Research Guides: HIST 091: Senior Research Seminar (SC): Finding Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Databases with Primary Sources [TriCo Database Finder]

How to Find Primary Sources by Type:

Key Resources

Introduction to finding primary sources
Before beginning your search for primary sources, you may want to read this introduction to learn key differences between finding primary sources and other research you've done before.

Adam Matthew Explorer
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Search across a wide range of primary source collections and view documents (e.g. scanned letters, newspapers, government records). Useful for US and global topics covering a wide range of time periods.
HathiTrust
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Search through millions of digitized books and periodicals. To download full PDFs for public-domain books (pre-1923 + govt documents, among others), login and select Swarthmore.
Europeana This link opens in a new window
Search through millions of digitized books, art, newspapers, and other sources from European national libraries
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) This link opens in a new window
Use DPLA to search through millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States.

Search strategy: use bibliographies to identify primary sources

Have you found a scholarly book related to your topic? (Or have a recommendation from your advisor?) Try using this book to get ideas for primary sources.

Look at this bibliography from Our Separate Ways: Women and the Black Freedom Movement in Durham, North Carolina. Christina Greene (the author) includes a list of archives that she visited, periodicals she read (e.g. magazines, newsletters), and other sources. If you were studying a related topic, you might be able to use some of the same sources.

For example, Greene lists the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper under Periodicals. You can search Tripod for Baltimore Afro-American and find out that Swarthmore has online access.

Handwriting Help

Resources to help you decipher handwriting in historical documents:

Handwriting Hints [Research Guide]
Short list of recommended resources from TriCo Archivists & Special Collections librarians
Additional handwriting resources [Google Doc]