America - Primary Sources - English - LibGuides at University of Otago

What is a Primary Source?

Not quite sure what a "Primary Source" is? Watch this 2-minute video and find out!

Vogue Archive

The library now has access to the Vogue Archive - a rich source of the history of fashion and also for other areas of modern culture, providing a record of changing social tastes, mores and aspirations in the modern world.

Vogue Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution colour page images.
Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out is included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Archive is a rich source of the history of fashion and also for other areas of modern culture, providing a record of changing social tastes, mores and aspirations in the modern world.

ECCO: Eighteenth Century Collections Online

ECCO: Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Full text of every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, plus important works from the Americas, published between 1701 and 1800.
Full text of every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, plus important works from the Americas, published between 1701 and 1800. Complements EEBO (Early English Books Online), which covers the period up to 1700

Empire Online

Empire Online This link opens in a new window
This resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and it's theories, practices and consequences.

American Primary Sources

African American Poetry (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
African American poetry, from the first recorded poem by an African American (Lucy Terry Prince's 'Bars Fight', c.1746) to the major poets of the nineteenth century, including Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
American Drama (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
Containing more than 1,500 dramatic works from the early eighteenth century up to the beginning of the twentieth, this collection contains: plays in verse, farces, melodramas, minstrel shows, realist plays, frontier plays, temperance dialogues and a range of other genres are represented.
Major dramatists include David Belasco, Rachel Crothers, Augustin Daly, Clyde Fitch, Edward Harrigan, James Herne, William Dean Howells and Joaquin Miller.
American History (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Provides a large collection of videos available online for the study of American history. The collection allows includes commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries.
American History Online This link opens in a new window
A project of the Andrew W. Mellon foundation and the University of Illinois. Provides access to distributed historical digital library collections.
American Memory This link opens in a new window
Free and open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
American Poetry (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
Over 40,000 poems by more than 200 American poets from the Colonial Period to the early twentieth century.
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
ArchiveGrid provides descriptions of archival material held by institutions in the United States, making information available about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and other archival materials. It also provides contact information for the institutions where the collections are kept.
Avalon Project : Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy This link opens in a new window
The Avalon Project hosts digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.They add value to the text by linking to supporting documents expressly referred to in the body of the text.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Cornell University Library: Making of America This link opens in a new window
A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Declassified government documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. 38 collections, each focused on a single topic, cover the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century.

Disability History Museum
An extensive on-line library of documents/photographs.

Early American Fiction (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
This collection offers the full-text of 875 first editions of American novels and short stories by such authors as Louisa May Alcott, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain, as well as a host of minor writers of the period.
ECCO: Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Full text of every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, plus important works from the Americas, published between 1701 and 1800.
Full text of every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, plus important works from the Americas, published between 1701 and 1800. Complements EEBO (Early English Books Online), which covers the period up to 1700
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
This resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and it's theories, practices and consequences.
FamilySearch This link opens in a new window
Contains Census records and genealogical records for births, deaths and marriages.
Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press Collection This link opens in a new window
Documents and showcases historic Mexican and Mexican American publications published in Tucson, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sonora, Mexico from the mid-1800s to the 1970s.
The collection covers important periods in Mexican-American history, from the Mexican Revolution to the Bracero Program to the Chicano Movement, and is an important resource for those examining early civil and human rights struggles from the 19th and 20th century and Mexican-American journalism in the United States.
History Matters: Many Pasts This link opens in a new window
History Matters is a U.S. Survey Course on the Web. The Many Pasts feature contains primary documents in text, image, and audio about the experiences of ordinary Americans throughout U.S. history.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to back issues (delay in coverage generally 3-5 years) of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields of the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences. The Library's access includes all Arts & Sciences Collections, the Life Sciences Collection, Business IV, and the Ireland Collection.
Justia.com This link opens in a new window
Justia is especially focused on making primary legal materials and community resources free and easy to find on the Internet. The company provides Internet users with free case law, codes, regulations, legal articles and legal blog and twittterer databases, as well as additional community resources.
Library of Congress This link opens in a new window
The largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.
Library of Congress: American History This link opens in a new window
These pages link to selected collection content available online at the Library of Congress, arranged by broad categories.
Library of Congress: Digital Collections
Access to print, pictorial and audio-visual collections and other digital services.
Library of Congress: Prints & Photographs Online Catalog This link opens in a new window
Describes about 95% of the Library of Congress prints and photographs. Includes many digital images.
March of Time (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
An American newsreel series produced from 1935-1967 by Time Inc.
National Archives and Records Administration This link opens in a new window
Online Public Access system enables you to search across multiple National Archives resources at once, including the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), Access to Archival Databases (AAD), Archives.gov, and the Electronic Records Archive (ERA).
National Museum of American History This link opens in a new window
The Museum has more than 3 million artifacts in its collection. Information and photos of selected objects are available in the online collections database.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: NCCO (Gale Cengage) This link opens in a new window
NCCO is a multi-year global digitization and publishing program focused on primary source collections of the nineteenth century.
Collections are sourced through partnerships with major world libraries as well as specialist libraries, and content includes monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more. The first eight collections are Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; British Politics and Society; British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture; European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection; Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest; Photography: The World through the Lens; Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780-1925; and Women: Transnational Networks.

Sideshow Ephemera Gallery
In these galleries one will find items from artist James G. Mundie's personal
collection of sideshow and circus artifacts. These items include pitchcard
photographs and other items that freakshow performers sold on the midway to
supplement their income. Other items represented here include rare newspaper
advertisements and other promotional materials.

Smithsonian Institute This link opens in a new window
The Smithsonian’s collections represent America's rich heritage.
Vogue Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution colour page images.
Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out is included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Archive is a rich source of the history of fashion and also for other areas of modern culture, providing a record of changing social tastes, mores and aspirations in the modern world.
Women and Social Movements International - 1840 to Present This link opens in a new window
A collection of primary materials from more than 300 repositories. Through the writings of women activists, their personal letters and diaries, and the proceedings of conferences at which pivotal decisions were made, this collection lets you see how women’s social movements shaped much of the events and attitudes that have defined modern life.

Digital National Security Archive

The library now has access to all 38 collections within the Digital National Security Archive.

We'd really appreciate any feedback from you on how you have used this new product.

The Digital National Security Archive contains the most comprehensive set of declassified government documents available. For more information, see: Digital National Security Archive Brochure (PDF)

Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Declassified government documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. 38 collections, each focused on a single topic, cover the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century.

JSTOR

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Selected journals in the humanities and social sciences, with coverage ranging from as early as 1665. To find these Primary Sources, limit by date range (e.g. 1955-1968 for the African-American Civil Rights Movement).

Research Guides

The research guides available on these sites will help you find Primary Sources for a wide range of topics:

Library of Congress Bibliographies, Research Guides, and Finding Aids
Research guides on a broad range of topics.

The March of Time Newsreels

March of Time (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
From 1935–1967, American theatergoers and television watchers were witness to Time Inc.’s unique and controversial film series, The March of Time®. Now, for the first time, this groundbreaking series is available in online streaming video in a single, cross-searchable collection designed specifically to meet the needs of researchers, teaching faculty, and students. The videos have been restored to their original luster by HBO Archives, allowing viewers to experience these historic films as audiences did in earlier decades.

American History in Video

American History (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
VAST includes commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries. Use the Browse Topics tool or check the 'American History' box on the home screen

Women & Social Movements International

Women and Social Movements International - 1840 to Present This link opens in a new window
A collection of primary source materials including: the writings of women activists, their personal letters and diaries, and the proceedings of conferences at which pivotal decisions were made.

Literature Online

American Literature within Literature Online:

African American Poetry (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
African American poetry, from the first recorded poem by an African American (Lucy Terry Prince's 'Bars Fight', c.1746) to the major poets of the nineteenth century, including Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
American Drama (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
Containing more than 1,500 dramatic works from the early eighteenth century up to the beginning of the twentieth, this collection contains: plays in verse, farces, melodramas, minstrel shows, realist plays, frontier plays, temperance dialogues and a range of other genres are represented.
Major dramatists include David Belasco, Rachel Crothers, Augustin Daly, Clyde Fitch, Edward Harrigan, James Herne, William Dean Howells and Joaquin Miller.
American Poetry (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
Over 40,000 poems by more than 200 American poets from the Colonial Period to the early twentieth century.
Early American Fiction (Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
This collection offers the full-text of 875 first editions of American novels and short stories by such authors as Louisa May Alcott, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain, as well as a host of minor writers of the period.

English: America - Primary Sources