History (U.S.)  Tags: history united_states american primary sources citing sources  

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Chicago Defender (1910-1975) & Daily Defender (1956-1975) via the Black Studies Center

The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective (11/1/1860-4/15/1865)

Early American Newspapers (1690-1876)

Los Angeles Times Historical (1881-1995)

New York Times Historical (1851-2001)

Pennsylvania Newspaper Record (1819-1870)

San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922) - coming soon

Wall Street Journal Historical (1889-1995)

The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries (1860-1866)

North American Women's Letters and Diaries (Colonial to 1920)

The Sixites: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960-1974

In the First Person -  a free, high quality, professionally published, in-depth index of close to 4,000 collections of personal narratives in English from around the world

Lexis Nexis Congressional (1789+) - congressional publications

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections - U.S. documentary hertiage collections in U.S. repositories

These reference books contain primary source documents:

For more digital archives and primary sources see Archives and Primary Sources.

Civil War & 19th Century (See also Women's History)

African American Newspapers: The 19th Century Freedom's Journal, the Colored American, the North Star, The National Era

The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries (1860-1866) politicians, generals, slaves, landowners, farmers, seamen, wives, and more.

American Periodical Series (1741-1900) American periodicals published between 1741 and 1900

American State Papers (1789-1838) legislative and executive documents of Congress

The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective (11/1/1860-4/15/1865) New York Herald; Charleston Mercury; Richmond Enquirer

Pennsylvania Newspaper Record (1819-1870) six Pennsylvania papers

Cold War

Declassified Documents Reference System (Post WWII -1970s) presidential library documents declassified as requested under the Freedom of Information Act

Digital National Security Archive (1945-2000) 40,000 of the most important declassified documents that led to U.S. policy decisions

Colonial America

American State Papers (1789-1838) legislative and executive documents of Congress

Early American Newspapers (1690-1876) colonial and early national period newspapers

Early Encounters in North America (1542-1870) letters, diaries and memoirs, emphasis on U.S. and Canada, some Mexico

Early American Imprints (Evans) 1639-1800 full text of sources from Charles Evans's definitive bibliography on all aspects of 17th and 18th century America

Early American Imprints (Shaw-Shoemaker), 1639-1819 full text of imprints that chronicle the political and geographic growth of a developing America

Empire Online (1492+) original documents related to empire studies from institutions around the world

Interwar Years

HEARTH (Home Economics Archive: Research Tradition, and History) (1850-1950) books and journals in home economics and related disciplines

Periodicals Archive Online (1665-1995) general interest and scholarly periodicals in the humanities and social sciences

Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) popular and general interest periodicals

Multidisciplinary: Periodicals, Government Documents, Books and More

American Periodical Series (1741-1900) American periodicals published between 1741 - and 1900

American State Papers (1789-1838) legislative and executive documents of Congress

LexisNexis Congressional (dates vary) congressional publications; House and Senate reports, hearings; legislative histories; Serial Set

Periodicals Archive Online (1665-1995) general interest and scholarly periodicals in the humanities and social sciences

Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) popular and general interest periodicals

Popular Culture / Cultural Studies

Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1880) a popular 19th century women's magazine

HarpWeek (1857-1912) - Harper's Weekly, a popular general interest magazine

HEARTH (Home Economics Archive: Research Tradition, and History) (1850-1950)

Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) popular and general interest periodicals

The Sixites: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960-1974 also oral histories, manifestos, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary

Women's History

American Memory Women's History - Library of Congress materials

Everyday Life and Women in America (19th & 20th Centuries) sources from The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and NYPL; books, periodicals, pamphlets, and broadsides

Gerritsen Collection: Women's History Online (1543-1945) books, pamphlets, and periodicals documenting women's rights and consciciousness; mostly Amerian, British, French and German

Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1880) a popular 19th century women's magazine

North American Women's Letters and Diaries (Colonial to 1920) known and unknown women

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000  (Scholar's Editions) document projects that interpret and present documents from women's movement histories.

For more digital archives and primary sources see Archives and Primary Sources.

Library of Congress Subject Headings or Keywords to Locate Primary Sources:

• Sources (for the most precise search use "Sources" as a "Subject Keyword" in combination with keywords that describe your topic)
• Archives
• Cartoons
• Correspondence
• Diaries
• Documentary history
• Interviews
• Mauscripts
• Orations
• Personal narratives
• Speeches

Sample Search to find primary documents related to Reconstruction:

In "Advance Search" mode:

Subject Keyword = sources
Keyword = reconstruction

Sample Search to find the papers of a historical figure or paper/records of an organization, combine the relevant publication type keyword (records or papers) with the name of the person or organization.  Here are four examples:

In "Basic Search" or "Advance Search" mode:

Title = papers naacp
Title = records aclu
Title = papers thomas jefferson