Primary Sources for Historical Research
Historical research encompasses two forms of sources, also know as "evidence": primary and secondary. "Primary evidence records the actual words of someone who participated in or witnessed the events described.....Secondary evidence records the findings of someone who did not observe the event but who investigated primary evidence." [Jules R. Benjamin, A Student' s Guide to History, 6th edition, (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1994), p. 7]
Primary evidence can include newspapers, diaries, letters, interviews, speeches, laws, other official statements, and works written by individuals with first-hand knowledge of an event. When in doubt, check with your professor!
| Electronic Resources: Databases Web Sites |
Hints for: Searching for Books |
Print Sources: American Western/Frontier/Native American Other Areas of the World |
Microfilm/Microfiche Sources: American Western/Frontier/Native American Other Areas of the World |
Electronic Resources
Databases
America: History and Life (CSU affiliates only)
Indexes articles pertaining to American history. No full text. For primary sources, try a keyword search with the word "diaries." For example: frontier women diaries
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries (CSU affiliates only)
Full text database specifically for primary sources. Follow screen instructions.American State Papers (CSU affiliates only)
Full text database for congressional and executive department reports and documents for 1789-1838. See also entry for US Congressional Serial Set below.
Black Thought and Culture (CSU affiliates only)
From the eighteenth century forward.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries (CSU affiliates only)
Covers 1500-1900.
Declassified Documents Reference System (CSU affiliates only)
These formerly classified government publications are now available to researchers.
Early Encounters in North America
Full text data base specifically for primary sources. (CSU affiliates only)The Gilded Age. Alexander Street Press. CSU affiliates only.
Items in this database range from primary sources that were created in 1865 to contemporary scholarship.Historical Abstracts (CSU affiliates only)
Indexes articles pertaining to European, Asian, African, and Oceania history after 1500. No full text. For primary sources, try a keyword search with the word "diaries." For example: boer war diariesLexis-Nexis Congressional Historical Indexes, 1789-1969 (CSU affiliates only)
Indexes House and Senate reports, documents, hearings, and committee prints. Print volumes must be requested from storage using volume number.New York Times, 1851-2001 (CSU affiliates only)
Fulltext coverage of this important newspaper.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, Oral Histories (CSU affiliates only)
Covers immigrants to the US and Canada, 1800-1950.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries (CSU affiliates only)
Full text database specifically for primary sources. Follow screen instructions.US Congressional Serial Set (CSU affiliates only)
Provides searchable fulltext in facsimile format, beginning in 1817. When completed in 2008, this database will encompass 1789-1980. Included are many congressional committee reports, presidential communications to Congress, treaty materials, executive department publications, and maps and illustrations. This is a key resource for primary documents pertaining to American history. See also the listing for the American State Papers database above.
See Using Primary Sources on the Web (RUSA) for tips on evaluating these Web materials.
American Journeys
Fulltext eyewitness accounts of North American exploration from the Vikings to the early 1800s.
American Memory
This site at the Library of Congress includes numerous full text collections in many subject areas. Start by clicking on either "Collection Finder" or "Search."American State Papers
This site at the Library of Congress provides full text searching for the American State Papers, a collection of congressional and executive documents from 1789 to 1838. NOTE: CSU users have separate access to the American State Papers; see the entry in the database section above.Britannia History Documents
Charters, histories, chronicles, accounts, laws and summonses available on the Web.British History Online
Especially useful for fulltext primary sources from the British Parliament from 1509 to 1739.
Canadian History
Full text primary sources pertaining to Canada.
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
Full text Congressional documents and debates, 1774-1873.Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Beta). Library of Congress.
Read newspapers from 1900-1910 (from California, District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Utah, and Virginia) and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents (University of Oklahoma)
Includes full text documents from pre-colonial to the present.
Colorado's Historic Newspapers
Full text of newspapers from 1859 to the early 20th century.CSU Libraries Archives and Special Collections
Includes Water Resources and Colorado Agricultural Archives; University publications, records and photographs; manuscript and rare book collections.
Douglass: Archives of American Public Address (Northwestern University)
Full text of speeches from colonial times to the present.
Footnote TM
There is a lot on this site that is not free, but free materials available are selected: US milestone documents, Project Blue Book (UFO reports), and the Pennsylvania archives.Freedom of Information Act Investigations
This FBI site includes primary documents pertaining to investigations from the Alcatraz Escape to underworld boss Longie Zwillman. Click on "Reading Room Index."
Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives
Print version at AE1.108.G94/V1-3 Doc Ref. Indexing only -- no full text.Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (Thurgood Marshall Law Library. University of Maryland School of Law)
Find PDF versions of civil rights documents (coverage varies) from 1957 forward. By title, date, subject, and SuDoc number.Library of Western Fur Trade Historical Source Documents
Includes full text excerpts from a number of diaries, narratives, and letters.Making of America
Fulltext primary sources for most of the 19th-century.
100 Milestone Documents of American History
Includes court cases and Congressional legislation.PBS-- The West -- Archives
Brief fulltext resources pertaining to the American West from before 1806 to 1914.
RSAP: Resources for Research: Periodicals
Links to numerous full text sites for historical periodicals. Sites at Cornell University and the University of Michigan are the best starting points.
Schoenberg Center for Electronic Texts & Image (SCETI). University of Pennsylvania Library.
Has "virtual facsimiles of rare books and manuscripts in the Penn Library's collections."World War I Document Archive
Full text primary sources.
Hints for Searching for Books
To find books consisting of primary source material, use the SAGE library catalog. Here are some methods for identifying primary sources:Search historical persons as authors rather than subjects. Examples:
King, Martin Luther
Catherine of Cleves
Caesar, Julius
Do a word search that combines your topic with autobiographical sources. Examples:
slavery and (narratives or diaries or letters or memoirs)
frontier women and (narratives or diaries or letters or memoirs)
Do a word search on your topic, limiting the results to items published during the relevant time frame.
Usually only works with historical episodes and events from 1900 to the present. Example:
world war
[after] 1913 [and before] 1919
See also Identify primary sources in SAGE for subject terms that identify primary sources.Printed Sources
Items without a listed location are found in Morgan stacks.
American
American Charters, Constitutions and Organic Laws 1492-1988 Y1.1 731 Doc
American Foreign Policy, 1950-1980 S1.71/2 Doc
American Slave E444 .A45
American State Papers, 1789-1832 Y1.1/1 Doc
Annals of America [1493-1973] E173 .A793
Black Abolitionist Papers E449 .B624
Circular Letters of Congressmen to Their Constituents, 1789-1829 E310 .C55
Colonial Records of North Carolina F251 .N6
Documentary History of the State of New York F122 .D64
Documentary History of U.S. Foreign Policy, 1945-1973 E744 .S395 Storage
Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America E441 .D69
Documents of the American Revolution [21 volumes] E203 .G68 1972
Documents on American Foreign Relations, 1958-1973 JX231 .D6
Emerging Nation...Foreign Relations...1780-1789 AE1 114/3 N21 Doc
Eyewitness History Series [call numbers vary]
Foreign Relations of the United States [1862-1968] S1.1 Doc
Historic Documents [1972 to date] E839.5 .H57 Ref
History of American Presidential Elections E183 .S28
I Was Born a Slave E444 .I18
Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution E207 .L2A4 Storage
Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 LC134 Doc
Makers of America [1536-1970] E184 .A1M65 Storage
March of America Facsimile Series [16th--19th centuries] [call numbers vary]
Massachusetts Historical Society Collections F61 .M41 Storage
Naval Documents of the American Revolution D207 I2 Doc
New York Historical Society Collections F116 N63 Storage
Official Record of the Union and Confederate Navies W45.5 Doc
[Papers of] Charles Francis Adams, Samuel Adams, Aaron Burr, William Byrd, John C. Calhoun, Salmon P. Chase, Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Drinker, Benjamin Franklin, William Lloyd Garrison, Samuel Gompers, Nathanael Green, Alexander Hamilton, John Hays, Patrick Henry, Edward M. House, Martin Luther King, Henry Laurens, John Marshall, Cotton Mather, Robert Morris, William Penn, Chief John Ross, Samuel Sewall, John Smith, Thaddeus Stevens, Adlai Stevenson, Charles Sumner, Booker T. Washington, Daniel Webster, John Winthrop [search these individuals as authors in SAGE to locate these multi-volume sets]
Pearl Harbor...Hearings Y4 P31 P31 Doc
Plymouth Colony Records F68 .N55 Storage
Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972 Y4 P92/4 [or P92] Doc
Proceedings... of... Parliament Respecting North America, 1754-1783 E187 .G79
Public Papers of the Presidents... AE2 113...Doc
Public Records of Connecticut F97 .C7
Report of the [Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy] Y1.1.5 42/41 Doc
Rhode Island Colonial Records F76 .R29
Serial Set of Congressional Publications, 1832?-
--No call number, request from Storage. Use CIS US Serial Set Index. Y 1.9: Docs Ref to identify.
Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation E446 .S617
Treaties ... of the United States of America, 1776-1949 S9 12/2 Doc
Travels in New England and New York F8 .N95
U.S. Army in the [First] World War D114.8 Doc
U.S. Immigration Commission Reports, 1907-1910 Y3 Im6.2 Im 6 Doc
U.S. Industrial Commission Reports, 1901 Y3 In2/2 R29 Doc
War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies W45.5 Doc
Wisconsin State Historical Society Collections F576 .W816
Women and Child Wage Earners in the U.S. Y3 W84/15 1 1910 Doc
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American Exploration and Travel Series [call numbers vary]
Anza's California Expeditions F864. B68 Storage
Covered Wagon Women F591. C79
Early Western Travels [series] F592. T54
Expeditions of John Charles Fremont F592. H2
Far West and the Rockies Series F591. F35
Far Western Frontier [series] [call numbers vary]
First White Women over the Rockies BV3703 .D7 Storage
Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition F592.4 1983
Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike F592.P. 63 Special
Kappler's Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties I.1.107:6 Doc Ref
Lakeside Classics [series] [call numbers vary]
Mid-American Frontier [series] [call numbers vary]
News of the Plains and Rockies, 1803-1865 [series] F591 .W67
Papers concerning Robertson's Colony in Texas F389 .M17
[Schoolcraft's] History of the Indian Tribes of the United States I20.2:In2 1975 Doc
Southwest Historical Series F786 .S75 Storage
U.S. Indian Claims Commission Reports Y3 In2/6 Doc
Western Frontier Library [series] [call numbers vary]
Women in the West [series] [call numbers vary]
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Ancient Christian Writers BR60...
Ancient Records of Egypt DT57.B76
Ante-Nicene Fathers BR60....
British Documents on Foreign Affairs, 1837-1914 JX632 .B74 Storage
British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898-1914 D505 .G68
[British Parliamentary Papers Checklist, 1801-1899] Z2019 .I73 Ref
Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939 DA566.7 .A18
Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945 S1 82 Doc
Documents on International Affairs, 1936-1963 D442 .D6
English Historical Documents DA26 .E55 Ref
Fathers of the Church BR60.... Storage & Morgan (varies by title)
Hakluyt Society Works [on Exploration] G161 .H22
History of Al-Tabari [Islam to 915] DS38.2 .T313 Storage
Loeb Classical Library [of Greek Authors] PA3612...
Loeb Classical Library [of Roman Authors] PA6156....
Marx Engels Collected Works HX39.5 .A16 Storage
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers BR60...
[Papers/Writings of] John Calvin, Jacques Casanova, Winston S. Churchill, Lorenzo De Medici, John Evelyn, Mahatma Gandhi, William Gladstone, Friedrich Von Holstein, V. I. Lenin, Mao Tse-Tung, Daniel O'Connell, Samuel Pepys, St. Augustine, Jan Smuts, Joseph Stalin, Gustav Stresemann, Leon Trotsky [search these individuals as authors in SAGE to locate these multi-volume sets]
People's Republic of China, 1949-1979 DS777.55 .P4243
Political Writings of the 1790's DA520 .P78
Readings in Western Civilization CB245 .U64 Ref
Source Records of the Great War D521 .H6
Soviet Military Thought D301 79 Doc
[Trials of Nazi War Criminals] D102/8 Doc
Microfilm/Microfiche Sources
Some microfilm/microfiche sets include printed guides. These are listed on SAGE along with the microfilm/microfiche set itself.
American
American Periodicals Series, 18th Century Z6951 .U7 microfilm
American Women's Diaries (Western Women) HQ1438 .A17 .A43 1991 microfilm
Americans for Democratic Action Papers, 1932-1965 E743 .A583 microfilm
Black Abolitionist Papers, 1830-1865 E449 .B625 1981 microfilm
[Colonial History of the State of New York] F122 .D66 microfilm
Early American Newspapers AN .A12 microfilm
New York Times, 1851- AN1 .N4 microfilm
[Newspapers from Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. To identify specific newspapers, search SAGE, combining "newspapers" and{name of state}.]
Pamphlets in American History, 1775-1783 E173 .P35 1979 microfiche
Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 E303 .U56 microfilm
Records of...the African Slave Trade E448 .U53 [and .U532] microfilm
Revolutionary War Prize Cases E203 .U56 microfilm
Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of Books Z1201 .S43 1965 microfiche
Western/Frontier/Native American
American Indian Periodicals, 1939-1983 E75 .A543 microfilm/microfiche
Denver Post, 1894- AN .D4 microfilm
Documents Relating to the Negotiation [of treaties] I20.2/2:N31 Doc microfilm
Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-1881 I20.51 Doc microfilm
Letters Sent by the Indian Division...1849-1903 E93 .U66 microfilm
Plains and the Rockies [check SAGE for listing of items] W5 W22 microfiche
Guide to Survey of Conditions of the Indians.... E93 .U54 1975 microfilm
Ratified Indian Treaties, 1722-1869 I20.2/2:T71 Doc microfilm
Rocky Mountain News, 1859-1947 AN .R6 microfilm
Survey of Indian Reservations, 1935 E78 .S63 S7 microfilm
Territorial Papers [of Arizona, Colorado, etc] F666 through F826 microfilm
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Other Areas of the World
Early English Books, 1641-1700 AC1 .E52 microfilm
Frankfurter Zeitung, 1918-1933 AN .F65 microfilm
Freiheit-Berlin, 1918-1931 AN .F7 microfilm
German Army High Command, 1938-1945 D757.1 .G47 microfilm
German Reparations Papers, 1922-1930 D648 .A57 microfilm
Izvestiia, 1917-1971 AN .I9 microfilm
Japan Times, 1941-1944 AN .J3 microfilm
North China Herald, 1850-1941 AN .N67 microfilm
Observer [London], 1965- AN .O82 microfilm
O.S.S....Latin America, 1941-1961 F1418 .L3562 microfilm
O.S.S.....Postwar Europe D824 .P67 1977 microfilm
Pravda, 1917-1953 AN .P7 microfilm
Stresemann Papers, 1887-1929 D231 .S83 A3 microfilm
Times [of London], 1785- AN .T5 microfilm
Electronic Resources:
Databases
Web SitesHints for:
Searching for BooksPrint Sources:
American
Western/Frontier/Native American
Other Areas of the WorldMicrofilm/Microfiche Sources:
American
Western/Frontier/Native American
Other Areas of the World
History Resources at Colorado State University
Maintained by: Naomi Lederer