Research Guides: HIST 1301: United States History to 1876: Find Primary Sources from SHSU

What is a Primary Source?

Primary vs. Secondary Sources: A Guide to Understanding

Primary Sources in Library Databases

Best Bets: Starting Points for Most Topics

Accessible Archives (All Available Collections) This link opens in a new window Vast array of historical newspapers, magazines, and full-text books, including Frank Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator, African American newspapers, Godey's Lady's Book, women's suffrage and feminist publications, extensive Civil War documents, county histories from across the U.S., and much more.
America's Historical Newspapers 1690-1998 This link opens in a new window American and U.S. local newspapers from all 50 states, ranging from 1690 to 1998.
American Periodicals, 1740-1940 This link opens in a new window U.S. periodicals, including special interest, general, children's, women's, literary, and professional. Includes American independence and Civil War articles.

Other Great Choices (Depending on Your Topic)

African American Newspapers 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window Approximately 270 U.S. newspapers, 1827-1998, document African American experiences.
African American Periodicals 1825-1995 This link opens in a new window More than 170 periodicals by and about African Americans, published in 26 states. Includes academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations' bulletins, annual reports, and other genres.
Civil War, Parts 1-7 (Accessible Archives) This link opens in a new window Wide variety of rosters, muster lists, newspapers, pamphlets, regimental histories, and memoirs, Union and Confederate. Click "more" for details of content.
- Regimental histories, rosters, and muster lists representing all Union regiments.
- Commanding officer memoirs, strategies and tactics (mostly Union, some Confederate).
- Selected newspaper content from 1850s and 1860s representing Union
Dolley Madison Papers Digital Edition, 1768-1848 This link opens in a new window Dolley Payne Madison was the most important First Lady of the nineteenth century. The Dolley Madison Digital Edition provides all of her known correspondence from 1768 through 1848, more than 2670 documents.
Early American Imprints 1639-1819 (includes Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker) This link opens in a new window Virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America from 1639-1819. Documents almost every aspect of life in colonial America and the early U.S.
Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window Source for quantitative facts in American history; statistical tables are also accompanied by source documentation and expert essays to provide historical context. Diverse topics include slavery, migration, health, poverty, crime, and more. Users can customize and download data tables.
Nineteenth (19th) Century U.S. Newspapers Digital Archive This link opens in a new window 19th-century newspapers from various urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. Strong in topics such as Civil War, African-American history, Western migration, etc.
Papers of Thomas Jefferson This link opens in a new window Search & view 37 volumes of Jefferson's papers, 1743 to his death in 1826. Includes all illustrations and bibliographical content of print edition, plus linked cross-references and indexes.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994 This link opens in a new window Reports, documents, journals of U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 1817-1994. Every publication, over 415,000 documents, from 15th - 103rd Congresses.

Video: How to Search America's Historical Newspapers

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Some Major Published Series of Primary Sources

A starting point with a few of the available library resources. Click to view all volumes in the series.

Bedford Series in History and Culture More than 70 volumes give a brief history and related primary documents on diverse topics in U.S. and World History, such as Jefferson vs. Hamilton, the Dred Scott Decision, the Emancipation Proclamation, the First World War, the influenza pandemic of 1918, U.S. environmentalism since 1945, the end of the Cold War, and MUCH more.
Milestone Documents Series
Volumes cover topics such as African American history, world history, American history, and more.
Historic Documents Series (1972-2013)
Documents Decoded Series
Volumes cover topics such as the Great Depression and New Deal and women's rights.
Defining Documents Series Volumes cover topics such as Manifest Destiny (1803-1859); Reconstruction (1865-1877); the emergence of modern America (1874-1917); World War I (1914-1919); the 1920s; the 1930s; the 1950s; Civil Rights; the Vietnam War; and more.
American Eras Primary Sources Series Volumes cover topics such as colonial and revolutionary eras, early nationhood, Civil War and Reconstruction, and the industrial revolution.
Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents Selected documents, from exploration of the Americas through Bush administration--strongest in more recent documents. Arranged in sections by era, with section and document introductions for historical context.

Video: Using Dates to Search History Databases

Many primary source databases cover a long period of history, so you can really improve your searching by knowing how to search only the dates you need.

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