Primary Sources
Below is a list of print and e-resources available to the UCSB campus community. Switch to the "Primary Sources from Other Institutions" tab to see primary sources available at other institutions.
- Black Studies in VideoA collection featuring award-winning documentaries, newsreels, interviews and archival footage surveying the evolution of black culture in the United States.
- Calisphere This link opens in a new windowUniversity of California's public gateway to more than 150,000 digitized primary sources such as photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other cultural artifacts.
- Center for Research Libraries eCollectionsLook for African Newspapers - more than 40 newspapers published between 1800 and 1922 in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Los Angeles SentinelThis historical (African American-owned) newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
- A Historical Retrospective of Black Lives Matter Through the Black Panther Party and African American Historical Collections - UCSB Library Special Research CollectionsThis exhibition was curated to enable our researchers easy access to the Special Research Collections (SRC) primary resources on the Black Panther Party and other African American Historical sources.
- A Luta Continua! Thank You '68ers! - UCSB Library Special Research CollectionsThis exhibit honoring student activists of 1968 was originally produced as a physical exhibit in UCSB Library's Ethnic & Gender Studies Collection from October 2018 through March 2019. It opened in Fall 2018 in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of the North Hall Takeover by students on October 14, 1968. Some of these photos are permanently installed in the Black Studies Department at UCSB in South Hall.
- HistoryMakers Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Collection of video oral histories. Testimonies reveal the broad scope of narratives of African American men and women who have made significant contributions to American life, history, and culture during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Note: If you are having trouble accessing this resource content, please try resizing your browser window to allow additional page elements to load. If you are still having trouble, please email library-collections@ucsb.edu for help.
- JSTOR Samaná Archive - Part of The City College of New York: We Choose Freedom: Samaná, Dominican RepublicThese documents are from the African American residents of Samaná who emigrated in 1824 from different ports along the Eastern United States to what was then the Republic of Haiti (1822-1844). Many of these new immigrants were given land and established communities in Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, and Samaná in what is today the Dominican Republic. The collection contains birth, marriage, and baptismal records from Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal and St. Peter's Evangelical Churches in Samaná, Dominican Republic, ranging from 1909-1970.
- Public Domain Image ArchiveA collection of 10,046 out-of-copyright works, free for all to browse, download, and reuse. This is a living database with new images added every week.
- Calisphere This link opens in a new windowCalisphere is the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources. The digitized items include photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts. Calisphere's content has been selected from the libraries and museums of the UC campuses, and from a variety of cultural heritage organizations across California
- Online Archive of California (OAC) This link opens in a new window
Provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 300 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses.
WorldCat Discovery @UCSB
WorldCat Discovery @UCSB is a way to find books and other materials located in libraries outside the UC System.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
A short and informative video about Primary Sources and the Civil Rights Movement.
Related Guides
These guides have their own sections for primary sources. Please check them out!