Primary Sources Subject Guide LRC@TCC

Scope: Links to Internet based digital copies of original sources such as documents, diaries, narratives, photographs, sound recordings, speeches, etc.

Definitions and examples of primary, secondary, and tertiary documents.

Overview of primary sources

Primary sources in historical and cultural contexts Become a document detective! Use your sleuthing skills to figure out when and where an historical event took place by examining some primary sources and using an educated guess to pinpoint them on a map and timeline.

Library Resources (r):
AP Photo Archive of the Associated Press
HarpWeek: The Civil War Era (1857-1883) enables you to directly experience the richness and historical significance of Harper’s Weekly, America's leading 19th century illustrated newspaper.
History Resource Center: US
History Resource Center: World

Internet Resources: 
American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. (Library of Congress) 

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy Includes the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution of the United States. Also try Our Documents, Milestone Documents.

Digital Collections (U.of Washington) include Art, Labor, International, Natural World, Politics, and more.

Digital Library Program (Library of Virginia) more than 2.2 million rare and unique Virginia original documents, photographs, and maps, etc.

Documenting the South provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

EuroDocs:Primary Historical Documents From Western Europe--selected transcriptions, facsimiles and translations. 

Google News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. In addition to helping you search, News archive search can automatically create timelines which show selected results from relevant time periods.

In the First Person provides in-depth indexing of more than 2,500 collections of oral history in English from around the world. With future releases, the index will broaden to identify other first-person content, including letters, diaries, memoirs, and autobiographies, and other personal narratives.

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States from George Washington (1789) to George W. Bush (2001).

Internet History Sourcebooks Collections of ancient, medieval, and modern history documents.

Making of America Project offers primary sources in American social history from the Antebellum period through Reconstruction.

National Archives and Records Administration Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever. Search for documents using NARA Archival Research Catalog (ARC) 

Primary Documents Yale University Law School's Avalon Project seeks to "mount digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government." Searchable.

Repositories of Primary Sources listing over 5000 web sites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar.