HST 121 - Intro to European History since 1648: Finding Primary Sources
Research Tips for Finding More Primary Sources
Primary sources can be trickier to find than secondary sources. Keyword searches are less effective, for instance, and knowing where to look may not always be obvious either. Fortunately, the library provides access to a number of digital primary source collections (listed below) but here are a few extra strategies you can use to find more primary sources:
- Mine the footnotes and bibliography of secondary sources for primary sources cited by the author. Having the citation of a specific primary source document or collection can make finding it much easier.
- Use Google's Site/Domain level search feature to find reliable primary source documents and collections on the open web.
- e.g., "site:edu women world war II" -or- "site:archives.gov women world war II"
- While great primary sources in their own right, newspapers and magazines are another great source to use for identifying additional primary sources as well as data.
Digital Primary Source Collections
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Ancestry.com Library Edition This link opens in a new windowAncestry.com Library Edition provides access to billions of historical documents, millions of historical photos, plus local narratives, oral histories, indexes and other resources in over 30,000 databases that span from the 1500s to the 2000s.
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Defining Gender This link opens in a new windowDefining Gender provides access to a vast body of original British source material that will enrich the teaching and research experience of those studying history, literature, sociology and education from a gendered perspective
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Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2020 This link opens in a new windowThe Economist has consistently delivered a highly intelligent and comprehensive report of the week's events and has long been a leading magazine for business and political leaders, politicians, diplomats, bankers, journalists, and other influential people throughout the world. Its back issues are made accessible through The Economist Historical Archive and serve as key witnesses to the economic and political history of the last 170 years. They provide a unique, unbiased analysis of major world events, facilitate the comparison of economic trends across continents and centuries, and offer an ideal historical resource for cutting-edge ideas in an easily digestible form.
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First World War This link opens in a new windowThe First World War portal makes available invaluable primary sources for the study of the Great War, brought together in four thematic modules. The UM Libraries has access to the first three modules: Personal Experiences, Propaganda and Recruitment, and Visual Perspectives and Narratives.
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Women and Social Movements: International, 1840-Present This link opens in a new windowThis digital archive includes 150,000 pages of conference proceedings, reports of international women's organizations, publications and web pages of women's non-governmental organizations, and letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century.
Digital Newspaper Collections
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Access World News This link opens in a new window
Access World News is a comprehensive resource that includes a variety of news publications worldwide. These sources include major national and international newspapers, as well as local and regional titles as well as newswires, blogs, web-only content, videos, journals, magazines, transcripts and more.
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Guardian, 1791-2003 This link opens in a new window
The Guardian (1821-2003) and its sister paper The Observer (1791-2003) give readers online access to facts, firsthand accounts, and opinions of the day about the most significant and fascinating political, business, sports, literary, and entertainment events from the past two centuries. From Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo to the Russian Revolution to Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, these British historical newspapers bring history to life for researchers.
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Newspapers.com Worldwide Library Edition This link opens in a new window
Newspapers.com Library Edition is an extensive database that provides online access to 4,000+ historical newspapers. Spanning the late 1600s to the present, Newspapers.com Library Edition contains full runs and portions of runs of well-known, regional and state titles to small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.
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New York Times, 1851-2021 This link opens in a new window
The New York Times (NYT) is an internationally recognized daily newspaper founded in 1851 and distributed throughout the United States. This historical database offers downloadable PDF's from each issue published between 1851 and 2021.
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Sunday Times Historical Archive, 1822-2021 This link opens in a new window
The Sunday Times launched in 1822, promising to instill "an invigorating spirit" in its readership, and uphold the freedom of the press against those "emperors, kings, and their ministers" who would stifle it. In more than 600,000 pages, The Sunday Times Digital Archive is a gateway to the greatest crimes, careers and culture of the last 180 years.
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Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage. This historical newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context. With over 12 million articles available, the archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest, including business, humanities, political science, and philosophy, along with coverage of all major international historical events.