Primary Sources through Milner - TCH 258 - Social Studies Methods - Guides at Milner Library, Illinois State University

Databases with Primary Sources

This is a list of databases that have primary sources for historical events. These can be helpful when looking at the evidence that is used to support how events are taught in the history classroom.

Library of Congress Primary Source Sets
Select one or more primary sources that support the learning objectives and are accessible to students. The Library of Congress Primary Source Sets for educators are a good place to start.

Black Thought and Culture
Written by leaders within the black community, this database includes books, essays, articles, speeches, and interviews from authors such as Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Alain Locke, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Booker T. Washington.
North American Indian Thought and Culture
Full text biographies, autobiographies, oral histories, reference works, manuscripts, and photographs of the life stories of Native Americans and Canadian First Peoples.
LGBT Thought and Culture
A wide range of full text materials including books, articles, letters, speeches, interviews, memoirs, biographies, poetry, and fiction illuminating the lives of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual individuals and the community.
Essential content for cultural studies, history, womens and gender studies, political science, American studies, social theory, sociology, and literature.
Digital Public Library of America
Free, searchable repository of photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and other artifacts from US libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions.
American Broadsides and Ephemera
Searchable image database of rare printed items from 1790 to 1900 including historical menus, invitations, advertisements, broadsides, trade cards, and theater, music, and traveling entertainment (including circus) programs.
The diverse subjects of these broadsides range from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters to official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports. Features many rare items, the pieces of ephemera include clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, bill heads, theater, music and traveling entertainment (including circus) programs, stock certificates, menus and invitations documenting civic, political and private celebrations.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1
A collection of digitized full text replicas of magazines, newspapers, and journals from the late seventeenth century through the early nineteenth century covering all aspects of American society.
Includes over 500 titles from 1691 through 1820. Series 1 is first of the five series created from periodical holdings from the American Antiquarian Society.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2
A collection of digitized full text replicas of magazines, newspapers, and journals from the early nineteenth century (the Jacksonian Democracy era, 1821-1837) covering agriculture, entertainment, history, literary criticism, and politics.
Includes over 1000 titles dating from 1821 through 1837. Series 2 is second of the five series created from periodical holdings from the American Antiquarian Society.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 3
A collection of digitized full text replicas of magazines, newspapers, and journals from 1838-1852 covering every facet of American life, including science, literature, medicine, agriculture, womens fashion, family life, and religion.
Includes over 1,800 titles dating from 1838 through 1852. Series 3 is the third of five series created from periodical holdings of the American Antiquarian Society. The themes reveal a rapidly growing young nation, where industrialization, the railroads, regional political differences, and life on the western frontier were daily realities.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 4
A collection of digitized full text replicas of magazines, newspapers, and journals from 1853-1865 covering the Civil War, science, literature, medicine, agriculture, womens fashion, family life, and religion.
Includes over 1,100 titles dating from 1853 through 1865. Series 4 is the fourth of five series created from periodical holdings from the American Antiquarian Society. The Civil War is a focal point of the collection including American daily life leading up to and during the war and news from the battlefront.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 5
A collection of digitized full text replicas of magazines, newspapers, and journals from 1866-1877 covering every facet of American life, including science, literature, medicine, agriculture, womens fashion, family life, and religion.
Includes over 2,500 titles dating from 1866 through 1877. Series 5 is the fifth of five series created from periodical holdings of the American Antiquarian Society. The themes presented reflect a nation that persevered through a most difficult set of circumstances: a bloody civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives; the incorporation of the recently-freed African Americans into American life; a population that rapidly expanded into the Western territories.
Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
Full text database focused on the trans-Atlantic slave trade between 1514 and 1866. Primary source materials include original documents, historical publications, and digital images.