What is a primary source?
A primary source is an information source that describes or depicts a historical period, event, person, or people and that was created around the time of the period, event, or person's life, and/or by someone with firsthand knowledge of the subjects.
Primary sources can take many forms. They can be letters, postcards, telegrams, diaries, journals, newspaper and magazine articles, government documents, business and organization records, photos, posters, pamphlets, handbills, and more.
Collections of historical newspaper and magazine articles
These electronic databases contain primary sources in the form of articles from newspapers and magazines, dating back to the 19th century. They are also characterized by different search interfaces with different filters and options. As you use them, take a moment before you begin searching to see how the search page and its options are organized.
- Chronicling America This link opens in a new window Chronicling America is a digitization project which provides access to historical newspapers and is a collaborative effort of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. It is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program. The database also includes a directory of newspaper titles from 1690 to the present which provides basic information about the title such as dates of publication and what libraries have print or microfilm copies of the title.
- American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window The American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection database provides full text access to thousands of historical periodical publications. This database, which is made up of 50 collections, contains scans of each page of all publications, including illustrations. The results list takes you to the article level and allows you to browse the entire issue of the publication.
- New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window Search the complete text of the New York Times from 1851 to 3 years prior to the current year. Includes PDF images of original articles with photographs and drawings, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements.Note: An additional year of content is added annually.
- Newspapers.com (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
- Internet Archive: Magazine Rack This subset within Internet Archive includes digitized reproductions of magazines, in some cases dating back to the 19th century.
The Chicago Tribune and more on microforms
The Chicago Tribune was founded in 1847 and today is one of the city's two major daily newspapers. At University Libraries, issues dating from 1849 to 2010 are available on microfilm. An index to the paper dating back to the 19th century is not available. A strategy to discover articles about the Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Affair, and the Pullman model town, however, would be to first identify dates when events of interest occurred and then peruse issues of the Tribune published shortly after.
Dozens of other American newspapers are available on microforms at University Libraries. Coverage dates vary.
Court cases
Nexis Uni contains the full text of court cases dating back to the second half of the 19th century. The guided search interface is recommended for finding them. Searches can be performed with case citations or by keyword searches.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window Nexis Uni provides access to newspaper articles, magazine articles, and transcripts. It is also a key database for business and legal research, containing company reports, law journals, and statutes and cases from all 50 states. Also contains legal resources for Canada and the EU.
Using OneSearch to find more primary sources at University Libraries
Primary source material at University Libraries can also be discovered in OneSearch. You can begin by entering search terms that represent your topic in the search box. Run a search, and on the results page use the "archival material" option in the content type filter; or "newspaper articles" and/or "magazine article" in the content type filter and then use the publication date filter to narrow your results to those create within a few years of the event you are researching.
- OneSearch This link opens in a new window OneSearch is a tool that cross searches much of the content our databases and other online sources. You can search across many collections in one search box simplifying the resource discovery process.
Multi-format collections of primary sources
These electronic collections contain primary sources of many different kinds.
- Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new window The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) provides access to content from American libraries, archives, and museums. Although many items in the DPLA are in the public domain, some items are not. Check the "Rights" field of the item record for the copyright status.
- Hathi Trust A large book digitization project where you will find a variety of kinds of primary sources.
- Internet Archive The Internet Archive specializes in preserving cultural, intellectual, and historical artefacts of a digital nature, including software, videos, sound recordings, images, and more than half a trillion web pages. The archive also includes about 28 million digitized books and texts.
ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid is an online resource that contains descriptions of the archival holdings of many libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and similar institutions. It allows you to search for a topic - perhaps a person, place, event, or organization - and learn where potentially relevant archival collections exist.
ArchiveGrid does not contain primary sources or archival materials itself, nor does it discern between physical and digitized collections. When you have discovered a collection of interest, you can visit the holding institution's website to determine whether any of the sources have been digitized and made available online.