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Primary Sources

Primary Sources on the Web

Primary source materials and related websites can be freely reached on the web and through the Library's subscription databases. To find sources on the web, use a search engine and use similar search terms you use for searching the library catalogue for primary source materials.
 
Search examples:
 
charles darwin diaries
“world war”
“personal narratives” 

Freely Available

Provides the text of many historical documents from around the world from the 9th century to the 21st century.
 
Includes documents from ancient Greece to the 20th century.
 
HathiTrust is a shared digital resource of about 14 million volumes, which include books, journals and government documents.
 
Access for researchers, historians and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. It includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages.
 
A collection that provides links to historical texts for Ancient History, Medieval Studies, and Modern History. There are also some thematically based subsets that include African History, East Asian History, Indian History, Jewish History, and History of Science.
 
A collection of books and journals in subject areas such as education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion and technology.  
 
 
For more primary sources, check the primary sources and websites sections of our subject guides.