Primary Sources for Humanities and Social Sciences : Multimedia Sources
Guide to locating primary sources, with an emphasis on online sources, in the UW-Madison Libraries' collections for research in the humanities and social sciences.
Sample Multimedia Collections Online
Multimedia sources can sometimes be found by searching online library catalogs, such as the Library Catalog or WorldCat. Below are multimedia collections available online. They include library subscription databases and free Web sites. The collections include multimedia such as photographs and other images, maps, audio recordings, and video recordings.
- American Memory (Library of Congress)American Memory provides free access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
- AP ImagesAP Images includes more than 3.5 million Associated Press primary-source photographs with original captions for every discipline. Also available are audio files from the 1920s to the present, 2 million Associated Press news stories from 1997 on, and a professionally produced collection of more than 45,000 maps, graphs, charts, logos, flags, illustrations, etc. Coverage: 1820s–present (Updated daily). Library Subscription Database.
- ARTstorARTstor contains over one million images in the areas of western and non-western architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, and visual culture. Library Subscription Database.
- C-Span Video LibraryVideos and transcripts of C-Span programs; includes public affairs programming, Congressional proceedings, news conferences, BookTV non-fiction author talks and interviews, and more. Contains every C-SPAN program aired since 1987, now totaling over 160,000 hours.
- David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.Rare 18th and 19th century North and South America cartographic history materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented. The collection categories include old and antique atlas, globe, school geography, maritime chart, state, county, city, pocket, wall, children and manuscript maps.
- Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics Digital Video LibraryThe collection provides a digital venue for documenting the expression of social and political life through performance in the many cultures and political landscapes of the Americas.
- Moving Image ArchiveThis library, sponsored by the Internet Archive, contains thousands of digital movies which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts.
- Naxos Music LibraryNaxos Music Library is the world's largest classical music listening service.The collection also offers jazz, folk, gospel, pop, rock, and spoken word. Library Subscription Database.
- Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (University of Texas-Austin)Thousands of maps from the University of Texas-Austin Libraries.
- Television New ArchiveProvides descriptive summaries of over 30,000 television news programs collected in the Vanderbilt Archive since August 1968, searchable through the TV-NewsSearch database. The Archive includes programs from ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN. CNN programs can be viewed online. Loan copies of tapes of other programs are available for a fee from the Archive. Library Subscription Database.
Local Multimedia Collections
Historical multimedia sources are available in many locations on campus and in Madison. This is a list of a few locations of interest:
- University Archives
- Wisconsin Historical Society
- Wisconsin Center for Film & Theatre Research
- Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures
- Wisconsin Music Archives
- Wisconsin Veterans Museum
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Special Collections
- Historical Services at Ebling Library
Many of these collections also contain map collections as does the Arthur H. Robinson Map Library.
Sample Local Multimedia Collections
The following collections are part of the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections and Wisconsin Historical Society Library's Online Collections.
- Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a ContinentThis collection contains more than 3000 slides, 500 photographs, and 50 hours of sounds from forty-five different countries.
- East Asian CollectionIncludes historical images that present a visual archive of 20th century East Asian cultural heritage.
- SouthEast Asian Images & TextsA digital archive of historical images for Southeast Asia, reflecting a broad spectrum of topics including History, Geography, Anthropology, and Political Science of the region.
- The University of Wisconsin CollectionThis collection includes images, manuscripts, papers, and books, all relating to the University's history or mission, including selections from the UW archives, Badger yearbooks, and other pertinent resources.
- Wisconsin Historical ImagesThe Society's Archives document virtually all aspects of the rich social, economic, and political history of Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. Provides a broad range of digital historical images.