Research Guides: WRPR 174: Philadelphia Freedoms (HC): Primary Sources

Primary Sources on Philadelphia and U. S. History

Documents, letters, and other writings from a specific time period provide direct evidence for you to interpret. These kinds of primary sources may be located online, in printed collections, or in archives. The resources and tools on this page give you some starting points for identifying primary sources which answer your questions.

Finding Primary Source Texts

Primary source texts that have been edited, reprinted in facsimiles, or transferred to microfilm can be borrowed through E Z Borrow or interlibrary loan if they are not in Tripod.

A. Many of them will be listed in Tripod and WorldCat under subject terms which include such words as "sources," "letters," "diaries," or "personal narratives." For example, the search:

(sources OR letters OR "personal narratives") [subject] (philadelphia) [subject] = 156 results including:

1) Kidnappers in Philadelphia: Isaac Hopper's Tales of oppression, 1780-1843
Author: Isaac T. Hopper. Publication: Garland, 1994 (Concerning the escape of fugitive slaves)

2) Batiendo la olla =Stirring the pot : a cross-generational comparison and self-study by second generation Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia
Author: Rick Hall. Publication: : Taller Puertorriqueno, 1979

B. Another search strategy for primary sources is to use a publication date range to focus results:

(immigra* OR foreign*) (health* OR disease* OR medical OR medicine) [keyword] Published 1870-1920= 29 results

Results include: Medical problems of immigration: Being the papers and their discussion presented at the XXXVII annual meeting of the American academy of medicine, held at Atlantic City, June 1, 1912. Full text in Hathi Trust.

Digital Collections of Older Books

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) This link opens in a new window
The DPLA allows you to search millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Each record links to the original object on the library or other content provider's website.
HathiTrust
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges are members of HathiTrust. Click on "Log In" and select your college for full access.
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.

Major Historical Primary Source Collections

American Magazine and News Articles from the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

American Periodicals Series Online
Search through 1,800 magazines and journals published in the United States between 1740-1940. Includes early scientific publications, trade journals, popular magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, and journals such as Puck, The Dial, and McClure's.
Accessible Archives
Contains full-text primary resource materials in American history including newspapers, magazines, and genealogical records originally only offered on microfilm. Covers 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Eight Centuries
Includes over seventy seminal as well as lesser known contemporary indexes to English-language publishing prior to 1930. Access is by genre: 1. Multi-title Periodical Indexes (e.g., Poole's, Legal, Religion, Scientific Papers, etc.); 2. Book Indexes; 3. Newspaper Indexes; 4. Complete Individual Periodical Indexes (e.g., Harper's, Atlantic Monthly,etc.); 5. US Patents; Hansard's; US and UK Historical Government Documents
American Broadsides & Ephemera: Series I
Offers fully searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides (1820-1900) and 15,000 pieces of ephemera (1760 -1900) from the American Antiquarian Society collection. Subjects range from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters to official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports. Material types include clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, bill heads, theater and music programs, stock certificates, menus and invitations documenting civic, political and private celebrations.
Early American Imprints: Series II, Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)
Covers American history and literature from the colonial period to the eighteenth century. Provides full-text digitization of the Early American Imprints microform set, Series II (1801-1819). Covering every aspect of American life during the early decades of the United States.
America's Historical Newspapers
Search through 2,000+ historical newspapers published in the United States between 1690-1922. Includes publications from all 50 states, large cities and small towns, and a mix of major newspapers and titles with smaller circulations.
Chronicling America This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to newspaper pages from 1900 to 1910 and abstracts about American newspapers published between 1690 to the present.

Guide to Historical Newspapers Online
This guide, created by Nick Okrent at the University of Pennsylvania Library links to online newspaper archives by state in the United States.

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.

Images as Primary Sources

Eakins, Thomas, The Agnew Clinic, 1889 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, professor of surgery, lectures to students at the University of Pennsylvania

Visual Sources for Philadelphia

NAACP Philadelphia Branch Photographs
Collection digitized by Temple University.
Philadelphia Jewish Archives Photographs
Philadelphia Neighborhoods: Histories, Plans and Futures
Includes many historic maps as well as copies of planning commission reports 1946-1990.
PhillyHistory.org
Offers rich collections of photos and maps. They are searchable by street address as well as keyword.

Major Image Collections for U.S. History

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.
JSTOR Images (formerly Artstor)
A digital library that provides access to thousands of digital images derived from a variety of museum, library and archival collections. Images support a variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design.
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) This link opens in a new window
The DPLA allows you to search millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Each record links to the original object on the library or other content provider's website.

Flickr: The Commons
Images from many of the world's public photo archives, described by Flickr users so that some are very richly described.
Smithsonian Collections Search
Search over 8.59 million catalog records of museum objects, and library & archives materials. More than 963,000 of these records contain online images, video and sound files, electronic journals and other online resources.