World History: Primary Sources
What is a primary source?
In the study of history, primary sources are documents, photographs, recordings, and artifacts created by contemporary historical actors or witnesses to historical events. Primary sources necessarily form the foundation of historical research. In the resources below you can find rich and multidimensional collections of primary sources from every era and reflecting every facet of world history.
Lesser Ury, Abend im Café Bauer (Evening at the Café Bauer). 1898. German. Oil on canvas. Public domain (Source: Wikiart.org).
Images
- AP Images This link opens in a new windowThousands of photos, graphics, and sound bites accompanying AP news stories.
- ARTstor This link opens in a new windowCurated collections of top-quality images of artworks and rich metadata.
- Digital Collections - University at Buffalo Libraries This link opens in a new windowThousands of images relevant to historical research in multiple unique collections.
- Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new windowRich, primary-source image material from libraries, archives, and museums in the U.S.
- Europeana This link opens in a new windowMillions of images and other audiovisual materials from European libraries, archives, and museums.
- ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new windowPrimary source images related to the most widely studied topics in 19th and 20th-century American history.
- Google ImagesSearch millions of images on the open web.
Guides to Research With Images
Researchers seeking images for use in historical inquiry will find these guides especially useful:
Newspapers & Periodicals
- News (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowCollection of more than 1000 English language news sources.
- LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new windowLeading full-text database for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender literature and research material including periodicals, books, journals, and publications.
- Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new windowFull-text newspapers and newswires, as well as TV/radio transcripts.
- Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new windowArchive of hundreds of journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, offering full-text access to more and more of the journals indexed in its sister database, Periodicals Index Online.
- Periodicals Index Online This link opens in a new windowIndex of major journals in the humanities and social sciences, from as far back as 1660 up to the present.
- ProQuest British Parliamentary Papers Collection, 18th-21st Centuries This link opens in a new windowA vast and authoritative archive of official government documents spanning three centuries of British history.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Defender (1910-1975) This link opens in a new windowHistorical local, regional, and national news from the middle of the 20th century.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2013) with Index (1851-1993) This link opens in a new windowHistorical local, regional, national, and international news from the 19th to the 21st centuries.
- National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): U.S. Newspaper ProgramA vast listing of NEH-funded initiatives to digitize newspapers published in the U.S. from the 18th century to the present.
- Newspaper Research in the UB LibrariesA guide to performing historical research with newspapers at UB.
Local Collections
- The Buffalo History Museum
- Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
- Robert L, Brown History of Medicine Collection (UB)
- Special Collections (UB)
Archival Material & Documents
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Science, Technology, and Medicine This link opens in a new windowPrimary source materials from the long nineteenth century revealing the rapid acceleration of scientific, technical, and medical knowledge and covering every aspect of science. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Women This link opens in a new windowPrimary source documents focused on issues at the intersection of gender and class from the late-eighteenth to the early twentieth century, all through a transnational perspective.
More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY - American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new windowA vast collection of American historical periodicals, 17th-20th century. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- Archive Finder This link opens in a new windowA searchable listing of archives and document repositories located in the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland.
- Archives of Sexuality & Gender, Parts 1-2: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 This link opens in a new windowPrimary source documents on important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- China from Empire to Republic: Missionary, Sinology and Literary Periodicals 1817-1949 This link opens in a new windowEnglish-language periodicals published in or about China during a period of over 130 years. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- China from Empire to Republic: Records of the Maritime Customs Service of China (1854-1949) This link opens in a new windowPrimary source documents for the study of China and its relations with the West in the late Qing and Republican periods. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- Digital Collections - University at Buffalo Libraries This link opens in a new windowPrimary sources, documents, and media relevant to historical research in multiple unique collections.
- Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new windowA vast trove of primary source material from libraries, archives, and museums around the U.S. and related to every country and era.
- Early English Books Online This link opens in a new windowMore than 22 million page images from every work printed during the era 1473-1700 in English in Great Britain, and in any language in Britain's dependencies.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowDigital archive of books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides etc. from Great Britain in the 18th century and other locations, primarily but not exclusively in English.
- Europeana This link opens in a new windowBooks, images, audio, and video from European libraries, archives, and museums.
- European Views of the Americas, 1493-1750 This link opens in a new windowContemporary books and journal articles from the period of European exploration of North America.
- Finding Aids at the University at Buffalo Libraries This link opens in a new windowGuides to archival records, personal papers, and manuscripts in UB's Special Collections unit.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowPrimary source material from five centuries of modern world history.
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowPrimary and secondary full-text and archival material, from 1970 to the present, on all issues related to sexuality, religion, societal roles, feminism, masculinity, eating disorders, day care, and the workplace.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowA vast digital repository of books derived from the collections of leading research libraries.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowAlongside contemporary scholarly books and journals, JSTOR's collections contain historical material appropriate for use as primary sources.
- Past Masters This link opens in a new windowComplete online texts of important works in philosophy and theology from medieval and modern Europe and the U.S.
- ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new windowMillions of primary source, cross-searchable, full-text/full-image documents on the most widely studied topics in 19th and 20th-century American history.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery, Parts 1-4 This link opens in a new windowPrimary source documents on all aspects of the phenomenon of slavery and its abolition in the US, Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- Women Working, 1800-1930 This link opens in a new windowPrimary source material related to women's roles in the U.S. economy in the 19th and early 20th century.
- Women’s Studies Archive: Issues and Identities This link opens in a new windowPrimary source documents from the 19th and 20th centuries covering the social, political, and professional aspects of women’s lives and spanning multiple regions. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- ArchiveGridBrings together more than 5 million records describing archival content from more than 1,000 archives across the globe.
- ArchivesCanada.ca Search PortalOfficial archival search portal of the Canadian Council of Archives, providing online access to more than 800 archives across Canada.
- ArchivesWiki - American Historical AssociationA clearinghouse of information about archival resources throughout the world.
- Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training: Oral History CollectionThe world's largest collection of U.S. diplomatic oral history.
- Directory of Corporate Archives in the United States and CanadaA listing of companies in the U.S. and Canada that maintain archives and records pertaining to their activities.
- The Internet Archive: Wayback MachineAn archive of the Internet itself since 1996, including almost 280 billion web pages.
- Library of Congress: Portals to State HistoryA listing of archives, collections, and initiatives devoted to the preservation of cultural heritage in the individual states of the U.S.
- Museums USA: Museum DirectoryA listing of museums in the U.S., arranged by state and type.
- PreservationDirectory.comThe premier online resource for historic preservation, building restoration, and cultural resource management in the U.S. & Canada.
Focus on America and Europe
- ACRL European Studies Section: Research GuidesEuropean Studies Research Guides (LibGuides) are curated by ACRL ESS members and offer freely available scholarly resources related to European regions and topics.
- The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and DiplomacyThe Avalon Project will mount digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France: GallicaA portal to the vast collections of digitized, primary-source books and documents at the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library of France).
- EuroDocs: Online Sources for European HistoryA portal to a vast number of digital collections in European history, organized by country or broad subject area.
- Europeana Newspapers (EN)EN makes historic newspaper pages searchable via two prominent cultural heritage websites: Europeana and The European Library. It aggregates 18 million historic newspaper pages, including 10 million newspaper pages in full text, and uses a special content viewer to improve online newspaper browsing.
- European History Primary SourcesA searchable index of scholarly digital repositories containing primary sources for the history of Europe, including the major national digital libraries and many smaller digitization projects in Europe.
- Library of Congress: Digital CollectionsLibrary of Congress Digital Collections provide free and open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience and offer a digital record of American history and creativity.
- Library of Congress: Chronicling AmericaChronicling America is a website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): 100 Milestone Documents in American HistoryOne hundred milestone documents in American history reaching from 1776 to 1965.
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): The Digital Vault on DocsTeachAccess thousands of primary sources covering a wide variety of historical topics at the National Archives, or borrow from an ever-expanding collection of document-based activities built by the National Archives education staff and teachers around the country.
- Sabin Americana This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to the contents of a legendary bibliography covering every aspect of the history and culture of the Americas.More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- University of Michigan: Making of AmericaA digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Particularly strong in education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. Circa 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
Audio & Video
- AVON - Academic Video Online This link opens in a new windowStreaming video in a wide range of subjects and genres. More InfoStreaming Media UB ONLY
- DRAM (Database of Recorded American Music) This link opens in a new windowStreaming audio recordings of American music, along with liner notes and essays.
- Kanopy Streaming Service This link opens in a new windowHundreds of feature-length documentaries and feature films, including generous selections from the library of international and arthouse films offered by the Criterion Collection.
- NAXOS Music Library This link opens in a new windowOnline streamable recordings of classical, jazz, world and folk music, with liner notes and other supplementary materials.
- OntheBoards.tv This link opens in a new windowProvides video-on-demand access to works of dance, theatre, music and other performative art forms.
- Rock's Backpages This link opens in a new windowThe world's biggest archive of music journalism and pop writing of the last 60 years.
- Swank Digital Campus This link opens in a new windowStreaming dozens of mass-market Hollywood films of interest to students, instructors, and researchers.