Primary source databases

African American Communities provides digitized primary sources on racism and discrimination, integration, culture and identity, and the history of the civil rights movement. Content includes pamphlets, magazines and newspapers, correspondence and oral histories, official records and government reports, photographs, maps, and essays from scholars. Early 1800s-present.

America: History and Life is an index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. The database includes citations and links to journal articles, dissertations, primary documents, and book and media reviews. Some content is available full-text (PDF and HTML). Allows limiting to peer reviewed articles, those with references, and to historical periods (date ranges). 1863-present.

America in World War 2: Oral Histories features digitized video interviews from the National WW2 Museum, plus letters, diaries, photographs, artifacts and military records covering operations in Europe and the Pacific and post-war occupation ion Germany.

The Archives of Sexuality & Gender provides primary sources on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world. Includes LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940 and Sex and Sexuality: 16th to 20th Century.

Confidential Print: Africa provides digitized primary sources from the British National Archives collections of confidential correspondence from colonial, Dominion, and Foreign Offices relating to Africa. Content includes reports, descriptions of leading personalities, political summaries, economic analyses, maps, and dispatches and letters.

Confidential Print: Middle East provides digitized primary sources from the British National Archives collections of confidential correspondence from the Middle East, Turkey, and the former Ottoman Empire. Content includes reports, descriptions of leading personalities, political summaries, economic analyses, maps, and dispatches and letters.

The Digital National Security Archive provides primary documents on U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Subsets include the CIA Family Jewels Indexed information which reveals the CIA's most closely held secrets about their domestic intelligence activities they considered outside its charter, conducted at the height of the Cold War through 1973, and the Cuban Missile Crisis: 50th Anniversary Update which includes unpublished records from U.S. and Soviet archives.

A digital publishing initiative that provides online access to primary sources related to southern history, literature, and culture. The collection includes texts, images, and audio files drawn primarily from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill libraries. Materials originate from collections such as the Southern Historical Collection, the North Carolina Collection, the Rare Book Collection, and Davis Library. DocSouth currently offers fourteen thematic collections containing books, diaries, letters, maps, posters, artifacts, literary works, oral history interviews, and songs. Coverage spans from the 1500s to the present.

This database provides primary sources from Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on diplomatic history from the 20th century. 1898-1990.

Education Research Complete indexes citations, abstracts, and full text from journals, books, book chapters, case studies, essays, interviews, conference proceedings, product reviews, and experiments in all areas of education. The database includes indexing and abstracts for more than 2,100 journals and full text for nearly 1,300 journals, as well as full text for approximately 550 books and monographs and numerous education-related conference papers. Users can limit searches to peer-reviewed journals. Coverage: 1865–present.

Essay and General Literature Retrospective indexes citations to English-language essays from periodicals, annuals, and other publications. Subjects covered include economics, humanities, and social sciences. 1900-1984.

GreenFILE indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text articles, books, case studies, conference papers, speeches and interviews, letters, and reports covering all aspects of human impact to the environment including agricultural, architectural, engineering, education, and the social sciences. Full text is available in HTML and PDF. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. Free access version is also available. 1913-present.

The HathiTrust Digital Library contains over seven million volumes and over one billion pages of scanned books and other materials. About 20 percent of all content is in the public domain (and accessible to you). You can also browse several public collections. Content is available in several image formats, text, and PDF. 1200s-present.

Independent Voices provides digitized alternative press newspapers, magazines, and literary publications from the second half of the 20th century. Content includes materials from major social movements such as feminism, LGBTQ rights, civil rights, and the GI underground press. Materials range from campus publications to feminist and LGBT periodicals, as well as “little magazines” central to literary movements, reflecting diverse perspectives. Content spans the 1950s through the 1980s and is available in image and PDF formats.

The Library of Congress provides digitized American historical materials organized into more than 100 thematic collections. Original formats include manuscripts, prints, photographs, posters, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, books, pamphlets, and sheet music. Each collection includes explanatory features to help users find and understand the materials. Collections can be browsed individually, searched individually (with full-text searching available for many written items), or searched across multiple collections. Coverage spans from the 1400s to the present.

Oxford African American Studies Center provides full-text articles from encyclopedias and other reference sources, along with primary sources, maps, charts, and biographies. Content covers African and African American history, culture, literature, education, and the arts. The database includes more than 10,000 scholarly articles and supporting materials.

Political Science Complete indexes citations, abstracts, and full text of journal articles, conference papers, reference books, country reports, interviews and speeches, and book reviews on all aspects of political science. You can do cited reference searches and limit to scholarly sources. 1887-present.

Race Relations in America provided digitized primary source documents from the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries covering desegregation, migration, the role of the church, race riots and racial tensions, protest marches, demonstrations, and legal cases of the Civil Rights Movement. Content includes audio recordings of speeches, photos, scrapbooks, surveys, case studies, posters, and photos. 1943-1970.

Service Newspapers of World War Two contains an extensive range of both rare and well-known wartime publications for soldiers serving in major theatres around the world. Publications are included from many key nations involved in the conflict, such as the US, Canada, New Zealand, India, and the countries of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Both Allied and Axis publications are presented, offering a broad view of the war and the experiences of those on its front lines. 1939-1948.