the Great Depression, the masses of the unemployed, the dispossessed, and the marginalized minorities packing American metropolises. Its reports covered a wide range of subjects, from policy reforms to labor strikes, from civil rights to housing and urban planning, from foreign policy to sports, literature, and general culture.
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800) This link opens in a new window
Books on history, culture, religion, commerce, education, literature, poetry, music, politics, travel etc. from the Colonial period through the early 19th century. Includes the supplemental material from the the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Full-text books, scores, and newspapers; 1639 - 1819
Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819) This link opens in a new window
Books from 1801-1819 published in America on the topics of history, culture, religion, commerce, education, literature, poetry, music, politics, travel, etc. Includes the supplemental material from the the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Full-text books, scores, and newspapers; 1801 - 1819
Early American Newspapers [Gift of Edwin S. Snead III, Class of 1951] This link opens in a new window
Newspaper articles on history, culture, religion, commerce, education, politics, and more from the Colonial Period through the Reconstruction Period. [more information about this gift]

Full-text; 1690 - 1879
Electing the President: Proceedings of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions This link opens in a new window
This collection includes the proceedings of the 1832-1988 Democratic National Conventions and the 1856-1988 Republican National Conventions, as well as speeches, debates, votes, and party platforms. Also included are lists of names of convention delegates and alternates. Records of the earliest proceedings are based in part on contemporary newspaper accounts.
Everyday Life & Women in America c.1800-1920 This link opens in a new window
Primary source material for the study of American social, cultural, and popular history in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
FBI Files: Surveillance of Communist and Civil Rights Organizations (1920s-1980s) This link opens in a new window
Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI vigorously investigated and tracked the activities of communist groups and civil rights organizations in the United States. Explore the archives and find files on Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers, HUAC, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abbie Hoffman, Cesar Chavez, Weatherman, Malcolm X, NAACP, SNCC, SCLC, and many more. Also included are files on the Watergate scandal.
Food and Drink in History This link opens in a new window
The materials in this collection illustrate the deep links between food and identity, politics and power, gender, race and socio-economic status, as well as charting key issues around agriculture, nutrition and food production.
Gale In Context: U.S. History This link opens in a new window
Includes reference works, millions of news and periodical articles, and more than 5,000 rare and vital primary source documents that range from slave journals to presidential papers.
HarpWeek, 1857-1912 This link opens in a new window
Archive collection containing volumes of Harper's Weekly magazine covering the the pre-Civil War through pre-World War I periods in American history.

Excellent source for information on persons, places, and events before, during, and following the Civil War and up to the start of WWI.; Full-text and images
Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Full-text archives of six national papers of record and five historically Black papers.

Atlanta Daily World, Chicago Defender, Los Angeles Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, The Atlanta Constitution, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times with Index, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post; Full-text; Dates vary with each newspaper.
Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window
Topics range from American Indians, slavery, poverty, race, ethnicity, migration and health to crime and the Confederate States of America are each placed in historical context by a recognized expert in the field.

Full-text and statistical data; 2006 - present
Historic Documents Series (CQ Press) This link opens in a new window
Each volume includes approximately 70 events with well over 100 documents from the previous year, from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, testimony, and much more.

Citations and full-text; 1972 - present
HistoryMakers Video Archive This link opens in a new window
Over 80,000 stories assembled from oral history interviews with more than 1,500 historically significant African Americans.
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
Provides users with a robust, diverse, informative source that will enhance research and increase understanding of the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political status of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada.
In Response to the AIDS Crisis: Records of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 1983-1994 This link opens in a new window
The Commission’s hearings covered the following topic concerning AIDS: healthcare, treatment, and international aspects of the HIV epidemic; Federal, State, and Local responsibilities; the Southern California epidemic; social and human issues; Executive and Legislative branch issues; current research and clinical trials; HIV epidemic in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; African American communities; Pediatric and Adolescent HIV; Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual communities among Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders; Women and HIV disease and civil rights; religious communities response; and risks of transmission in healthcare settings.
Liberty Magazine, 1924-1950 This link opens in a new window
Represents far more than the original "Weekly for Everybody" and a slice of Americana;it opens a unique and permanent perspective on a nation's daily life, interests and values during a most vital and extraordinary period.
Literature, Culture and Society in Depression Era America: Archives of the Federal Writers' Project This link opens in a new window
This bold, imaginative and wide-ranging enterprise is the key to understanding literature, culture and society in America during the Depression era.

Images; 1933-1943
The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 1600-1926 This link opens in a new window
A collection of legal treatises, historical records and written materials that covers subjects such as: legal history, foreign law, social sciences, economics, and political science.
The Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926 This link opens in a new window
Digital collection of Anglo-American legal treatises from the 19th and 20th centuries, covering almost every aspect of American and British law.

1800-1926; Additional Information: Includes casebooks, local practice manuals, form books, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, and speeches, which allow researchers to trace the evolution of historical and contemporary legal study in the U.S. and Britain during periods of monumental change.
The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of the published records of the American colonies.
The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926 This link opens in a new window
Describes the courtroom dramas that rocked society in America, the British Empire and the world.

1600-1926; Additional Information: Includes unofficially published accounts of trials; official trial documents, briefs and arguments; and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings and arbitrations.
The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1973 This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive collection of records and briefs brought before the nation's highest court by leading legal practitioners.

1832-1973; Additional Information: Includes transcripts, applications for review, motions, petitions, supplements and other official papers of the most-studied and talked-about cases, including many that resulted in landmark decisions.
NAACP Papers: Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files This link opens in a new window
This collection provides a comprehensive view of the NAACP's evolution, policies, and achievements from 1909-1970.

Included are thousands of pages of minutes of directors' meetings, monthly reports from officers to the board of directors, proceedings of the annual business meetings, significant records of the association's annual conferences, plus voluminous special reports on a wide range of issues. The Annual Conferences served both as a major catalyst for attracting publicity and as an important avenue for grass roots participation (through branch delegations) in the affairs of the national organization. The conferences were held in a different city each year. The speeches and the resolutions passed at the annual conferences are excellent ways to study the major concerns of the NAACP on a yearly basis.
NAACP Papers: Branch Department, Branch Files, and Youth Department Files This link opens in a new window
The NAACP branch files in this collection chronicle the local heroes of the civil rights revolution via NAACP branches throughout the United States, from 1913-1972.

The contributions of scores of local leaders attorneys, community organizers, financial benefactors, students, mothers, school teachers, and other participants are revealed in these records. The Branch Department, Branch Files, and Youth Department Files in this collection of NAACP Papers will allow researchers at all levels new opportunities to explore the contributions of NAACP local leaders. The branch files also indicate how effectively the NAACP national office used the branch network to advance the NAACP national program. The Youth Department Files document how the NAACP tapped the energy and talent of college students and other young people at the state and local levels.
NAACP Papers: The NAACP's Major Campaigns -- Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces This link opens in a new window
Major campaigns for equal access to education, voting, employment, housing and the military are covered in this collection.

The education files in this collection document the NAACP's systematic assault on segregated education that culminated in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Files from 1955 –1965 focus on the NAACP's efforts to implement the Brown decision as well as to combat de facto segregation outside of the South. Voting rights was one of the NAACP's earliest major campaigns. The voting rights document in extensive detail the NAACP's campaign against the white primary, discriminatory registration practices, the grandfather clause, and the triumphs of the 1957 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
NAACP Papers: The NAACP's Major Campaigns -- Legal Department Files This link opens in a new window
This NAACP collection consists of the working case files of the NAACP's general counsel and his Legal Department staff for the period from 1956 to 1972.

The files document the NAACP's aggressive campaign to bring about desegregation throughout the United States, particularly in the South. In total, this collection contains over 600 cases from 34 states and the District of Columbia. The cases in this collection pertain to school desegregation, abuses of police procedure, employment discrimination, freedom of speech, privacy, freedom of association, and housing discrimination.
NAACP Papers: The NAACP's Major Campaigns -- Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses This link opens in a new window
The focus of this collection is on the NAACP's efforts to combat lynching, mob violence, discrimination in the criminal justice system, and white resistance to civil rights efforts.

These files are supplemented by materials on segregation and discrimination complaints regarding public accommodations and recreational facilities sent to and investigated by the NAACP, and records on discrimination in employment. A particularly rich set of records in this collection is the NAACP file on one of the most celebrated criminal trials of the 20th century--the case of the Scottsboro Boys. The NAACP's campaign against lynching and mob violence was ideally suited to accomplish the NAACP's early goals of breaching the wall of silence regarding racial discrimination and racial violence, and bringing African Americans into full civic participation. The records pertaining to this campaign shed light on the Great Migration of the early 20th century and the movement of African Americans to urban areas, and NAACP's efforts to respond to urban mob violence, especially during the violence of 1919 as well as later riots. The NAACP's efforts to win passage of a federal law against lynching are also well-documented in this collection.
New York Times Historical Newspaper & Index This link opens in a new window
Full-text (with illustrations and graphics) since 1851, with additional years added as they are digitized.

Full-text; 1851 - 2009 (full-text); 1851-1993 (index)
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive bibliography of women's diaries and correspondence representing all age groups and life stages, all ethnicities, many geographical regions and the famous and the not so famous.

Full-text; 1675 - 1950
Past Portal This link opens in a new window
Materials in the Colonial Williamsburg Library

Versions of rare books, manuscripts, drawings, newspapers, and reports of buildings and people from 18th century and early 19th century Williamsburg, Virginia. Contains the complete run of the colonial newspaper, The Virginia Gazette, to 1870.; Full-text; 2000 - present; Tips for users
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new window
Color images of manuscript and rare printed material as well as photographs, ephemera, and memorabilia.
Public Broadcasting System (PBS) Videos This link opens in a new window
Use to find videos originally broadcast on PBS. Includes several of Ken Burns' series, American Experience, Scientific American Frontiers, and many others.
Richmond Daily Dispatch (1860-1865) This link opens in a new window
Newspaper digital archive from November 1860 to December 1865

The Richmond Daily Dispatch is the result of a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and collaboration between the University of Richmond, Tufts University's Perseus Project, and the Virginia Center for Digital History. There are currently 1384 issues of the paper available online.; Full text digital scans of articles; Nov. 1860 - Dec. 1865
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Library of Congress) (1884-1903) This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive city, regional and state news, primarily for Richmond, Virginia, from Jul 1, 1884 to Jan 25, 1903.

Published as the Richmond Dispatch.
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Newsbank) (1903-present) This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive city, regional and state news, primarily for Richmond, Virginia, from 1903 to present.

Special attention is given to Virginia's tobacco and agriculture industries, as well as numerous large companies such as the CSX Corporation, Bank of Virginia and James River Corporation. Richmond's employment base extends from chemical, food and tobacco manufacturing to biotechnology, semiconductors and high-tech fibers.
Rock's Back Pages This link opens in a new window
Archive of rock and pop music journalism from mainstream publications and niche magazines.

Full-text; 1960 - present; Additional Information: This is based on particular journalists rather than complete publications, so publication coverage is not comprehensive.
Rotunda (UVA) This link opens in a new window
Includes the writings and correspondence of John Adams, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Dolly Madison, James Madison, and George Washington.

Full-text; Varies by collection
Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 - Virginia This link opens in a new window
Large-scale plans of Virginia cities and towns, created to assist fire insurance companies assess the risk associated with insuring a particular property

Map information includes data such as the outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers. ; Full-text digital maps; 1867-1970
Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Primary and secondary resources including an interactive map, scholarly essays, tutorials, a visual sources gallery, chronology, and bibliography.
Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
An easy-to-use resource for current and historical United States Census data and demographic information.

Create reports and maps of the U.S. population for a variety of geographic levels, on topics such as race, sex, age, education, and many more. Social Explorer provides access to data from all Censuses from 1790-present and the American Community Survey, plus additional data on religious congregations. To save your maps and to use all of the database's tools and features, you will need to create a free account.; Web-based maps & downloadable statistics; Varies, 1790 - present
Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Communist Party: Papers of James and Esther Cooper Jackson This link opens in a new window
James E. and Esther Cooper Jackson are African American communists and civil rights activists, best known for their role in founding and leading the Southern Negro Youth Congress (1937-48).

The papers contain clippings (articles by and about Jackson), correspondence of both Esther and James Jackson, including the Jacksons voluminous World War II correspondence with each other, James Jacksons lectures (typescripts and audiocassettes), research notebooks, speeches, and writings (published and unpublished), subject files, correspondence, internal documents and printed ephemera pertaining to the Southern Negro Youth Congress, and to Freedomways, legal and other materials pertaining to the Smith Act indictments of Jackson and other communists, Communist Party internal documents, many of a programmatic nature, and memorabilia and other biographical materials. Individuals represented in the collection include: Carl Bloice, Lloyd Brown, Dorothy and Louis Burnham, Angela Davis, Benjamin Davis, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Eugene and Peggy Dennis, Shirley Graham Du Bois, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Duberman, Viriginia Durr, William Z. Foster, Simon Gerson, Gus Hall, Ollie Harrington, Hosea Hudson, Alphaeus Hunton, Pablo Neruda, John Pittman, Pete Seeger, Edward Strong, Alice Walker, Mary Helen Washington, Jim West, Robert Williams, Henry Winston, and Carl Winter.
Statistical Abstract of the United States (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States, 1878-present.

More information on how to use this resource is available.
Through the Camera Lens: The Moving Picture World and the Silent Cinema Era, 1907-1927 This link opens in a new window
Full-image archives of the major trade publication covering the film industry from 1907-1927

Images and citations; 1907-1927; Additional Information: For those within the film industry, information and opinion were shaped by a number of aggressive trade publications, each competing for the same limited number of subscribers. Chief among these was the Moving Picture World, which, setting a standard for the broadest possible coverage, reviewed current releases and published news, features, and interviews relating to all aspects of the industry.
Virginia Company Archives This link opens in a new window
Digital archive documenting the founding and economic development of Virginia (1590-1790).
Virginia Heritage Project This link opens in a new window
Location tool for archival collections in Virginia

Manuscripts and archives in Virginia dealing with African-American history, the Civil War, individuals in local cities, towns, and counties, and government and politics.; Index of archival finding aids; 2001 - present; Database includes partial archival collections from the University of Virginia, the Library of Virginia, College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech., Virginia State University, Old Dominion University, James Madison University Virginia Military Institute, and the Virginia Historical Society.
Wall Street Journal (1889-2010) This link opens in a new window
Searchable, cover-to-cover archive of the Wall Street Journal
We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death: Freedom Riders in the South, 1961 This link opens in a new window
Full-color scans of documents from the 1961 files in the Federal Bureau of Investigation Library about these civil rights activists

Images and citations; 1961; Additional Information: Freedom Riders were civil rights activists that rode interstate buses into the segregated South to test the United States Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia. Boynton had outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting rooms in terminals serving buses that crossed state lines. Five years prior to the Boynton ruling, the Interstate Commerce Commission had issued a ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company that had explicitly denounced the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of separate but equal in interstate bus travel, but the ICC had failed to enforce its own ruling, and thus Jim Crow travel laws remained in force throughout the South. The Freedom Riders set out to challenge this status quo by riding various forms of public transportation in the South to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation. The Freedom Rides, and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the Civil Rights Movement and called national attention to the violent disregard for the law that was used to enforce segregation in the southern United States. Riders were arrested for trespassing, unlawful assembly, and violating state and local Jim Crow laws, along with other alleged offenses.
Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive collection offering a wide range of writings on the subject of witchcraft

Full-text; 1500 - 1930; Additional Information: Included are many rare and fragile manuscripts containing eyewitness accounts and court records of the trials of witches, in both original manuscript and in print. Numerous dissertations and limited printed works examining theological, legal, social implications of witchcraft are reproduced in their entirety. The majority of texts are in Latin, English and German, although there are also selected items in French, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch and Spanish.
Women's Studies Archive: Issues and Identities This link opens in a new window
Traces the path of women’s issues from past to present—pulling primary sources from manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more. It captures the foundation of women’s movements, struggles and triumphs, and provides researchers with valuable insights, focusing on the social, political, and professional achievements of women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new window
Documents relating to the role of women in movements throughout American history

More than 48,000 pages pertaining to women and social movements, in addition to dictionaries, chronologies, and teaching tools.; Full-text documents, reviews, and discussion tools; 1600 - 2000; Includes the Women's Commission reports collection, an archive of the publications and documents of local, state, and federal Commissions on the Status of Women from 1963 to the present.

World History Primary Sources Online

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
The newspapers, pamphlets, and books gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) represent the largest and most comprehensive collection of early English news media, helping chart the development of the concepts of news/newspapers and the free press.

Full-text and full image; 1604 - 1804
18th Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Digital texts of books published in England in several languages between 1701-1800. Coverage from a variety of materials -- including books and broadsides, Bibles, tract books and sermons to printed ephemera -- with works by many well-known and lesser-known authors, women, and collections from the French Revolution.

Full-text digital page images; 1701 - 1800
19th Century British Pamphlets Collection This link opens in a new window
Contains the most significant British pamphlets held in UK research libraries, providing researchers with an immensely rich and coherent corpus of primary sources with which to study the socio-political and economic landscape of 19th century Britain.

Full-text; 1800 - 1900
19th Century UK Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Periodicals published in Great Britain giving insight into many aspects of the 19th century lifeliterature and culture, empire, feminism, the history of the book, the creative and performing arts, sport and leisure, science and medicine, the professions.

Full-text; 1800 - 1900
Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, social movements and activism, erotica, and many other interesting topical areas.
ARTFL This link opens in a new window
Contains french language texts and philological resources from the 12th through the 20th centuries.

A collaboration between the French government and the University of Chicago, this is North America's largest collection of digitized French resources.; Full-text books, encyclopedias; Earliest texts are from 12th century
British Literary Manuscripts II, Medieval & Renaissance This link opens in a new window
Includes hundreds of thousands of pages of poems, plays, essays, novels, diaries, journals, correspondence and other manuscripts dating from roughly 1120 to 1660.
Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Books on history, culture, religion, commerce, education, literature, poetry, music, politics, travel etc. from the first book printed in English through the through the end of the 17th century.

Also includes foreign language books published in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and English North America from 1473-1700.; Full-text; 1473 - 1700
East India Company This link opens in a new window
Containing royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types, this resource charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1599 to 1947.
Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2015 This link opens in a new window
Since first publication in 1843, the Economist has presented timely reporting, concise commentary and comprehensive analysis of global news every week.

The archive provides researchers with a fundamental collection of high-quality primary material, including every leader, special report, letter and every piece of advertising across a wide range of subject areas. The Key Economic Indicators section can be exported and manipulated separately.; Full-text and tabular data; 1843-2015
European Views of the Americas: 1493-1750 This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750, covering the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of native American peoples

Based on the European Americana: A Chronological Guide to Works Printed In Europe Relating to the Americas, 1493-1750, co-developed by John Alden and Dennis Landis, Curator of European Books at The John Carter Brown Library.; Abstracts and citations; 1493 - 1750
Food and Drink in History This link opens in a new window
The materials in this collection illustrate the deep links between food and identity, politics and power, gender, race and socio-economic status, as well as charting key issues around agriculture, nutrition and food production.
Holocaust and the Concentration Camp Trials: Prosecution of Nazi War Crimes This link opens in a new window
Contains unique documents on the investigation and prosecution of war crimes committed by Nazi concentration camp commandants and camp personnel.
International Historical Statistics This link opens in a new window
A wide variety of statistics covering Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania from 1750 to the present. [user guide]
International Women's Periodicals, 1786-1933: Social and Political Issues This link opens in a new window
Provides an important resource to scholars interested in the lives of women, the role of women in society and, in particular, the development of the public lives of women as the push for womens rights grew in the United States and England.

Images; 1786-1933
Latin America and the Caribbean (World Scholar) This link opens in a new window
Primary, secondary, and reference sources covering the history, culture, peoples, and societies of the region

Full-text; 1492 - present; Additional Information: Includes academic journals, news, primary source documents, maps, statistics, audio and video on many subjects, including politics, economics, history, culture, international affairs, science, and technology.
LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new window
Includes significant LGBT journals, magazines, and regional newspapers, as well as well-known LGBT books.

Citations, abstracts, and full-text; 1970 - present
National Geographic Virtual Library This link opens in a new window
This collection brings together a complete archive of National Geographic magazine along with a cross-searchable collection of National Geographic books, maps, images, and videos.

1888 - present
Northern Ireland: A Divided Community, 1921-1972 Cabinet Papers of the Stormont Administration This link opens in a new window
These Government documents of the British administration in Northern Ireland 1921-72 (CAB/4) offer a continuous record of government activity and decision-making in the world, and shows "how government actually worked".
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new window
Color images of manuscript and rare printed material as well as photographs, ephemera, and memorabilia.
Refugees, Relief, and Resettlement: Forced Migration and World War II This link opens in a new window
Chronicles the plight of refugees and displaced persons across Europe, North Africa, and Asia from 1935 to 1950, bringing together over 650,000 pages of pamphlets, ephemera, government documents, relief organization publications, and refugee reports that recount the causes, effects and responses to refugee crises before, during and shortly after World War II.
Ship Index This link opens in a new window
Indexes magazines, journals, books, and websites that contain information about specific sailing vessels.
State Papers Online, 1509-1714 This link opens in a new window
A collection of English government documents originating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The papers feature the office archives and correspondence of the secretaries of state serving the Monarch as facsimile manuscript documents accessed directly or via the fully searchable Calendar entries (abstracts or transcriptions). This collection contains information on every facet of English government, including social and economic affairs, law and order, religious policy, crown possessions and intelligence gathering as well as Britain's international relations and foreign policy.
Times Digital Archives, 1785-2012 This link opens in a new window
Complete archive in facsimile of the Times of London newspaper covering general news, culture, fine arts, politics, history, and more.

Full-text; 1785 - 2012
Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive collection offering a wide range of writings on the subject of witchcraft

Full-text; 1500 - 1930; Additional Information: Included are many rare and fragile manuscripts containing eyewitness accounts and court records of the trials of witches, in both original manuscript and in print. Numerous dissertations and limited printed works examining theological, legal, social implications of witchcraft are reproduced in their entirety. The majority of texts are in Latin, English and German, although there are also selected items in French, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch and Spanish.
Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
Index of core disciplines in women's studies

Feminist research in the areas of sociology, history, political science & economy, public policy, international relations, arts & humanities, business and education; Indexing and abstracting with some full-text; 1972 - present
Women, War and Society, 1914-1918 This link opens in a new window
A collection from the Imperial War Museum (London) that includes charity and international relief reports, pamphlets, photographs, press cuttings, magazines, posters, correspondence, minutes, records, diaries, memoranda, statistics, circulars, regulations and invitations, along with interpretative essays from leading scholars.

Images; 1914-1918

Newspaper Databases & Resources

Chronicling America Website
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
The newspapers, pamphlets, and books gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) represent the largest and most comprehensive collection of early English news media, helping chart the development of the concepts of news/newspapers and the free press.

Full-text and full image; 1604 - 1804
19th Century British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive collection of national and regional newspapers of Victorian Britain carefully selected by an editorial board from the British Library and providing a broad yet detailed view of British life in the 19th century.

Full-text; 1800 - 1900
19th Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Collections of 19th century newspapers, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life, among other subjects.

Full-text; 1800 - 1900
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Primarily American newspapers from the 18th and 19th centuries, including important African-American newspapers. Includes the Pennsylvania Gazette, Frank Leslie's Weekly, suffragist materials, Civil War articles, and Godey's Lady's Book.

Full-text; 1728 - 1899
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
Provide access to U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience, including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.

Full-text; 1827 - 1998
Early American Newspapers [Gift of Edwin S. Snead III, Class of 1951] This link opens in a new window
Newspaper articles on history, culture, religion, commerce, education, politics, and more from the Colonial Period through the Reconstruction Period. [more information about this gift]

Full-text; 1690 - 1879
National Geographic Virtual Library This link opens in a new window
This collection brings together a complete archive of National Geographic magazine along with a cross-searchable collection of National Geographic books, maps, images, and videos.

1888 - present
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Resource covering national & international newspapers

National & international newspapers, television & radio news transcripts; Citations, abstracts, and full-text; Varies by title, 1980s - present
New York Times Historical Newspaper & Index This link opens in a new window
Full-text (with illustrations and graphics) since 1851, with additional years added as they are digitized.

Full-text; 1851 - 2009 (full-text); 1851-1993 (index)
Richmond Daily Dispatch (1860-1865) This link opens in a new window
Newspaper digital archive from November 1860 to December 1865

The Richmond Daily Dispatch is the result of a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and collaboration between the University of Richmond, Tufts University's Perseus Project, and the Virginia Center for Digital History. There are currently 1384 issues of the paper available online.; Full text digital scans of articles; Nov. 1860 - Dec. 1865
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Library of Congress) (1884-1903) This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive city, regional and state news, primarily for Richmond, Virginia, from Jul 1, 1884 to Jan 25, 1903.

Published as the Richmond Dispatch.
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Newsbank) (1903-present) This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive city, regional and state news, primarily for Richmond, Virginia, from 1903 to present.

Special attention is given to Virginia's tobacco and agriculture industries, as well as numerous large companies such as the CSX Corporation, Bank of Virginia and James River Corporation. Richmond's employment base extends from chemical, food and tobacco manufacturing to biotechnology, semiconductors and high-tech fibers.
Times Digital Archives, 1785-2012 This link opens in a new window
Complete archive in facsimile of the Times of London newspaper covering general news, culture, fine arts, politics, history, and more.

Full-text; 1785 - 2012
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive (1902 - 2019) This link opens in a new window
Reviews, letters, poems, and articles from the TLS in the context in which they were originally published.

Searchable by: book author, review author, book title, subject, date, issue; full text is not searchable. Subject search terms are drawn largely from the printed TLS cumulative indexes. Prior to 1974, the book reviews were published anonymously. This electronic version supplies contributor names.
Vanderbilt Television News Archive This link opens in a new window
Recording, preserving and providing access to television news broadcasts of the national networks since August 5, 1968.

Text transcripts, abstracts, and some streaming video; 1968 - present
Wall Street Journal (1889-2010) This link opens in a new window
Searchable, cover-to-cover archive of the Wall Street Journal

Images Online

ArtStor This link opens in a new window
Digital library of images from art, architecture, archaeology, decorative arts and design, and visual culture in general.

Collections are comprised of contributions from museums, individual photographers, scholars, special collections at libraries, and photo archives.; Images with descriptions; Varies by collection
Bridgeman Education This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a unique archive of digital images sourced from the world’s leading museums, galleries, contemporary artists and private collections.
Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
Articles on every aspect of the visual arts (painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, decorative arts and photography) from prehistory to the present.

Content expanded from print sources of Grove Art Online and Oxford Art Reference. Originally published in 1996 and updated quarterly.

AV/Film Databases

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary streaming video collection of documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and news reels, field recordings, commercials, and raw footage, among others.

Topics covered include history, art and architecture, business, counseling and therapy, dance, opera, theatre, musical performance, anthropology, health and rehabilitation, opera, nursing, science, womens studies, black studies, LGBT studies, and more. Tools are available to make custom clips, create playlists, see synchronized scrolling transcripts, share clips and playlists, view and copy clips and playlists already created.; Streaming video
American History in Video This link opens in a new window
Includes a wide range of documentaries (like those from The History Channel), newsreels including the complete series of both Universal News and United Newsreel and other contemporaneous films.

The technical features make it easy to zoom in on exact moments of footage, make clips, create playlists (of clips by theme, entire films, and anything else anywhere on the web) and share them with a class, for example. There are synchronized scrolling transcripts for every video (and those are searchable, too).; Streaming video; 1900 - 2009
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary streaming video collection of award winning documentaries, educational films, classic Hollywood movies, and world cinema.

A collection of thousands of films from leading distributers and producers including the Criterion Collection, PBS, BBC, Media Education Foundation, Great Courses, Kino Lorber, California Newsreel, Documentary Education Resources. Covers a vast array of subject areas in sociology, anthropology, the humanities, the arts, womens studies, LGBT studies, business, math, sciences and more. Tools are available to share and create custom clips and playlists, and the platform includes searchable transcripts, and captions. Includes public performance rights for screenings on campus.

Boatwright Memorial Library

HISTORY RESEARCH GUIDE: Primary Source Databases

U.S. History Primary Sources Online

World History Primary Sources Online

Newspaper Databases & Resources

Images Online

AV/Film Databases