LibGuides: CI 3110, CI 3060, &amp; CI 3554 Researching Social Studies Topics: Primary Resources

What are Primary Sources?

A primary information source is a record of events that are described or recorded by someone who either participated in or witnessed the events firsthand.

Examples include newspaper accounts, letters, diaries, notebooks, photographs, and interviews.

Watch this video (1 min. 44 sec.) to learn the difference between primary and secondary sources.

Primary Resources on the Internet

Digital Public Library of America
Docs Teach--National Archives
Library of Congress Classroom Materials
Library of Congress -For Teachers
Primary source teaching sets, lesson plans, and information on using primary resources in the classroom.
Library of Congress - Digital Collections
Primary resources on a variety of US history topics
Digital NC Primary Source Sets
Primary resources for NC topics
North Carolina Museum of History
North Carolina history, digital artifacts, and primary sources
National Archives Resources
Many primary resources from the US Archives
Digital Library on American Slavery
Resources on the slave trade and slavery in the United States
Documenting the American South
Primary sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century.
National Museum of American History
Many resources on American history
National Museum of American History - Latino History
Smithsonian resources on Latino history in the US
National Parks Service - Discover History
"Information and news from the National Park Service programs in archeology, ethnology, historic landscapes, historic structures, history, and museum management. Includes good information relating to the American Civil War."
National Museum of the American Indian
Native American history

Primary Sources in Library Databases

Best Bets:

American History, 1493-1945 This link opens in a new window
Sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, this collection of documents brings to life American history from the times of the earliest settlers until the end of World War II.

It is divided into two modules: Module 1 Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 and Module 2 Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945. Over 60,000 primary source documents split across two modules, including correspondence, diaries, government documents, business records, books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, photographs, artwork and maps. Secondary resources include chronology, essays, video lectures, and interactive features.
Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America This link opens in a new window
Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America is a wide-ranging digital resource presenting a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact.

The collection continues through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century. Explore the consequent political, social and cultural impact on American Indian life against the backdrop of an ever-expanding western frontier through a wealth of rare original documents, including: manuscripts, artwork, photographs, maps, printed materials and newspapers as well as other key features to support research and teaching.

Thematic areas include: American Indians and the European Powers; Indigenous Peoples of Mexico; American Indians and the US Government; Military Encounters: Conflicts, Rebellions and Alliances; Observation, Representation and Cultural Encounters; Missionaries and Education; Trade and Indian Economies; Civil Rights Movement; and First Nations of Canada.
Archive of Americana This link opens in a new window
The Archive of Americana features over 1,375 newspaper titles from all 50 states, more than 100,000 books, broadsides and pamphlets, essential collections of U.S. government publications and more from the following collections: Early American Imprints: Series I: Evans, 1639-1800; Early American Imprints: Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819; American Broadsides and Ephemera; America's Historical Newspapers; American State Papers, 1789-1838; and U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980.

The digital Archive of Americana is a comprehensive historical collection of primary source materials that offer opportunities for students and scholars to make original discoveries and new findings on nearly every aspect of United States history, culture and daily life across three centuries.
Coverage: 1639-1980
Artstor This link opens in a new window
The collection currently contains over three million images, including the following collections:

The Art History Survey Collection
The Carnegie Arts of the United States Collection
The Hartill Archive of Architecture and Allied Arts
The Huntington Archive of Asian Art
The Illustrated Bartsch (Old Master European prints from the 15th to the 19th centuries)
The Mellon International Dunhuang Archive (images of wall paintings and sculpture from Buddhist cave shrines in Dunhuang , China )
The MoMA Architecture and Design Collection
Native American Art and Culture from the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

ARTstor provides curated collections of art images and associated data for noncommercial and scholarly, non-profit educational use. ARTstor's definition of art is encompassing. It includes architecture, painting, photography, prints, drawings, sculpture, decorative arts and design, as well as archeological and anthropological objects. ARTstor also provides software tools to enable active use of the images. The tools support a wide range of uses including analyzing images, saving groups of images online, and creating and delivering presentations both online and offline.
Coverage: Prehistory to the present
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
Colonial America will consist of all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series of Colonial Office files held at The National Archives in London.

Covering the period 1606 to 1822, this unique collection of largely manuscript material from the archives of the British government is invaluable for students and researchers of all aspects of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American history and the early-modern Atlantic world. Consisting of the original correspondence of the the colonial governments with the Board of Trade, the Secretary of State for the Southern Department and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, together holding responsibility for the British possessions in mainland North America and the Caribbean.
Sabin Americana This link opens in a new window
This collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents, with over 6 million pages from 29,000 works. Based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography.

Includes original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions, and much more.

Coverage: 1500-1926
Slavery & Antislavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Slavery and Anti-Slavery is a thematically organized, historical archive devoted to the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective.

More Primary Source Databases for History

Finding Primary Sources in the Library Catalog

The best way to find primary sources in the library catalog is by using Library of Congress Subject Headings, which often include the following words:

sources
diaries
correspondence
interviews
personal narratives
speeches
papers of..

However these subject headings are not intuitive, therefore it is best that you do a Keyword search for your topic and one of the words above. Examples:

women sources
nineteenth century women diaries etc.

Once you find a title of interest, open the record and link to similar sources by clicking on the appropriate subject heading.

Historical Newspapers

America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
African American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
New York Times Historical (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Contains the complete paper cover-to-cover of every issue, with full-page and article images in PDF format. Includes photos, maps, graphics, advertisements, classified ads and obituaries, comics, and political cartoons. Trace the Civil War, Reconstruction after the Civil War, American industrialization into the 20th Century, both World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement, the development of a globalized economy, and much more. Coverage: 1851-2004
Washington Post Historical This link opens in a new window
The Washington Post has been known for its national political coverage, international reporting, and investigating reporting. Coverage: 1877-1995

Special Collections at App State

The Special Collections Research Center contains a wealth of published and unpublished primary sources on the Appalachian Region and its people, University history, stock car racing history, and more!

Published Primary Sources

Search the Catalog. Choose ASU SPEC APP COLL or other ASU SPEC... "Locations" on Advanced Keyword Search page.

Unpublished Primary Sources

Search Manuscripts & Archives Finding Aids

Digitized Primary Sources

Browse or Search Collections. To search, click on "Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections."

Need Help? Email spcoll@appstate.edu, call 828.262.4041, or visit us (4th Floor of Belk Library & Information Commons)

Library Guides

CI 3110, CI 3060, & CI 3554 Researching Social Studies Topics: Primary Resources

IMC Librarian