History and Primary Sources
Interim Interdisciplinary Programs Liaison Librarian
Need help doing research? Check out the History Subject Guide.
Historical Newspapers and Periodicals
Accessible ArchivesCoverage: 1728 - 1900Access to archival fulltext newspapers including the Pennsylvania Gazette, African American and Civil War Newspapers, and Godey's Lady's Book.
American Periodicals Series OnlineCoverage: 1740-1940Over 1,100 periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically-significant periodicals. May be cross-searched with ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Chronicling America
From the Library of Congress. Search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
Colorado NewsstandCoverage: 1986 - currentSearchable full-text database of articles from Colorado newspapers including the Gazette (Colorado Springs), the Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, and six others.
Colorado Historic Newspaper CollectionCoverage: 1859 -Search historic Colorado newspapers from cities and counties throughout the state, published in English and other languages. The database includes digital versions of newspapers found on microfilm at the Colorado Historical Society's Stephen H. Hart Library that were published between 1859 and 1928. New material is usually added once a month. Some issues of the Colorado Springs Gazette are included.
Historical Chicago TribuneCoverage: 1849 - 1989One of the oldest continuously published newspapers in the United States. Historical coverage of prohibition debates, mercantile development of the midwest, westward expansion, Settlement House Movement - Jane Addams, Al Capone, and more. Full image and full text newspaper articles. (Lexis-Nexis provides current text coverage from March 1, 2002-present.)
Historical Newspapers (Proquest)Coverage: 1800's -Provides complete, full-image access to historical articles from the Atlanta Constitution, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times from 1881 and the New York Times from 1851. For current online articles use Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe.
ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers
Highlights and links to past, present, and prospective digitization projects of historic newspapers from around the world and in the U.S. (Most are free, some cost).
Latin American NewspapersCoverage: 1805 - 1922More than 35 fully searchable newspapers published in the 19th and early 20th centuries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and elsewhere.
Los Angeles Times (Historical)Coverage: 1881 - 1988Provides complete, full-image access to historical articles from the Los Angeles Times from its inception. For current online articles, use Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe.
Making of America
Coverage: 1815 – 1926
A digital library of 19th century books and periodicals – Atlantic Monthly, North American Review, Scribner’s, Living Age and more. There are two different collections available: University of Michigan – Making of America and Cornell University – Making of America
The New York TimesCoverage: 1851 - 3 years from currentProvides complete, full-image access to historical articles from the New York Times from 1851 to 3 years from present.
Nineteenth Century MasterfileCoverage: 1200's-1930Collection of dozens of indexes to English-language publishing prior to 1930. Indexing coverage includes Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1906. Index to Nineteenth century historical periodicals. Government Documents Indices include indexes to: U.S. patents, 1790-1873; U.S. government publications, 1774-1881; British House of Commons and House of Lords, 1803-1830. Indexing also books, newspapers and periodicals. Links to full text in other databases, HathiTrust and Google Books.
Nineteenth Century U.S. NewspapersCoverage: 1800'sProvides access to approximately 1.7 million pages of primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S.
The Official Index To The Times, 1906-1980Coverage: 1906 - 1980Index to the London Times.
The Times Digital Archive, 1785-1985Coverage: 1785-1985Full text of the The Times (London) provides access to full facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos.
Readers' Guide RetrospectiveCoverage: 1890 - 1982The premier index to popular periodicals. No full text links, but Tutt owns a large percentage of the magazines/journals indexed by this resource. Continued by Readers Guide Abstracts.
South Asian NewspapersCoverage: 1864 - 1922Collection of newspapers published in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; languages include English, Bengali and Gujarati. When completed, this collection will provide 400,000+ pages.
Viriginia Gazette
Coverage: 1736 – 1780
The Virginia Gazette was the official newspaper of Virginia and printed in Williamsburg from 1736 through 1780. Browse by date or search the electronic index.
Article Databases
Academic Search CompleteCoverage: 1865 - currentLarge database with extensive full text access to journals, in addition to abstracts and indexing. Subject coverage is general and broad.
America, History & LifeCoverage: 1863 - currentCovers American history.
Bibliography Of Africana Periodical Literature DatabaseCoverage: 1830 - currentIndexes English language articles from journals and periodicals that specialize in African Studies or consistently cover the African continent. Includes full text from 10 electronic journals.
Early English Books OnlineCoverage: 1475 - 1700Contains the full text of over 100,000 English books, pamphlets, and more, from the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare.
The Encyclopaedia Of IslamCoverage: historicalOffers basic searching of the full-text of nearly 12,000 pages of volumes I to XI and Supplement (Volume XII) of the print edition.
FeminaeCoverage: works published 1990 - currentThe Medieval Feminist Index covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages.
Handbook Of Latin American StudiesCoverage: 1935 - currentAnnotated bibliography of scholarly works on Latin American studies. Online version of the print title, volume 1 - present. Multidisciplinary topics. Covers humanities and social sciences.
Historical AbstractsCoverage: 1967 - currentCovers world history.
Historical Statistics Of The United StatesCoverage: 1600s - currentAnnual time series of the U.S. population, economic indicators, social conditions, and government. From colonial times to the present.
Humanities International CompleteCoverage: 1929 - currentA comprehensive humanities database, with almost 500 full text titles and indexing and abstracting for more than 1,700 titles. Subject areas include (but are not limited to) literature, philosophy, the arts, history, culture-oriented and multi-disciplinary humanities titles with some coverage going back as far as 1929. This database replaces Humanities Abstracts.
Index IslamicusCoverage: 1906 - currentIndexes books, journal articles, conference proceedings about Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Includes the other main Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, plus Muslim minorities elsewhere.
IterCoverage: 1943 - currentCovers all literature pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Citations for journal articles, reviews, review articles, bibliographies, catalogues, abstracts and discographies are included. Also included are citations for monographs, and material published in monographs and collections of essays.
JSTORCoverage: late 1800's - most recent 0-5 yearsArchival access to many scholarly periodicals. Some titles include current issues while others have a moving wall imposed on them.
Oxford Islamic Studies OnlineCoverage: variesCollection of authoritative reference works on Islam and global Islamic history, peoples and culture. Includes Quranic studies, timelines, maps, art, and learning resources.
Periodicals Archive OnlineCoverage: 1665-2000Online periodical archive containing the digitized backfiles of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences.
Periodicals Index OnlineCoverage: 1665-1995Electronic index to the contents of thousands of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences, including both scholarly and popular titles. Every article is indexed.
Web Of KnowledgeCoverage: 1900 - currentCitation-based searching in all disciplines. Includes Science Citation Index (1900-present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1900-present), and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present). Web of Knowledge differs from Web of Science by including other databases such as Medline.
Web Of ScienceCoverage: 1900 - currentCitation-based searching in all disciplines. Includes Science Citation Index (1900-present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1900-present), and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present). Web of Science differs from Web of Knowledge by focusing on these three indexes.
Document, Image, and Sound Archives
AccuNet/AP Multimedia ArchiveCoverage: 1826 - currentOver one million photographs provided by the Associated Press.
The American Civil WarCoverage: 1848 - 1897100,000+ pages of diaries, letters and memoirs by 2000+ authors. Includes many previously unpublished manuscripts. Organized for detailed browsing and searching. Some materials are cross-searchable under Social and Cultural History.
American MemoryCoverage: historicalDigitized collections from the Library of Congress. Oral histories, letters, photographs, documents. Search by keyword.
American SongCoverage: N/AAmerican Song is an aural history database that allows people to hear and feel the music from America's past. The database includes songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys. Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests, and more. Currently it includes 4,058 albums, equaling 68,981 tracks; more tracks will be added regularly.
The American WestCoverage: 1700's-1900'sSelected manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material and rare printed sources from the Everett D. Graff Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library, Chicago.
AP Images
Coverage: 1826 – current
Over one million photographs provided by the Associated Press.
ARTstorCoverage: Prehistory - currentHundreds of thousands of digital images with descriptive information covering painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, architecture, and design, as well as many other forms of worldwide visual culture. Save groups of images for later use in ARTstor, or download or print to use in class projects, presentations, and papers. First-time users must register for an account from a computer on campus.
Black Thought And CultureCoverage: 1700 - 2006Black Thought and Culture contains 1,200+ sources covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Includes non-fiction works, interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamphlets, letters and other fugitive material. Also includes the Black Panther newspaper from 1967-1980. Allows for advanced browsing and searching by author, race, gender, year, subject, nationality, etc. Some materials are cross-searchable under Social and Cultural History.
British And Irish Women's Letters And Diaries, From 1500-1950Coverage: 1558 - 1950Contains 100,000+ pages of letters and diaries of over 500 women. Organized for detailed browsing and searching. Cross-searchable under Social and Cultural History.
Early American Imprints. Series I, Evans (1639-1800)Coverage: 1639 - 1800Full text of almost every book and pamphlet printed in North America from 1639 to 1800. Not yet complete.
Early American Imprints. Series II, Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)Coverage: 1801 - 1819Full text of almost every book and pamphlet printed in North America from 1801 to 1819. Not yet complete.
Early Encounters In North AmericaCoverage: 1474 - 1800'sFull text works by 1,400+ authors in the form of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters between American Indians, Europeans, Americans, and Africans in all areas of North America. Offers advanced searching and browsing of people, events, flora, fauna and more.
Early English Books OnlineCoverage: 1475 - 1700Contains the full text of over 100,000 English books, pamphlets, and more, from the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare.
Eighteenth Century Collections OnlineCoverage: 1701-1800Digitized copies of every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the eighteenth century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas. Now incorporates new texts from ECCO part two.
In The First PersonCoverage: mostly 19th and 20th centuryFind primary-source, first person accounts such as oral histories, diaries, etc. Indexes Alexander Street databases (via CC subscription) and material freely available on the Web.
National Archives And Records AdministrationCoverage: historicalDescription and many links to digital copies of the documents, photographs and maps housed in the National Archives and regional branches.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, And Oral HistoriesCoverage: 1784 - 2004100,00 pages of letters, diaries, oral histories, interviews and other personal narratives by 2,000+ authors. Some audio recordings are available. Material is organized for advanced browsing and searching. Some materials are cross-searchable under Social and Cultural History.
North American Women's Letters And DiariesCoverage: 1675 - 2002150,000+ pages of diaries and letters from over 1,300 women, supplemented with biographies and bibliographies. Browse and search by detailed factors like author, race, occupation, age at first childbirth, year written, and geographical setting. Cross-searchable under Social and Cultural History.
Smithsonian Global Sound For LibrariesCoverage: N/ASmithsonian Global Sound for Libraries, produced in partnership with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, is a virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions. The collection provides educators, students, and interested listeners with an unprecedented variety of online resources that support the creation, continuity, and preservation of diverse musical forms. This growing collection includes over 2,812 albums, equaling 41,082 tracks.
Women And Social Movements In The United States 1600-2000Coverage: 1600 - 2000Growing collection of documents related to women and social movements in U.S. history. Includes primary source documents, images, dictionary of movements, biographical dictionary, chronology, reviews, notes, and teaching tools. Organized for in-depth browsing and searching.
Women Writers OnlineCoverage: 1400 - 1850Contains fulltext of nearly 400 works of early modern women writers.
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