Research Guides: HIST 105: History of the U.S. 1492-1877 (Galveston): Primary Sources

Finding Primary Sources

Databases
Online Resources

Primary sources allow researchers to get as close as possible to original ideas, events and empirical studies as possible. Such sources may include first hand or contemporary accounts of events, publication of the results of empirical observations or studies, creative works such as a novel or painting, and other items that may form the basis of further research. Primary sources were created in the time period under study.

Examples:

Novels, plays, poems, works of art, popular culture, other artifacts
Diaries, narratives, autobiographies, memoirs, speeches, interviews, audio or video recordings
Data sets, technical reports, experimental research results
Government documents, patents
Newspaper articles written at the time
Original documents (birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript)

Clark State. (2021). Management 1000: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources. Clark State Community College Library: Research & Resources. https://lib.clarkstate.edu/c.php?g=573958&p=3957821

Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Artemis Primary Sources is an integrated research environment that allows users to search across TAMU's purchased Gale primary source collections:
*17th and 18th Century Burney Collection
*Archives Unbound
*Archive of Sexuality & Gender
*The Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2011
*Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
*The Making of Modern Law
*The Making of the Modern World
*Sabin Americana, 1500-1926
*The Times Digital Archive
*U.S. Declassified Documents Online
*U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978
Published by: Gale/Cengage Learning, Inc.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of scholars and students at the college and university level. Collections in Archives Unbound cover a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history.
Published by: Gale/Cengage Learning, Inc.
Library of Congress Digital Collections This link opens in a new window
Provides free Internet access 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. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
Published by: Library of Congress
Sabin Americana Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.
Alternate titles: American history & culture online
Published by: Gale/Cengage Learning, Inc.
Early American Imprints, Series I. Evans (1639-1800) This link opens in a new window
Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans. The definitive resource for every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, from agriculture and auctions through foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, temperance, witchcraft, and just about any other topic imaginable. Upon completion, Evans Digital will consist of more than 36,000 works and 2,400,000 images.
Published by: NewsBank, Inc.
Early American Imprints, Series II. Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819) This link opens in a new window
Covering every aspect of American life during the early decades of the United States, this rich primary source collection provides full-text access to the 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the first nineteen years of the nineteenth century.
Published by: NewsBank, Inc.
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
This collection will make available all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series from The National Archives, UK, covering the period 1606 to 1822. CO 5 consists of the original correspondence between the British government and the governments of the American colonies, making it a uniquely rich resource for all historians of the period.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Provides access to 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs from the civil war era. Particular care has been taken to index this material so it can be searched more thoroughly than ever.
Alternate titles: CWLD
Published by: Alexander Street Press
Civil War Primary Source Documents This link opens in a new window
Civil War Primary Source Documents captures various accounts of the Civil War as it was experienced on land and at sea. The collection also provides firsthand perspectives from hospitals and prison camps, and reactions to the War from the home front. Focusing on the War years, it also includes important contextual documents in the crucial years leading up to the War and after the fall of the Confederacy.
The collection, drawn from the holdings of the New-York Historical Society, is comprised of over 110,000 pages, includes information from over 400 individual collections, focuses on the War as it was fought from 1861 to 1865 and represents both Northern and Southern perspectives.Alternate titles: U.S. Civil War primary source documents; United States Civil War primary source documents.
Published by: EBSCO Publishing (Databases)
Everyday Life and Women in America, c1820-1900 This link opens in a new window
Everyday Life and Women in American covers American social, cultural, and popular history with emphasis on women. Includes fully searchable images (alongside transcriptions) of primary source documents including monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides.
Published by: Adam Matthew Digital
Social and Cultural History: Letters and Diaries Online This link opens in a new window
Provides cross-searchable platform for the following Alexander Street Press databases:

*North American Women's Letters and Diaries
*British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries
*North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
*The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
*Black Thought and Culture
*Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries from the American Antiquarian Society.

In addition to the premium Alexander Street Press content, users will find an in-depth index to nearly 4,000 collections of letters, diaries, oral histories, memoirs, and autobiographies available on the web in English from around the world dating from the 1550s to the present day. It also contains pointers to 4,300 audio and video files and 30,000 bibliographic records.
Published by: Alexander Street Press

Briscoe Center for American History
The Texas collection houses historical prints depicting the people, places, and events of Texas as well as an ephemera collection that includes a copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence, printed in San Felipe de Austin in 1836. The Bexar Archives, documenting life and government in Texas under Spanish and Mexican rule, are a major component of the Texas History collection. Some five thousand other rare public notices, many of them printed on pioneer Texas presses, document Texas history and culture.
Texas State Library & Archives
The Archives and Information Services Division (ARIS) preserves and documents the shared heritage and culture of Texas by identifying, collecting, and making available the official archival records of Texas government. From historical treasures such as the first Texas Constitution to government digital records, ARIS maintains and provides access to more than 200 million pages of archival documents and more than two million volumes of printed library materials.
Slavery in America: A Resource Guide
The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials lated to slavery, including photographs, documents, and sound recordings. Provided below is a link to the home page for each relevant digital collection along with selected highlights.
Civil War Collection
Explore the faces, places and events of the U.S. Civil War through photographs, prints and drawings. The Prints & Photographs Division holds thousands of images relating to the Civil War, found in many different collections. This category allows research across those collections.