Research Guides: Primary Resources: Finding Primary Resources

Sources of Primary Resources

While a huge amount of primary source material is still buried in archival backlogs or stored behind paywalls, advances in digitization and hosting technology means more than ever before in history, primary resources are only a few keystrokes away.

For citation guidelines, see:

Chicago: https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/citing/chicago/

MLA: https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/citing/mla/

Archivegrid
Archivegrid is a search interface connecting you to materials held at over a thousand institutions around the world.
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This interface will only give you the basic information about the material much like our library database. If you see something promising, the interface will give you the information needed to reach out to the holding institution. Some material may be accessible online, but in many cases you may have to contact the institution to request access.
Chronicling America
Chronicling America is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
Congress.gov
Check here for current and past congressional legislation.
Digital Public Library of America
Contains over 40 million individual texts, images, videos and sounds from across the U.S. arranged into browsable collections or through keyword search.

European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750 This link opens in a new window
It includes thousands of valuable primary source records covering the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of Native American peoples.

Georgetown College Archives
Here you can find finding aids and digitized collections relating to your own College history.
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*Not comprehensive!
Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
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While the vast majority of the resources here are published works, most of them are old enough to be used for contemporaneous accounts. Additionally, the open nature of the platform means you will find recent original works uploaded by users as well as preserved websites, newspapers, and etc.
Kentucky Digital Library
This page gives you access to browse digitized collections across participating Kentucky institutions.
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The Kentucky Archival Collections collection links you in to the archives at the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Historical Society, and the University of Louisville Archives.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has its own catalog and a huge collection of historically important documents, images, maps, and more.

Making of America This link opens in a new window
Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.

National Archives
The National Archives provides access to nationally important historic documents, photographs, veteran's records, and more.

Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Provides selected full text for 25 national (U.S.) and international newspapers. The database also contains full text television & radio news transcripts, and selected full text for more than 200 regional (U.S.) newspapers.
ProQuest Newsstand This link opens in a new window
Each newspaper is indexed thoroughly, so researchers have access to not only top news stories but also the information contained on the various sections of the papers.

Umbra Search
Over 700,000 items on African American history from over 1,000 U.S. libraries, archives, and museums. Contains both primary and secondary sources.