Research Guides: SOCL 398: Senior Conference (BMC): Primary Sources

Finding Online Primary Sources & Historical Documents

There are many online sources for primary documents, some freely available on the web and others by library subscription only. For a long list of library-subscribed resources, see the Historical Sources subject guide.

Here are some good online digital library collections:

American Memory This link opens in a new window
Provides information on, and access to, digitized versions of primary-source collections on American history and culture, including photographs, documents, sound recordings, and motion pictures.
Internet Archive This link opens in a new window
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that is building an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. The Internet Archive includes more than 300,000 texts, as well as audio, moving images, software and archived web pages. A good source for books printed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including many travel accounts.
Women & Social Movements in the United States: 1600-2000
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This resource provides documents pertaining to women and social movements. Includes document projects that interpret and present documents to address a question or a scholarly debate. Also includes images, a dictionary of social movements, a chronology and teaching tools. Covers the 17th century to the 21st century.