Primary sources can be found in many online resources and in numerous library databases. Some of these tools cover a range of topics; others focus on a certain time period or topic. Use this page's navigation menu to identify the kinds of resources you need.
See the Search Strategies page for tips on how to search in these different tools.
Below are good starting points for finding primary sources on a wide range of topics.
Background Sources for Gaining Context
If you have a general topic and need background information, these reference databases have short articles that often include references to primary sources or to secondary sources that may lead to key primary sources.
Online Research Tools for Primary Sources on Most Topics
If you have a specific topic in mind, you use a search engine like Google for primary sources or digital collections on the topic (search examples: "digital collections" "atomic bomb", "primary sources" "atomic bomb").
Search across multiple GALE databases of primary sources.
See the Research Tools page for a fuller list of recommended resources.
Primary Sources Database Lists (Alphabetical/By Subject)
Note: Some primary source databases include a large number of subcollections. See Subcollections in Large Databases for details on the following databases: Accessible Archives, AM Explorer, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Gale Primary Sources, HIstory Vault, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, and ProQuest Primary Sources.
General Primary Source Databases
(Cover a wide range of time periods and topics)
Multidisciplinary resources providing access to thousands of primary source documents, including archival collections, government documents, periodicals, newspapers, and video.
Primary source collections across the entire portfolio of Adam Matthew Digital, spanning content from the 15th-21st centuries.
Archives of searchable historical primary source materials. Note: This content has moved to the History Commons platform, but still contains the Accessible Archives collections subscribed to by Rowan University.
Digital collection of historical documents from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
Collections cover a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history.
Search across multiple GALE databases of primary sources.
Time/Topic Specific
Primary source documents from the Eighteenth Century.
Contains English and foreign language titles printed in the United Kingdom in the Eighteenth Century, including thousands of works from the Americas.
Primary source materials about the Nineteenth Century.
Includes books, newspapers, periodicals, diaries and personal letters, manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, maps and musical scores.
American History Primary Sources
Comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources—rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, convenient research guides, interactive census maps.
Archival collections documenting topics in eighteenth- through twentieth-century American history.
Subjects include African American studies, women’s studies, history, political science, military and diplomatic history, immigration.
World, Government, and Law Primary Sources
Provides access to a broad range of previously classified U.S. federal records spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Includes sensitive documents from all the presidential libraries and numerous executive agencies.
Covers major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond.
Newspapers give insight into how an event or issue was reported on at a given historical moment.
Historical Newspapers
Current Newspapers
Articles from a large collection of newspapers worldwide.
NewsBank provides full-text information and perspectives from U.S. and international sources, including The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Trenton Times, USA Today, London Times, The Economist China Daily (Beijing).
University Archives & Special Collections (Campbell Library, 3rd floor) has primary sources related to the history of RU and the surrounding region. Learn more about their physical and online collections.