Guides: HI 3334: Media Revolutions in History : Primary Sources

Primary Sources for History

Primary sources are materials that provide firsthand testimony or the closest evidence to a subject under investigation. Researchers often use these firsthand accounts of specific events, or direct investigations to understand events from the viewpoint of people living during that time period. Primary sources include letters, diaries, photographs, newspaper articles, and pamphlets.

Primary Sources: Library Databases

New York Times (Historical): 1851-2021 This link opens in a new window
Search full text and images 1851-2021 including news, illustrations, editorials, and advertisements.
Coverage: 1851-2021
Full Text: Yes
Search Tips
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
Coverage: 1800s-
Full Text: Yes
Titles Included | Search Tips

JSTOR: Independent Voices
Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.

Archives at WPI

The Gordon Library Archives are a great resource for primary sources. To learn more about the Archives' collections or to schedule a visit to the Archives, please e-mail archives@wpi.edu or fill out their contact form.

Digital WPI: WPI Archives Collections
This is the institutional digital repository for Gordon Library's Archives & Special Collections department.

Gordon Library's Archives & Special Collections (also known as "Archives") actively collects, preserves, and makes available university records, collections and works of enduring value. In support of institutional and library missions, the department provides services to the WPI community, scholarly researchers, and the broader public.

Primary Sources: Examples of Helpful Websites

To find primary sources via Google, try adding keywords like journals, papers, letters, documents, primary sources, documentary history, maps, or archives to your search terms.

American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Discover historic programs of publicly funded radio and television across America.
Duke University Libraries: Ad*Access
Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements covering five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda - dated between 1911 and 1955.
Duke University Libraries: Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920
Over 3,300 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.
European History Primary Sources (EHPS)
European History Primary Sources (EHPS) is a joint initiative of the Library and the Department of History and Civilization of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. The purpose of EHPS is to provide an easily searchable index of scholarly digital repositories that contain primary sources for the history of Europe.
Fordham University: Internet History Sourcebooks Project
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts. Browse by time period or geographic region.
Gallup: Vault
Gallup, Inc. is an American research-based, global performance-management consulting company. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became famous for its public opinion polls, which were conducted in the United States and other countries. Check out their Vault for historic poll data.
Library of Congress: Digital Collections
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library preserves and provides access to a rich, diverse and enduring source of knowledge to inform, inspire and engage you in your intellectual and creative endeavors.
Primary Sources for Radio
A list of primary source collections related to the history of the radio.
Primary Sources on Copyright, 1450-1900
Primary sources on copyright (1450-1900) is a digital archive of primary sources on copyright from the invention of the printing press (ca. 1450) to the Berne Convention (1886) and beyond. Material comes from Italy, France, the German speaking countries, Britain, the United States, Spain, and the Netherlands.
World Digital Library
Launched in 2009, the World Digital Library (WDL) was a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, with the support of UNESCO, and contributions from libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations around the world. The WDL sought to preserve and share some of the world’s most important cultural objects, increasing access to cultural treasures and significant historical documents to enable discovery, scholarship, and use.