Primary sources are materials that provide firsthand testimony to a subject under investigation. Researchers often use these firsthand accounts of specific events to understand events from the viewpoint of people living during that time period. Primary sources include documents and artifacts from the time period under study, such as letters, diaries, photographs, newspaper articles, pamphlets, government records, songs, poems, and videos. Primary sources also include writings and recordings by witnesses who experienced the events or conditions being documented. For example, oral histories, autobiographies, and memoirs are primary sources.
Search full text and images 1851-2020 including news, illustrations, editorials, and advertisements.
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
Data, charts, and statistics on topics such as population, work and welfare, economy, governance and international relations.
To find primary sources via Google, try adding keywords like journals, papers, letters, documents, primary sources, or documentary history to your search terms. Primary sources can often be found on library, museum, and government websites.
Here are some examples of websites that can help you find primary sources HU1411:
Additional websites for finding primary sources (these collections are broader than those listed above but may still have relevant documents for your research):
Sometimes collections of primary source documents are republished in books. Here are some strategies for finding books like these:
Here are some examples of books containing primary sources:
The Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader by 
The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle by 
Pauli Murray and Caroline Ware: Forty Years of Letters in Black and White by 
Risking Everything: A Freedom Summer Reader by 
The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is by Archives and Special Collections (ASC) serves as the institutional memory of WPI and curates the university's collection of manuscripts, rare books, art, and objects. ASC staff are committed to the preservation of the historical and cultural resources produced by WPI faculty, students, and staff while also providing support for primary source education and research. For more information about their collections or services, or to schedule a research consultation, please Contact ASC.