Library Guides: Library Resources: Primary Sources: Home

Key Sites

American Memory*
"American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience." Older materials are at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Avalon Project*
Digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government from ancient times to the 21st century.
Digital Public Library of America*
Portal to resources from U.S. libraries, archives, and museums. Browse by place, time, subject, or contributing partner. Includes all holdings in Calisphere.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History*
One of the best places to start for all time periods of European history. Extensive collection of primary sources and links to other sites. Browse by broad era (prehistory/ancient, medieval/renaissance, modern) or by country.
Hanover Historical Texts Collection*
Presents texts from ancient to modern times. Material touches on the Crusaders, Italian Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, French Revolution, and many other topics.
Internet History Sourcebooks*
The Internet History Sourcebooks are collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts. Topics include Ancient, Medieval and Modern histories. Also presents material grouped by subject: Africa, East Asia, Global, Indian, Islamic, Jewish, Lesbian/Gay, Science and Women's history.
Online Library of Liberty*
Full texts of over 1700 classic works on art, economics, history, law, literature, music, philosophy, political theory, religion, science, sociology, war and peace.
World Digital Library*
Large, well-organized collection of print and visual primary sources from ancient to current times. Material may be browsed by place, time, topic, type of resource, or contributing institution.

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience.-- from Library of Congress, “Using Primary Sources”

Examples of primary sources:

artifacts, audio recordings, autobiographies, captains’ logs, diaries, emails, eyewitness accounts, government and organization records, interviews, letters, market surveys, novels, patents, photographs, poems, polls, postcards, proceedings from meetings, reports on discoveries, science experiment data, speeches, videos, weather charts, works of art or music, some websites.

Custom Google Search

Use this box to search the web for primary sources. Only collections marked with an asterisk (*) in this guide will be searched.

Image from a 12-century illuminated manuscript, the Madrid Skylitzes, is in the public domain.

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