Finding Primary Sources on the Web

Primary sources are uninterpreted records of events. They are the firsthand documents on a topic upon which further studies are based. Primary sources include memoirs, oral histories, photographs, letters, maps, interviews, diaries, surveys, court records and even data sets that have been tablulated but not interpreted.

Directories of Primary Sources

Library of Congress Links to primary sources in American History from the Library of Congress.
National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) Federal agency responsible for maintaining documents related to U.S. history and federal records. Links to affiliated archive sites.
NARA Access to Archival Databases (AAD) Search the NARA's most popular databases by keyword, subject, time frame, geography, etc.
Repositories of Primary Sources Maintained by the University of Idaho, this directory lists over 5000 websites describing archival and primary sources for the research scholar.
Selected Primary Source Documents and Guides on the Web Extensive collection of links to national and international primary sources from Ohio State University Libraries.

Collections of Primary Sources

Ad* Access A collection of images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Main subjects covered include radio, television, transportation, beauty and hygiene and World War II
America's Historical Newspapers Early American Newspapers, Series I 1690-1876
American Memory Project "American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. "
American Radicalism An online collection of the Mighican State University Libraries Digital & Multimedia Center. This collection includes sources concerning the Black Panthers, Birth Control, KKK, Wounded Knee, Rosenberg Case, Scottsboro Boys, Sacco - Vanzetti , I.W.W. and more.
Documenting the American South Sponsored by UNC - Chapel Hill this digital publishing initiative provides access to primary soruces related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
History Matters Includes 1,000 primary documents, images, and audio interviews on U.S. History
Making of America (University of Michigan)
Making of America (Cornell University) 		"A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction." A joint project of the University of Michigan and Cornell University.
New York Public Library: Digital Library Gateway to The NYPL's rare and unique collections in digitized form.
Oral History Online RWU Only. Indexes more than 2,700 collections of Oral History in English from around the world.
University of Virginia Electronic Text Center Links to electronic texts in literature and the humanities. Browse by Subject or Language

Collections of Online Journals and Newspapers

America's Historical Newspapers Early American Newspapers, Series I 1690-1876
JSTOR Digitized backfiles of scholarly journals dating back to the 1800s
Internet Library of Early Journals Joint project of the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, and Oxford to digitise substantial runs of 18th and 19th century journals.
Making of America Journals Collection contains searchable full-text journal articles from the antebellum period through reconstruction
New York Times Historical RWU only. Search and access the full text of the New York Times from 1851 - 2003. If you need full text current coverage of the New York Times, use the LexisNexis Academic database listed above.

Resources for Learning How to Use Primary Sources

DoHistory.org Learn how to piece together the past by using fragments from history found primary sources.
Library Research Using Primary Sources UC Berkeley Libraries offer a good introduction to primary source materials and where to find them
Using Primary Sources on the Web Written by the Instruction and Research Services committee of the American Library Association