Exploring Source Types
- Primary Sources & Secondary Sources Infographic
This infographic provides help with distinguishing between primary and secondary source material. It includes examples of various sources and strategies for considering your research question.
Historical Newspapers
- America's Historical Newspapers
Newspapers from all 50 states from the late 17th up to early 20th centuries. Search by date, article type, and place of publication. - African American Newspapers, 1822-1998
More than 350 U.S. newspapers chronicling the African American experience. Covers historical events from 1827-1998. - Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980
Digital collection of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. - Indigenous Newspapers in North America
An extensive list of periodicals produced in the United States and Canada, including Alaska, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Nevada and Oklahoma, from 1828 to 2016. - Late Qing and Republican-Era Chinese Newspapers
Chinese Newspaper collection covering more than twenty cities in the mainland China from the collapse of the Qing Dynasty to the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. - Rafu Shimpo
Begun in 1903, the Rafu Shimpo is the preeminent Japanese American newspaper in the United States. - American Underworld: Flash Press Collection
Contains rare and short-lived 19th century newspapers exposing the socially taboo aspects of urban life in America, including scandal, brothels, blackmail, gambling, and more. - Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Digital collection of over 400 U.S. newspapers from 1800-1900. Full-text searchable. - Los Angeles Times Historical (1881-1987)
Provides historical coverage of first-hand accounts, politics, society and events of the time. - New York Times Historical (1851-2007)
Provides historical coverage of first-hand accounts, politics, society and events of the time. - Washington Post Historical (1877-1922)
Provides historical coverage of first-hand accounts, politics, society and events of the time. - San Francisco Chronicle Historical (1865-1922)
This historical newspaper provides first-hand accounts and coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. - Chicago Defender
Full-text searchable coverage of the Chicago Defender from 1909 - 2010. - Los Angeles Sentinel Historical
This historical newspaper covers first-hand accounts and coverage of politics, society and events of the time. - California Custom News Collection
With over 500 California newspapers, the collection supports a diverse range of research needs across an array of academic disciplines. Oldest issue 1987. - Orange County Register
The Orange County Register is part of Southern California News Group, which operates 11 daily newspapers in Southern California. - California Digital Newspaper Collection
Historical California newspapers from 1846-present, including the first CA newspaper, the Californian, and the first daily CA newspaper, the Daily Alta California. - Readers Guide Full Text
Over 400 of the most popular magazines and journals published in the US and Canada. - Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)Older issues of over 375 magazines such as Business Week (1929-1982), Good Housekeeping (1916-1982), and National Geographic (1888-1982).
- U.S. Newsstream
U.S. Newsstream contains recent news across American news outlets. Content stretches back into the 1980s. - Global Newsstream
Global Newsstream contains the most recent global news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s. - Times London Digital Archive
Contains full-text and images from The Times (London) newspaper from 1785-, current 6 years are not available. - Library of Congress - Chronicling America Collection
Historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program. - Florida Digital Newspaper Library
Hosted by the University of Florida, FDNL exists to provide access to the news and history of Florida. - NYS Historical Newspapers
The NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history. - Brooklyn Public Library Historical Newspaper Collection
Digitized pages of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Brooklyn Life from Brooklyn, New York. 1841-1955 - Virginia Chronicle - Library of Virginia
This free digital collection contains 105,998 issues and 122,203 articles spanning from 1787-2007 from the Virginia Chronicle. - Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Collection
Over 60 newspapers documenting the state's colonization and transition from territorial status to statehood from 1820-today. - Historic Oregon Newspapers
Digitized newspapers from University of Oregon Library searchable by city or by keyword, provided by The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program. - Penn State Civil War Newspaper Collection
Contains photographs and advertisements from selected newspapers published during the pivotal years before, during, and after the U.S. Civil War. - Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosts this digitized collection of historical newspapers. - California Newspapers Microfilm Archive
Collection is comprised of approximately 100,000 reels for titles published between 1846 and the present.
Daily Titan
- Daily Titan Search
Search the e-version of the Daily Titan on their website. - Daily Titan Archive 1960-2022
Download Daily Titan, The Titan and Titan Times issues here, and see the internet edition. Listed by calendar year.
Video & Media
- American Song
Songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, pioneers, and cowboys. Songs of Civil Rights, politics, Prohibition, war, protests, and more. - American History in Video
Documentaries, commercial and governmental newsreels, and archival footage cover America from its discovery to the late 20th. - AP Newsroom
Database of news, photographs and graphics from the Associated Press, from 1826-present. Free for educational reuse.
Primary Source Digital Collections
- Market Research & American Business
Primary documents from the 1920s-1960s. Material from Mattel, American Tobacco, Disney, Ford, Kraft, CBS, Playtex, and more. - Popular Culture in Britain & America, 1950-1975
Documents from the U.S. and Britain covering a wide range of popular culture topics such as Women's Liberation, the Civil Rights Movement, Youth culture, Music, Fashion, and more. - Refugees and Relief: Forced Migration and World War II
Chronicles the plight of refugees and displaced persons across Europe, North Africa, and Asia from 1935 to 1950. - Political Extremism and Radicalism in the 20th Century
Contains over 600k pages of content including oral histories, campaign materials, propaganda, government records, and ephemera on the political viewpoints from extremist movements. - American Civil Liberties Union Papers: 1912-1990
Draws from 2 million records of the ACLU, focusing on civil rights, race, gender, and more. Covers the years from before the ACLU’s official founding in 1920 through the 20th century. - Archives of Sexuality & Gender
Primary sources on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world. - LGBT Thought & Culture
Documents LGBT political and social movements throughout the 20th century into the present. Contains archival content, including letters, periodicals, speeches, interviews, and ephemera. - LGBT Magazine Archive
Archives of 26 leading rare LGBT magazines, many of the longest-running, most influential publications of this type. - Iter: Gateway to Medieval Times & Renaissance
Research on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700) in Europe and in the Middle East. - Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational ArchiveFive million pages sourced from books, newspapers, periodicals, government documents, court records, correspondence, manuscripts, and maps all on the global history of slavery.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Provides digital access to English and foreign language titles printed in the United Kingdom and the Americas during the 18th century. - Colonial America
Contains all 1,450 volumes covering 1606 to 1822. Original correspondence between the British government and the American colonies. - The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
Firsthand accounts of the Civil War between 1855 and 1875, including events leading up to the war, the war itself, and events following it. - North American Indian Thought & Culture
Contains primary sources and biographical information on indigenous peoples from North America. - American Indian Histories & Cultures
Browse through a wide range of rare and original documents from treaties, speeches and diaries, to historic maps and travel journals from the mid-20th century. - American West
Collection exploring tales of frontier life, Indigenous Peoples, vigilantes and outlaws. From the Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library, Chicago. - North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories
Narratives of immigrants to the US in 19th-20th centuries in letters, diaries, oral histories, and more. - Nineteenth Century Collections: Womens Transnational Networks
This collection focuses on issues at the intersection of gender and class, from the late eighteenth century to the era of suffrage in the early twentieth century, through a transnational perspective. - North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Documents the role and status of women, attitudes to specific historical events, and general life and times of various periods. - British & Irish Women's Letters and Diaries
Primary Source letters and diaries authored by women resident in Great Britain or Ireland between 1700 and 1950. - Women and Social Movements
Primary and secondary sources for the study of women’s activism and social movements in the U.S. from colonial times to the present. - Women's Issues & IdentitiesArchive of primary and secondary sources from across the globe that illuminate history from the female point of view.
- National Farm Worker Ministry: 1939-1985
Materials relating to farm workers, poverty programs, Public Law 78, Braceros, labor camps, the United Farm Workers Union and the Delano Grape Strike. - American Race Relations: Global Perspectives
Covering foreign perspectives of American racial issues in the mid-20th century, records were derived from the archives of the Central Intelligence Agency. - African Americans & Jim Crow, 1883-1922
1,000+ fully searchable printed works critical for insight into African-American culture and life from the beginning of Jim Crow to World War I and beyond. - Civil Rights in America
A fully searchable Readex archive of official publications and primary source material related to civil rights in the United States. - Black Life in America
Series 1-3 covers the following dates: 1704-1877 Arrival in America through Reconstruction.1878-1975: Jim Crow through the Civil Rights Movement.1976-Today: Black History Month to Today. - Black Thought & Culture
Non-fiction writings of over 1,000 major African American leaders, including teachers, artists, politicians, and more from 1700 to the present. - Oxford African American Studies Center
Reference collection containing more than 8,000 articles, 1,300 images and nearly 150 maps, charts and tables surrounding African American history. - African American Communities
Presents aspects of the African American experience through pamphlets, newspapers, correspondence, oral histories, official reports, and more. - Chinese American Experience: 1857-1892
Articles and advertisements from Harper's Weekly Magazine regarding the Chinese American experience from 1857-1892. - China, America and the Pacific
Covers cultural and trading relationships between America, China and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries. - Royal Geographical Society - Wiley Digital Archives
Collection of more than 150,000 maps, atlases, manuscripts, field notes, expedition reports, diaries, etc. from 1485-1970. - Food Studies Online
Provides archival content, visual ephemera, books, articles, and videos that explore how food shapes the world around us. - HeinOnline Academic
Legal/Government Documents resource covering more than 190 million pages and 295,000 titles of current and historical documents in a fully searchable, image-based format.
Databases by Subject
The databases on this page are recommended for exploring primary sources, but there are many other databases to choose from available through the library. To select the right database, think about which disciplines study the issue you are researching and use the recommended database list based on that subject. Choosing the right database always depends on the context of your research question. Ask a librarian for more help!
- Library Databases by Subject
Full list of all research databases specific to each discipline or subject, from the library website.
