Primary sources online and in databases
- American Civil War: A Collection of Free Online Primary SourcesAssembled by librarian Susan Birkenseer, this guide "highlights a diverse collection of free websites of primary sources for the study of the war. These websites include digitized newspaper archives for both the Union and Confederate sides of the struggle, collections of letters and diaries, digitized photographs, maps, and official records and dispatches from the battlefields."
- African American Newspapers This link opens in a new windowAfrican American Newspapers, 1827-1998 enables users to search more than 270 African American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries. Created in partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress, African American Newspapers chronicles a century and a half of the African American experience.
- American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new windowIncludes more than 100,000 pages of diaries, letters, and memoirs that provide detailed firsthand descriptions of and anecdotes about historical characters and events as well as daily life during the American Civil War.
- Civil War Horse Soldier Artifacts CollectionThis collection contains photographs of Civil War artifacts from the Horse Soldier antique store in Gettysburg, PA. The photographed artifacts are organized by the name of the soldier connected with the item, when available. The photographs are often accompanied by a separate document with a thorough description of the artifact, and some have a brief biography of the soldier as well.
- Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)DPLA brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. Includes many primary sources and other public domain materials.
- Illustrated Civil War Newspapers and Magazines This link opens in a new windowAccess to full text and scanned images of 49 Civil War-era periodicals.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowLooking for government documents? Committee reports? Legislative histories? Check here!
- Slavery & Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowPart I: Debates over Slavery and Abolition strongly supports research with a U.S. focus, but also includes resources from Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean allowing for comparative research. Part II: The Slave Trade in the Atlantic World continues this ground-breaking series by charting the inception of slavery in Africa and its rise throughout the Atlantic world, with particular focus on the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. Part III: The Institution of Slavery explores in vivid detail the inner workings of slavery from 1492-1888. Through legal documents, plantation records, first-person accounts, newspapers, government records and other primary sources. Part IV: Will be released in June 2013
Primary sources in the library catalog
Find primary sources in the library catalog or WorldCat.
- Using an advanced search, change the field to subject and enter "sources" as pictured below.
- You can also search for particular kinds of sources, including: correspondence, diaries, early works to 1800, interviews, pamphlets, periodicals, personal narratives, and speeches.
- Read the bibliographies of secondary sources! Follow the road of references laid down by other historians.
