LibGuides: Home (McEntegart Library): Primary Sources

Newspaper Databases

Historical newspapers and magazine articles can be excellent resources for primary source materials.

Newspaper Databases
List of newspaper databases from SJNY Library Database A-Z list

Historical Newspapers Online

Brooklyn Newsstand
Provides free access to the full run of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper, which was published from 1841 to 1955, as well as Brooklyn Life, a society magazine published from 1890 to 1931.
Chronicling America
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Google News: Newspaper Archive

Search Tips

Developing your Search Keywords

Before you start your search, read an entry or two on your topic from a reference database such as Credo and Oxford.
Make a list of the terms, places, people, specific events, and time range about which you want to find primary resources.
Remember to keep in mind the language used during the time period you are researching, as those words will allow you to find materials that you might not otherwise locate using modern terms. For example, the term "Great War" was used for World War I.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedias and handbooks in all major subject areas.
Provides access to hundreds of in-depth subject encyclopedias and handbooks covering all major subject areas. Topic Pages offer pathways for further research, Mind Maps illustrate relationships between topics, and over 200,000 images are ready to use without digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.

Searching for Primary Sources in Discovery

In search box, add words onto the end of your keyword(s) that signify primary sources such as:

Sources
Correspondence
Diaries

For example, to search library catalogs or other electronic search tools for published collections of primary sources on the Holocaust or related topics, use the following Library of Congress subject headings to retrieve the most relevant citations:

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Sources
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- Sources
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Poland -- Sources

Chat with a Librarian

Primary Source Databases

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Primary source diaries, letters and memoirs related to the American Civil War.
Firsthand accounts of historical events, as well as, glimpses of daily life in the army and at home from 1855 to 1875.
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
This resource contains over 3,000 documents focused on six different phases of Black Freedom.
This website contains over 3,000 documents focused on six different phases of Black Freedom:

Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement (1790-1860)
The Civil War and the Reconstruction Era (1861-1877)
Jim Crow Era from 1878 to the Great Depression (1878-1932)
The New Deal and World War II (1933-1945)
The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements (1946-1975)
The Contemporary Era (1976-2000)
The documents presented here represent a selection of primary sources available in several ProQuest databases. The databases represented in this website include American Periodicals, Black Abolitionist Papers, ProQuest History Vault, ProQuest Congressional, Supreme Court Insight and Alexander Street’s Black Thought and Culture.

The goal of this website is to provide a selection of primary source documents that may be used by a wide range of students, from middle and high school students to college students and independent scholars. Examples of assignments may include National History Day projects or research papers about Black Freedom.

Teachers can use these documents to teach with primary sources on a specific topic or person such as the Abolitionist Movement or Frederick Douglass. In addition, any person might use this website to learn more about Black Freedom.
Black Thought and Culture (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Non-fiction writings from major American black figures (e.g., teachers, politicians, religious leaders, entertainers).
Monographs, essays, articles, speeches and interviews written by leaders within the black community from the 1700s to the present.
Brill Latin American Studies: Revolución y Cultura, 1967–2009
A Cuban Magazine About Revolution and Culture.
Electronic edition of the Cuban magazine Revolución y Cultura, spanning the years 1967–2009.

How do I use the Brill Latin American Studies database?
HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new window
Articles in many subject areas, historical primary sources, U.S. case law archives, and international materials.
HeinOnline is the world's largest fully searchable, image-based government document and legal research database. It contains comprehensive coverage from inception of both U.S. statutory materials, U.S. Congressional Documents and the US Congressional Serial Set and more than 2,600 scholarly journals, all of the world's constitutions, all U.S. treaties, collections of classic treatises and presidential documents, and access to the full text of state and federal case law powered by Fastcase. This HeinOnline Academic database package includes, among other things, special collections on Criminal Justice, History, Foreign Relations, Religion and the Law and Women and the Law.
North American Immigrant Diaries, Letters and Oral Histories (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from North American Immigrants letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories from 1800 to 1950.
Personal views of the immigration experience to the United States and Canada. Coverage from 1800 to 1950.
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law
Treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence related to Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.
This collection includes treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence. It also features rare compilations edited by Felix S. Cohen that have never before been accessible online.
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries: from the American Antiquarian Society This link opens in a new window
Collection of personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from North American women's letters and diaries from 1808 to 1864.
Firsthand experiences of North American women from the last 300 years.
Oral History Online This link opens in a new window
Searches for Oral history collections that cover a wide range of topics.
Oral histories from artists, musicians, laborers, survivors, immigrants, and students.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
Articles and primary sources related to slavery history, culture, and law in the U.S.
This HeinOnline collection brings together a multitude of essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Our cases go into the 20th century, because long after slavery was ended, there were still court cases based on issues emanating from slavery. The library has hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery—defending it, attacking it or simply analyzing it, including an expansive slavery collection from Buffalo Erie County Public Library. The cooperation of this institution was central to developing this collection. We have also gathered every English-language legal commentary on slavery published before 1920, which includes many essays and articles in obscure, hard-to-find journals in the United States and elsewhere. We have provided more than a thousand pamphlets and books on slavery from the 19th century. We have also included many modern histories of slavery. Within this library is a section containing all modern law review articles on the subject.