Finding Primary Sources Online
- EuroDocs: Online Sources for European HistoryPrimary history documents from Western Europe. Created by Richard Hacken, European Studies bibliographer at Brigham Young University.
- European History Primary SourcesEPHS is a portal that provides access to scholarly digital repositories dealing with all facets of European history, from ancient to modern times.
- Historical Text ArchiveNo indexing or search screen, so this is a little tricky to navigate. Try using the "links" section first.
- Manuscripts of Medieval France with Vernacular TextsA a collection of over 1000 links to manuscript facsimiles provided by Robert Peckham, University of Tennessee.
- Newspapers: Historical Full-Text Newspapers (Europeana Research)Full text digitized newspapers from the National Library of France.
- Repositories of Primary Sources5000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare book collections, historical photographs, and other primary sources.
- Universal Short Title CatalogueA collective database of all books published in Europe between the invention of printing and the end of the sixteenth century. Covers the printed book output of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany
- Archives de Littérature du Moyen ÂgeARLIMA contains links to search engines for manuscripts, online resources, and a list of medieval authors with primary and secondary sources.
- Bibliothèque Virtuelle des Manuscrits Médiévaux (BVMM)Manuscripts from French libraries excluding the Bibliothèque nationale
- Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures and the Environment This link opens in a new windowLetters, diaries, memoirs, images, and accounts of early encounters. Searches can be limited by language, nationality of author, cultural event, etc.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowImages of original documents relating to empire studies from the 15th to 20th centuries. Includes accompanying thematic essays.
- Bibliothèque Bleue de TroyesMass-produced, inexpensive books that were sold to peasants for pennies by colporteurs (peddlers), the Bibliothèque Bleue contains texts ranging from the practical (recipes, almanacs, and how-to books) to the pious (hagiographies, prayer books, and other religious instruction) and to the entertaining (fiction, romans de chevalerie, songbooks, burlesque), providing a unique insight into the popular culture of 17th to mid-19th century France.
- Early European Books This link opens in a new window
Tool for accessing and exploring all works printed in Europe before 1701, drawing together a diverse array of printed sources, regardless of language, as well as works published further afield. Opens the door to some of the world's most significant collections of early printed books. Includes over 30,000 books from the start of printing in Europe to 1701. UCSB has access to Collections 1-25.
Digital Collections
- GallicaDigitized collection from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF).
- France ArchivesPortal to French archives covering 15 centuries
- L'agence PhotoColor transparencies and black and white negatives relating to works of art in France's national museums.
- H-France Digital Humanities DatabaseA searchable database of French and Francophone Studies digital projects.
- ARTFL Project This link opens in a new windowCollection of classical French writings including literary and political works
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new windowECCO contains the digital images of every page of 150,000 books published during the 18th Century. Allows full-text searching of approximately 33 million pages in the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more.
- French Revolution Digital ArchiveStanford Libraries and BnF collaboration offering a digital version of the Archives parlementaires and a searchable corpus of high-res images from the BnF's collections.
- EuropeanaA digital library containing 4 million items, including images, texts, audio and video, from European museums, galleries, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections
- Rousseau OnlineComplete works of Rousseau, full text, searchable