Useful Tips
Browse footnotes and bibliographies of books, encyclopedias, and articles for information about primary sources.
Search the Library Catalog for primary sources--both unpublished manuscripts and modern editions in print and online, sometimes in translation, of original primary sources. Use the guided keyword search with truncated terms such as:
- source*
- diar*
- personal narrative*
- interview*
- letter*
- correspondence
What is Microfilm?
When you can't find published primary sources, you may be able to get a hold of electronic or microfilm copies
Much archival primary source material has been filmed over the years, but using it will take some getting used to. Ask for help with microfilm, microfiche, or microcards at a reference desk!
A sense of what it is and how you use it: Using Microfilm
Cameras in the Archives
Victorian Spy Camera Watch, by Brett Jordan. Source: Flickr.
Archival material cannot typically be checked out or interlibrary loaned, and usually not photocopied or scanned (except by a staff member, and for a fee). However, many archival institutions will allow you to take photos of pages.
African-American History
- Chicago Defender (1910-1975)
- Daily Defender (1956-1975)
- New York Amsterdam News (1922-1994)
- Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
- Oxford African American studies centerComprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture. 300+ primary sources, commentaries, maps, charts, tables, biographies, encyclopedias...
Electronic resources
This is just a sampling of the many, many primary resources available in electronic form. In Find Databases, there's a category called history: primary sources. Other subject searches in the catalog include:
- Sixties : primary documents and personal narratives 1960-1974
- Cuban heritage digital collection
- Literature online : the home of literature and criticism
- New York State documents
- PAIS International (public policy documents)
Here are some examples:
- Accessible archivesA site devoted to primary source material in American history. Information archived is from leading historical periodicals and books, and includes eyewitness accounts of historical events, vivid descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records. Databases are encyclopedic in scope and allow full Boolean, group, name, string, and truncated searches. Transcribed individual entries are complete with full bibliographic citations and are organized chronologically. Titles will continue to be added covering important topics and time periods for scholars and students of all academic levels.
- American Memory byProvides information on, and access to, the digitized version of the Library of Congress primary-source collections on American history and culture, including photographs, documents, sound recordings, and motion pictures. Broad topics covered include: agriculture, arts and architecture, history, performing arts, social sciences, etc. Particular collections include: African-American perspectives, Alexander Graham Bell papers, Baseball cards, Civil War photographs, Early motion pictures, and Voices from the Dust Bowl.
- American PeriodicalsAmerican Periodicals includes two full text resources: American Periodicals Series Online (APS Online) and American Periodicals from the Center for Research Libraries. Both contain digitized images of American special interest and general magazines, labor and trade publications, scientific and literary journals, and photographic periodicals, as well as other historically significant titles, from the 19th century through the dawn of the 20th century. Because the database contains digitized images of periodical pages, researchers can see all of the original typography, drawings, graphic elements, and article layouts exactly as they were originally published.
- Hathi Trust Digital LibraryAs a digital repository for the nation's great research libraries, HathiTrust brings together the immense collections of partner institutions. It was initially conceived as a collaboration of the thirteen universities of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the University of California system, and the University of Virginia to establish a repository for those universities to archive and share their digitized collections, and quickly expanded to include additional partners with fast growing treasure of digitized collections.
Internet Archive (archive.org)"The Internet Archive "was founded [in 1996] to build an 'Internet library,' with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format," such as Internet sites and other cultural digital artifacts (i.e. movies, interviews, images, etc.). Using the Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine," users can look at their own Web site and track how it has evolved. Plug-ins are made available as needed. "Special Wayback Collections" provide a sense of how events such as September 11, 2001, were recorded digitally. This site is appropriate for anyone doing research on the history of the Internet and for those who want to see how the Internet has changed over the years." "Best Free Reference Web Sites 2002." RUSA Quarterly, Fall 2002; reviewed Feb. 19, 2002.
Making of AmericaDigital versions of selections from Cornell University Library’s collection. Features monograph volumes and journal articles published in the nineteenth century. Focuses on the major journal literature of the period (e.g., Harpers, The Atlantic Monthly, The Living Age), ranging from general interest publications to those with more targeted audiences such as agriculture. Links to the University of Michigan’s collection by the same title.
Primary Sources in Detail
Much more detail on finding primary sources
Image: Thomas Smillie (1843-1917). [Untitled], 1890.
Cyanotype photograph.
Source: Smithsonian Institution Archives on Flickr Commons
US Government
The U.S. government commissions and publishes a number of images.
U.S Congressional Serial Set (Readex)
This is the database of digitized texts from the bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Upon completion, the digital version of the Serial set will consist of over 12 million pages. The database is searchable by subject, publication category, standing committee author, and other parameters. Cornell also holds print versions of the entire run. As of February 2009, the following years are covered online:
15th Congress - 89th Congress, 2nd session through Serial Set no. 12749, 1817 - 1966
Serial Set Volumes: 1 - 12749
You can limit searches to results that contain tables, maps, and/or illustrations. The list of search results should indicate which results contain maps, color maps, tables, and/or illustrations.
Images may be downloaded as pdf, bi-tonal (black & white) pdf, or tiff. Some jpg downloads are also offered.
Examples of material found in the Serial Set include reports of geological surveys, agricultural reports, portraits, disaster reports, contested election materials, and much, much more.
Electronic resources: News & Journal Articles
This is just a sampling of the many, many primary resources available in electronic form.
- JSTORJSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
Nineteenth Century Masterfile19th century masterfile/Poole's is a reference service for scholars, bibliographers, and students of the Nineteenth Century. It is a scholarly tool for mining the riches of this extraordinary period. A continually expanding resource for the study of Nineteenth-Century cultural and intellectual life.
- ProQuest Historical NewspapersThis database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. For most titles, the collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF files. The database is an ongoing project.
Historical International News
International News Services:
Keesing's World News Archive. Coverage note: Online full text coverage 1940 to date; online indexing, 1931- .
See also Nexis Uni.
International Newspapers:
Times Digital Archive offers online, full-text access to the Times of London from 1785 through 2006. This is the longest run of indexing and access available for any newspaper.
Examples of major international newspapers with separate print indexes:
- Times, London. London: Times Newspapers Ltd.
(Olin stacks AI 21 .T58; see also the online index in Times Digital Archive above)
The Annual Index began, with much more detailed entries, in 1906, the title changing to the Official Index in 1914. The Times of London is located in the microfilm area, B Level, Olin Library (Film 308).
- Le Monde. Paris: Le Monde, indexed 1944/1945-1951, 1958, 1965-1968, and 1985- .
(Olin stacks AI 21 .M741 +)
Le Monde (Film 481) has been published since 1944. It continues a newspaper called Temps (Film 2663), which began publication in 1861. A searchable full-text version of Le Monde is also available in the Electronic Text Center strating in 1995; ask at Olin Reference.
- OTHER INDEXES TO INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS: See our detailed list of international newspaper indexes in Olin Library.
- Asian newspapers and indexes to Asian newspapers are kept in the Severinghaus Reading Room in Kroch Library.
DISCOVERING INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPER HOLDINGS OUTSIDE CORNELL
ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers: Titles Preserved through ICON. Bibliographic information only. List of international newspapers preserved on microfilm. Linked CRL catalog includes specific holdings. Titles available from CRL via ILL. ICON's searchable union list of international newspapers; good historical data with preservation status and holdings information.