LibGuides: History Research Guide: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

AAASS Newsnet Archive & CDPSP Archive This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents of the Russian and Soviet press and the Current Digest of the Russian Press from 1949 to present. Site also includes historical Mexican, Chinese, and Middle Eastern/North African newspapers.

American Archive of Public Broadcasting
The Library of Congress and GHB in Boston have preserved and made publicly available thousands of hours of publicly funded radio and television programs from across the United States.

American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography This link opens in a new window
Collection of autobiographies of former slaves in the United States.
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Provides access to detailed archival collection descriptions. It includes descriptions of archival collections held by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies and archives worldwide,

including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Museum of the Moving Image, the British Film Institute, the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film, Northeast Historic Film, and many more.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that include: Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984; Confederate Newspapers: A Collection from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Alabama; Mountain People: Life and Culture in Appalachia; America in Protest: Record of Anti-Vietnam War organizations; We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death: Freedom Riders in the South, 1961; American Relocation Camp Newspapers; Correspondence from German Concentration Camps and Prisons, 1936-1945; Jewish Underground Resistance; Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress.

Mountain People: Life and culture in Appalachia; America in Protest: Record of Anti-Vietnam War organizations, We Were Prepared for the possibility of Death: Freedom Riders in the South, 1961, American Relocation Camp Newspapers, Correspondence from German Concentration Camps and Prisons, 1936-1945, Jewish Underground Resistance, Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress, Holocaust and Record of Concentration Camp Trials, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin: Beyond the Daughters of Bilitis, Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin and the Daughters of Bilitis and more...

Digital NC
Presented by the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, DigitalNC contains digital versions of primary sources from NC's cultural heritage institutions. Sources included are city directories, NC newspapers, college and university yearbooks, photos, postcards, and scrapbooks.

Digital Sanborn Maps (1869 -1970) for North Carolina This link opens in a new window
Digital Sanborn Maps (1867-1970) for North Carolina delivers detailed property and land-use records that depict the grid of everyday life in 158 North Carolina towns and cities across a century of change.
HeritageQuest This link opens in a new window
Research materials for tracing family history and American culture. Includes city directories, 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules, U.S. Indian Census Rolls, Agricultural and Industrial Rolls and more
Making of Modern Law This link opens in a new window
Legal Treatises 1800-1926, digital images on 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law published.
North American Women's Letters & Diaries This link opens in a new window
Published letters and diaries depicting the personal experiences of hundreds of women. Colonial times to 1950.
CQ Press Historic Documents This link opens in a new window
Primary sources covering the most significant political events of the year. 1972-2009.
U.S. Serial Set This link opens in a new window
A collection of U.S. Government publications compiled under directive of the Congress. Includes Congressional Hearings. Coverage 1789-present.
U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 This link opens in a new window
Records and briefs brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in the period 1832-1978, primary source for the study American history and the U.S. judicial system.

Images

Artstor This link opens in a new window
More than 2.5 million images related to art, art history, architecture, painting, photography, and visual and material culture.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Early American Imprints

Early American Imprints is a microfiche collection of materials in two parts: Series I: Evans, 1639 to 1800 and Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819. These two collections include most of the books, pamphlets and broadsides published in America over a nearly 200-year period. The materials are identified by author, title, and subject in the catalog. The microfiche is housed in the Microforms Area on the second floor of Belk Library.