Library: Primary Sources: Additional Resources

Finding Primary Sources Online

The list of collections to the right includes just a sampling of the wealth of sources available online. If you don't see what you're looking for, consider some of these strategies for seeking additional sources:

1. Browse a history subject directory. Subject directories are useful when you are interested in seeing a broad variety of sources on your topic. Some subject directories include annotations and evaluations of sites. Some examples:

History Matters: The U.S. Survey on the Web
History Guide: Library of Anglo-American Culture and History
World Wide Virtual Library-History: European University Institute

2. Use a search engine. Google Scholar might be a good choice (see box at rfar right). Search engines are useful when you are researching a narrow topic or trying to locate a specific document. When searching, use specific terms rather than broad terms. For example search for the “emancipation proclamation” not just “slavery,” search for the “battle of chancellorsville” not “civil war.” The more specific you can be, the better results you will get.

3. Get recommendations from your professor or librarian. Many libraries compile lists of recommended history sites. Some examples include:

4. Check published guides to history web sites. If you get an early start, you can request one of the following titles through MOBIUS:

The European History Highway: A Guide to Internet Resources. Dennis A. Trinkle and Scott A. Merriman, editors. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2002.
History and the Internet: A Guide. By Patrick D. Reagan. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in History. By Kathleen W. Craver. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.

5. Look for "Best of" posts and other reviews like this curated list from BachelorsDegreeOnline: 100 Terrific Sites to Find Primary History Documents.

Free Download

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom

Inspired by the Library of Congress exhibition of the same name, the Idea Book presents dozens of unique primary sources from the Library’s collections that illuminate the unjust laws and practices that preceded the act, coupled with teaching ideas that allow educators to prompt critical analysis and informed debate by their students.

Evaluating Primary Source Websites

Before relying on the information provided by a website, examine and understand its purpose. While the purpose might not affect the accuracy of the primary source material it contains, it might indicate that the material has been altered or manipulated in some way to change or influence its meaning.

In general, look for websites with a non-biased, balanced approach to presenting sources. Websites produced by educational or governmental institution often are more reliable than personal websites, but government sites may be subject to propaganda.

Use the PACAC method outlined in the RESEARCH HELP pages to guide your thinking and help you ask the right questions about Purpose, Authority, Currency, Accuracy, and Content.

More tips from the Reference and User Services Association are available HERE.

Digital Collections

American Journeys
American Journeys contains eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD 1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
American Memory Project | Library of Congress
The Memory Project provides access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and music that document the American experience. Browse the collections in a variety of ways, including topic, time-period, and geographical location.
American Presidency Project
The American Presidency Project (americanpresidency.org), was established in 1999 at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Its archives contain more than a hundred thousand documents related to the study of the Presidency.
The Avalon Project | Yale Law School
From the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale University. The Avalon Project's collections include digitized documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy, and Government. Covers Ancient history through the present day.
Dataverse Project
Open source project that allows users to share, preserve, cite, explore, and analyze research data. Browse by date, subject, or location. With Harvard Library.
Digital Collections | MSU Libraries
DC is a collaborative, ongoing project to digitize selected materials from MSU Libraries' Special Collections. Browse and search collections include Africana, American Radicalism, Applied and Life Sciences, and History and Social Sciences.
Digital Public Library of America
The DPLA strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science.
Dolph Briscoe Center for American HIstory
The Briscoe Center preserves documentary and material culture evidence encompassing key themes in Texas and U.S. history. Features primary sources and exhibits for educators and researchers alike.
EuroDocs | Brigham Young University
EuroDocs provides links to Western European (mainly primary) historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. They shed light on the respective countries (and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history).
Federal Reserve Archive
The Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER®) is a data preservation and accessibility project of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Its mission is to safeguard and provide access to the nation’s economic history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System—through digitization of documents related to the U.S. financial system.
Free People of Color in Louisiana: Revealing an Unknown Past
Part of the Louisiana Digital Library, personal and family papers and public records and documents support new scholarship that explores and illuminates the complex history of free people of color and their significance in the ongoing story of race relations in the United States.
Hanover Historical Texts Collection
The Hanover Historical Texts Collection makes available digital versions of historical texts for use in history and humanities courses. Many of these documents are in public domain.
History Matters
The U.S. Survey Course on the Web offers a gateway to web resources as well as a repository of unique teaching materials, first-person primary documents, and guides to analyzing historical evidence for students and teachers of American history.
Institute of Historical Research
From the University of London, the IHR provides a portal for the exchange of ideas and information and current developments in historical scholarship. Includes digital collections related to Britain and its history.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project | Fordham University
Paul Halsall's rich collection compiles and organizes collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts on all historic periods, from antiquity to the present.
The Labyrinth: Georgetown University
The Labyrinth provides free, organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies through Georgetown University. The Labyrinth provides connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world.
Making of America | Cornell University
Cornell's MoA library features primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
Making of America | University of Michigan
Michigan's MoA library features primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
Missouri Digital Heritage
The Missouri Digital Heritage portal offers access to millions of records, including the collections of the State Archives, the State Library, & other institutions across the state.
Missouri History Museum
Highlights include a Genealogy & Local History Index, Online Exhibits, and archives, photograph, and manuscript collections, including the Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis Collections and the Papers of William Clark, Charles Lindbergh, and architect James W. Fitzgibbon.
Missouri State Library
A growing collection of state government documents are now part of the Internet Archive. Publications include the Missouri Constitution, Revised Statutes, General Assembly rosters, Code of State Regulations, and journals and other periodicals.
National Archives & Records | USA.gov
Explore the country's history through documents, photos, and records; learn about military history and service records; research genealogies through census, immigration, and land records. Resources for citizens, government employees, and teachers are available through the network of National Archives facilities. Includes online exhibits from the collections.
Office of the Historian | U.S. Department of State
Provides in-depth information on the history of U.S. foreign policy. In addition to a full-text archive of the Foreign Relations series, the site includes encyclopedic content on the history of U.S. relations with states around the world, a database of the Department’s principal officers and chiefs of mission, and tools and resources for students and teachers.
Perseus Digital Library | Tufts University
The flagship collection, under development since 1987, covers the history, literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world. Additional collections include Art & Archaeology, Renaissance Materials, Germanic Materials, 19th-Century American, Humanist & Renaissance Italian Poetry in Latin, and the archives of the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Photogrammar FSA-OWI Archive
A fantastic interactive collection of photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information .
Primary Sources on the Web
A brief guide from the Reference and User Services Association. Evaluates primary internet resources with excellent examples of specific documents and image files.
Reading Experience
This UK collection features British experiences both at home and abroad between 1450 and 1945. The RED includes personal papers, letter, journals, interviews and more.
Social Science Research Network
Open-access repository for the SSRN includes abstracts and full-text in a number of research areas, including Anthropology & Archaeology, Hebrew, Classics, Literature, Philosophy, and Political Science.
United Nations | Audiovisual Library
A hybrid collection with both analog and digital records, the AV collection incluedes 16 and 35mm films, video, and audio recordings in a wide variety of systems and formats.
United Nations | Digital Library
Explore documents, votes, speeches, public domain publications, and more!
Wilson Center Digital Archive
International history declassified. The international history archive of once-secret government documents collects the research of three Wilson Center projects that focus on the interrelated histories of the Cold War, Korea, and Nuclear Proliferation.
World Digital Library | Library of Congress
A joint effort with UNESCO and other institutions, the WDL features digitized versions of significant primary source materials from around the world.

Smarter Searching

Search for scholarly information with links to Fontbonne Library resources. If you can't access full-text, visit the Library website and request the article via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and we'll e-mail it to you when it arrives.

Use Google's Advanced Image Search to find relevant photos and other images.

Analyzing Sources

Learning how to use primary sources as evidence can be confusing. Use these handy worksheets from the National Archives to help you get started.

National Newspapers

Catholic Newspapers Online
An ongoing project hosted by the Catholic Research Resources Alliance. The index, which includes issues of The Font (1926-1968), ultimately hopes to provide access to all extant Catholic newspapers in North America.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Looking for content from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch? Some content is available online through Newspaper Source. Archives of older issues (digitally or on microfilm) are also available and can requested through Interlibrary Loan.

Other historical publications are also available through the library databases:Digital Resources.