Below are key resources and search tips for finding historical primary sources. More in-depth guidance and more extensive resource lists are also in the following resources:
In history and the humanities a primary source is a item produced from the time you are researching. Examples include a photograph, a letter, a newspaper article, and government documents. Looking at actual sources from a specific time helps you get a firsthand account of what was happening then.
Primary sources provide first-hand information about an event or phenomenon. In contrast, secondary sources offer second-hand information and analysis; they offer draw from primary sources.
Video "Primary vs. Secondary Sources" from HistoryVideos100 (Minnesota Historical Society):
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.
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.
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.
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.
Online collection of early printed works from before 1700.
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.
United States' largest African American video oral history collection, containing oral history interviews with historically significant African Americans.
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
Online access to back issues of the Wall Street Journal, 1889 - 1999.
Newspaper coverage is from 1889 through 1996. For more recent issues of the Wall Street Journal, select the Wall Street Journal (current) link.
Online access to back issues of The Washington Post, 1877-1999.
Includes PDF images of nearly all content published in the Washington Post from the beginning, 1877, through 1997. Search the Washington Post Current edition for information after this end date.
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).
Online e-news content from the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
Coverage 2010-current; the same coverage is available in the comprehensive business database ABI. Older issues can be accessed through the full image database Wall Street Journal Historical.
Primary sources are available through many library and online resources. These search tips are helpful for locating primary sources in various online resources:
For example, in RU Library's Library Search (on the Campbell Library homepage), enter your search terms. From the results page limit the "Content Type" and the "Publication Date."