Research Guides: Primary Sources: A Research Guide: Find Primary Sources

Databases with Primary Sources

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 provides online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience.
American Ancestors This link opens in a new window
ON-CAMPUS ACCESS ONLY
If you are in the residence hall, you will need to use VPN to gain access.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society library is one of the nation’s leading research centers for genealogists of every skill level. In it are housed millions of documents, manuscripts, records, books, microfilms, photographs, artifacts, electronic resources, and other items that preserve and reveal our history. The NEHGS has been collecting information about families in America for over 165 years. Our collections are international in scope and contain significant materials for Canada and Europe.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) collection documents the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, to provide digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912. The collection includes 5 series by date and 50 subject subsets, which can be searched separately or together.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1 (1684-1820)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2 (1821-1837)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 3 (1838-1852)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 4 (1853-1865)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 5 (1866-1912)
American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Contains magazines, journals, and newspapers which were first published between 1741-1900. Periodicals appear in their original form, with the typeface, illustrations and even the layout unaltered.
Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new window
ON-CAMPUS ACCESS ONLY
If you are in the residence hall, you will need to use VPN to gain access.

Ancestry contains thousands of family history databases, including vital records, census records, ship passenger lists, military records, newspapers, Jewish family records, African American history, and more.
In addition it has information from dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference works; stories, memories & histories, including slave narratives; photos and maps.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Modules include International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism, LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, and Sex and Sexuality- Sixteenth to Twentieth Century. Archives of Sexuality & Gender, the largest collection available in support of the study of gender and sexuality, enables scholars to make new connections in LGBTQ history and activism, cultural studies, psychology, health, political science, policy studies, and other related areas of research.
British Periodicals I & II This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to the searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.

Caselaw Access Project
The Caselaw Access Project (“CAP”) expands public access to U.S. law. Our goal is to make all published U.S. court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library.

CAP includes all official, book-published United States case law — every volume designated as an official report of decisions by a court within the United States. Our scope includes all state courts, federal courts, and territorial courts for American Samoa, Dakota Territory, Guam, Native American Courts, Navajo Nation, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Our earliest case is from 1658, and our most recent cases are from 2018.

Center for Research Libraries (CRL) This link opens in a new window
CRL holds approximately five million newspapers, journals, dissertations, archives, government publications, and other traditional and digital resources for research and teaching.
Documentary Sources for the Arts and Humanities in the Medici Granducal Archive: 1537-1743 This link opens in a new window
Searchable database covering a chronological span of two hundred years, from 1537 to 1743. It documents the political, diplomatic, gastronomic, economic, artistic, scientific, military and medical culture of early modern Tuscany and Europe.
Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures Environment This link opens in a new window
This database brings coherence to a wide range of published and unpublished accounts, including narratives, diaries, journals, and letters. Many cultures are represented, including Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, African, and a host of Native American peoples. The database is rich in maps, facsimile versions of important books, and images by DeBry, Catlin, and others. All volumes of The Jesuit Relations are included, in both the original language and in English. The database provides unique perspectives from all of the protagonists: traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, native peoples, and officials, both men and women.
Early English Books Online (EEBO), 1475-1700 This link opens in a new window
Digital access to more than 100,000 literary and historical classics.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the eighteenth century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas.
HistoryMakers Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
The HistoryMakers Digital Archive contains over 2,000 interviews of distinguished African Americans in the fields of science, culture, politics, the arts, and public life. It is unique among collections of African American heritage because of its large and varied scope, with interviewees from across the United States, from a variety of fields, and with memories stretching from the 1890s to the present.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR contains scholarly material dating back to the 17th century. In additional to archival scholarly journals, users can find monographs, reviews, letters, oral histories, and more. Artstor has been fully incorporated into the JSTOR platform. Researchers can now find high-quality images for research and presentations through the Images search box.
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from scholarly journals and literary magazines are combined with critical essays, work and topic overviews, full-text works, biographies, and more.Researchers at all levels will find the information they need, with content covering all genres and disciplines, all time periods and all parts of the world. From the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System with state funds and federal IMLS funds.
U.S. Census Bureau This link opens in a new window
The Census Bureau homepage serves as the gateway to the vast array of Census data. The Census Bureau is best known for the decennial population and housing census, but it also collects population and housing data between censuses through a variety of surveys. It conducts economic censuses every five years which include both economic and business data. It collects economic and business data between censuses as well.
U.S. History in Context This link opens in a new window
Providing a complete overview of U.S. history that covers the most-studied events, issues and current information, it combines documents from Primary Source Microfilm’s™ digital archives; articles from classic Macmillan Reference USA™ and Charles Scribner’s Sons® references; as well as other Gale proprietary content such as country and era overview information, and full-text periodicals and journals. From the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System with state funds and federal IMLS funds.
WGBH Open Vault This link opens in a new window
Open Vault is the home of WGBH Media Library and Archives, providing online access to unique and historically important content produced by the public television and radio station WGBH. The ever-expanding site contains video, audio, images, searchable transcripts, and resource management tools, all of which are available for individual and classroom learning. Visitors can become a "member" (free) of Open Vault: to access records and save findings.
Women and Social Movements, International, 1840 to Present This link opens in a new window
Women and Social Movements, International is a landmark collection of primary materials. Through the writings of women activists, their personal letters and diaries, and the proceedings of conferences at which pivotal decisions were made, this collection lets you see how women’s social movements shaped much of the events and attitudes that have defined modern life.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new window
Contains books, images, documents, pamphlets, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies.
Thousands of pages of books, pamphlets, and related materials provide scholars with in-depth access to the published histories and records of women’s reform organizations throughout the United States across the 19th and early 20th centuries.
World History (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window
World History (Gale In Context) is a comprehensive online collection that uses an intuitive, Web-like interface to provide multicultural, global and research-based dynamic content that supports today’s history research requirements. From the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System with state funds and federal IMLS funds.