SUNY Empire Library Webpages & Guides: Public History A Shared Conversation with the Past: HIST 3410: Primary Sources by region

General History Primary Source Databases

Black Thought and Culture
Non-fiction works written by African Americans. SUNY Empire Login Required
- Help creating a permalink in Black Thought and Culture
HarpWeek

Full-text of Harper's Weekly, a well-known magazine from the Civil War period. SUNY Empire Login Required
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Letters & diaries from North American women from colonial times to 1950. SUNY Empire Login Required
- Help creating a permalink in North American Women's Letters and Diaries

Historical Newspapers

Thanks to state libraries, special collections, museums, and historical societies, and also to genealogists and local history buffs, some newspaper content in the public domain that used to exist only on microform has been uploaded to the web and made available.

These are often, but not always, topically specific collections of articles rather than a chronological sequence of entire newspapers.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Full-text of American newspapers from 1897-1910. From the U.S. Library of Congress.
Independent Voices
Free online access to independent press full-text newspapers.
Internet Archive - Newspapers
A pilot project that involves scanning historical microform newspapers and making them publicly available online.
New York State Historic Newspapers
A free archive of NY newspapers, searchable by title, county, date, or collection.
State Archives Contact Information
From the National Archives' Archives Library Information Center.

Microform newspapers in library basements

The old-fashioned and still incredibly useful way to access old newspapers is to go to a local library and use a microfilm or microfiche machine (slightly different kinds of microform machines).

How does microform work?

These machines enlarge tiny scans of the original back to readable size, and you can usually print pages. They are rarely indexed except for the title of the newspaper and the date. So you need to know what you're looking for or be prepared to skim a lot.

How do I find what I'm looking for?

Search online for article titles from newspaper archives, then click for the exact date. Use the format newspaper title keywords year to get started. For example, New York Times shipping San Francisco 1959. Only major national newspapers will be indexed online; smaller ones can't afford to do it.

Where do I go?

You can use any public library where you live. Once you've gotten a library card there, you can usually get an access card for other library systems in the region by asking at the circulation desk.
As Empire State University faculty, staff, or students, you are entitled to use any SUNY or New York state community college library. You will need your SUNY Empire photo ID. You can also call CUNY libraries to see what arrangements they require for you to use their facilities - usually you need to confirm your identity and add a barcode to your SUNY Empire photo ID. Many other academic libraries also allow community members to come in and use their resources on-site.
All New York State residents are entitled to use the New York State Library in Albany and branches of the New York Public Library in New York City. Bring your driver's license or government photo ID.

Always call ahead if you want to use microform since staff who know how to use the machine will have to set it up and instruct you.

Multi-continent History Primary Sources

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
Primary source documents, from ancient times through the present, related to law, politics and diplomacy. From Yale Law School.
CURIOSity, Harvard's digital collections gallery
Digitized archival images. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain. From Harvard University's Library Archives.
David Rumsey Map Collection
Maps from the David Rumsey collection.
The History Place: Great Speeches Collection
A selection of famous speeches from the 1500s to the present. Also available on their YouTube channel.
Internet Archive Texts
Borrow from a huge collection of print or eBooks - fiction, children's literature, academic texts, and historical documents. Available to anyone with a free archive.org account.
Moving Image Archive
Classic movies and alternative news broadcasts. Some of these works are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.
Old Maps Online
Search an interactive, international archive of historical maps from numerous collections by date or location. Many participating institutions. Many maps are in the public domain.
Project Gutenberg
The biggest collection of public domain eBooks online. Many classics and primary sources.
Silk Road Narratives: A Collection of Historical Texts
Educational resources available from the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington.
The Slave Voyages Consortium
An extensive database of trans-Atlantic slave trade resources, searchable by date, enslaver or enslaved name, vessel name, or nation. Compiled via a consortium of 10 educational and research organizations.
University of Chicago Digital Collections
Digitized classics and primary source documents.
World Digital Library
Digitized primary source documents from countries and cultures around the world. From the Library of Congress.
World Map Collection
Links to thousands of maps, maintained by the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas, until 2021. Many of these maps are in the public domain.
Yale University Library Digital Collections
Photographs and digitized archival images. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.

US and Canadian Primary Resources

American Rhetoric
Extensive database of American speeches, organized by date, rank, and topic. Includes political, Hollywood, pop culture speeches, and more.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Full-text of American newspapers from 1897-1910. From the U.S. Library of Congress.
Discovering American Women's History Online
Primary sources in women's history. From the Middle Tennessee State University.
Documenting the American South
Especially strong collection of slave narratives. Also Southern literature.
Library of Congress > American Memory Project
Collections include the Haymarket Affair, America at Work, Inside an American Factory, and the National Child Labor Committee. Search the Ephemera Collection for pamphlets by various organizations.
Library of Congress Map Collections
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Huge collection of historical prints and photographs. Most are in the public domain.
Making of America
Primary sources in 19th century American social history. From Cornell University.
National Archives and Records Administration
Scanned text and images. "All of the digital images that are available on our website are in the public domain."
National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS)
This site provides access to summary tables and time series of population, housing, agriculture, and economic data, along with GIS-compatible boundary files, for years from 1790 through the present and for all levels of U.S. census geography, including states, counties, tracts, and blocks.
National Security Archive
From George Washington University.
Smithsonian Institution
Check out the Folkways Collection, the Photography Initiative, and the Archives of American Art.
Vincent Voice Library
Clips of American political speeches.
Windows on the Past
Digitized primary source documents. From Cornell University.
Women Working, 1800-1930
Digitized primary source documents in women's involvement in the US economy between the Civil War and the Great Depression. From Harvard University.

Mexican, Caribbean, and Central & South American Primary Sources

Digital Library of the Caribbean
A collection of collections, dLOC is known for its Caribbean Maps and Caribbean Newspaper collections.
Repositories of Primary Sources - Latin America and the Caribbean
A collection of links to national archives throughout the Latin American and Caribbean world. Mostly Spanish language resources.
University of Miami Libraries > Cuban Heritage Collection
Home to the largest repository of materials on Cuba outside of the island, as well as a comprehensive historical collection of resources about Cuban exile and the global Cuban diaspora experience.
Zapatistas!
Documents of the New Mexican Revolution. Translated into English.

African History Primary Sources

Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent
Digital collection of slides, photographs, and audio from 45 different African countries housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
African National Congress
The organization's website contains primary sources, including its constitution and charter, and multiple reports.
Black Thought and Culture
Non-fiction works written by African Americans. SUNY Empire Login Required

Herskovits Library of African Studies
A digital collection of photographs, maps, posters, videos, books, archival materials, manuscripts, and art objects housed at Northwestern University.

Asian History Primary Sources

Japanese Text Initiative
A collaboration between the University of Virginia Library eText Center and the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library to make texts of classical Japanese literature available online. In Kanji, Romaji, and English.

Southeast Asian Images and Texts
Digital collection of slides, photographs, and audio housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

European (including Russian) History Primary Sources

British Pathé
British Pathé was a type of cinematic journalism, known today as infotainment. Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and seismic political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people.

Early Modern Resources
A research portal for the early modern period (c.1500-1800 CE), curated by historian Sharon Howard.

EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
Transcriptions, translations, and scanned originals. Includes Eastern Europe and Russia.

Open Culture
An online film museum, dedicated to providing access to Europa Film Treasures from the 1890s to 1970s. Some are copyrighted; others are in the public domain.

Labyrinth
A digital collection of resources for medieval studies organized by category, including Art, Armor, Crusades, Gender, Manuscripts, and more.

Perseus Digital Library
eBook classics from the medieval and renaissance periods. From Tufts University.

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