Primary Sources for Humanities and Social Sciences : Online Primary 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.
About This Page
Many primary source materials have been digitized by archives, libraries, and vendors giving researchers access to many more primary materials online through library subscription databases and from free Web sites.
Often these collections include varied materials such as diaries, correspondence, pamphlets, books, journal and magazine articles, and more, focused on a time period or area of historical interest.
This page provides a sample of these collections, both library subscription databases and free Web sites, that are too varied in types of materials to fit in one of the format categories of this research guide's tabs.
See other tabs for additional online primary sources.
For additional information about finding and evaluating primary sources on the Web, see this guide from the American Library Association Reference & User Services Association's History Section.
Online Primary Sources Available to UW-Madison (Library Subscription Databases)
Below are sample library subscription databases with digitized primary sources. More can be found as "E-book/E-text Content" in the Database Library.
- American WestContains manuscript materials, broadsides, maps, and printed items documenting the history of the American West from the 18th century to the early 20th century.
- Black Abolitionist Papers, 1830–186315,000 articles and documents written by Black abolitionists during the antebellum period in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The contents include correspondence, speeches, sermons, lectures by African-American leaders; articles and essays published in African-American, abolitionist, and reform newspapers; and related documents.
- British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries 1500–1950A vast collection of British and Irish women's diaries and correspondence, spanning more than 300 years, it brings the personal experiences of nearly 500 women.
- Defining Gender50,000 images of original documents from five centuries of advice literature and related material, from diaries, advice and conduct books, as well as articles from medical and other journals, ballads, cartoons, and pamphlets, all from Europe. Much of the material is British in origin.
- Early American Imprints, Series I. Evans (1639–1800)The Evans collection is a definitive resource for all aspects of American life in the 17th and 18th centuries. Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans and Roger Bristol's Supplement to Evans' American Bibliography. With these bibliographies, Evans and Bristol attempted to identify all works published in America through 1800.
- Early Encounters in North America—Peoples, Cultures and the EnvironmentContains 1,482 authors and over 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters.
- Early English Books OnlineEarly English Books Online (EEBO) provides full-text images of almost all the books printed in England and her colonies from the beginning of printing to 1700 (about 125,000 titles).You can search for books on your topic by author, title,and keyword, or search just for illustrations from these books if you wish. EEBO includes the items listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661), and additional supplementary materials. Gradually, searchable electronic text versions of a selection of these books are being added to the project. These searchable texts are called: EEBO-TCP, the Early English Books Online Text Creation Project. Eventually both EEBO and EEBO-TCP will be combined into one database. For now, in addition to using using Early English Books Online (EEBO), check EEBO-TCP if you want to do want to do keyword searching within an individual work.
- Eighteenth Century Collections OnlineAn online library of over 180,000 titles published between 1701 and 1800, and printed in English-speaking countries, or countries under British colonial rule. Includes books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides and more.The majority of works in ECCO are in the English language but there are also works printed in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish and Welsh.
Based on the English Short Title Catalogue
Works published in the UK during the 18th century plus thousands from elsewhere - Electronic EnlightenmentContains correspondence between the greatest thinkers and writers of the eighteenth century and their families and friends, bankers and booksellers, patrons and publishers. It is an aggregation of 53,000 primary source letters from more than 6,000 writers and numerous presses.An ongoing scholarly research project of the University of Oxford and other universities and organizations, Electronic Enlightenment offers access to the web of correspondence between the greatest thinkers and writers of the eighteenth century and their families and friends, bankers and booksellers, patrons and publishers. EE is an aggregation of 53,000 primary source letters from more than 6,000 writers and numerous presses. Readers can explore writer's views on history, literature, language, arts, philosophy, science, medicine, and personal, social and political relations.
- Everyday Life and Women in America c.1800–1920Hundreds of monographs illuminating all aspects of family life. Also includes periodicals and pamphlets.Fully-searchable access to 75 rare periodicals ranging from Echoes of the South (Florida) and the Household Magazine (North Carolina) to Lucifer the Lightbearer (Chicago), The Heathen Woman's Friend (Boston) and Women's Work (Georgia). * A rich collection of rare pamphlets. * Hundreds of monographs illuminating all aspects of family life all of which have been screened against Gerritsen, Shaw-Shoemaker, and other relevant projects to avoid needless duplication. * Insightful contextual essays by leading scholars that will help to point students at valuable resources. * Strong coverage of prescriptive literature and manuals for domestic management telling us much about the organisation of the home.
- Gerritsen Collection: Women's History OnlineThe Gerritsen Collection includes books and periodicals from around the world which document the condition of women, the evolution of feminist consciousness, and women's rights.The Gerritsen Collection includes books and periodicals from around the world which document the condition of women, the evolution of feminist consciousness, and women's rights. More than 4,000 books and 265 periodicals in the collection are primarily in English with German, French, and Dutch-language materials strongly represented. Other languages included are Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Slavic, and Scandinavian.
- Library of Latin TextsContains 3,200 works that are attributed to approximately 950 authors.The texts which are incorporated are selected by virtue of their having been edited according to best contemporary scholarly practice. Independent research is undertaken to verify facts relating to the text, such as the veracity of the authorial attribution or the dating.
- Mass Observation OnlineMass Observation Online makes available original manuscript and typescript papers created and collected by the British Mass Observation organization, as well as printed publications, photographs and interactive maps. This resource covers the original Mass Observation project, the bulk of which was carried out from 1937 until the mid-1950s, offering an unparalleled insight into everyday life in Britain during these transformative years. Time span: 1937 to 1967. Source: Special Collections, University of Sussex.
- North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral HistoriesProvides a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950. Composed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives.In selected cases, users will be able to hear the actual audio voices of the immigrants. The collection will be particularly useful to researchers, because much of the original material is difficult to find, poorly indexed, and unpublished; most bibliographies of the immigrant focus on secondary research; and few oral histories have been published.
- North American Women's Letters and Diaries (Colonial to 1950)Provides a collection of published and unpublished women's diaries and correspondence, drawn from more than 1,000 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings.
- Oxford African American Studies CenterOver 1,000 images, primary sources with specially written commentaries, and over 100 maps have been collected to enhance this reference content related to the African American experience.
- Past MastersProvides access to searchable full text databases of primary works, letters, journals, and notebooks from important philosophers and women writers. All titles are in the English language, either original as written or in translation.
- SixtiesThe Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960 to 1974 documents the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America.The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960 to 1974 documents the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America vividly conveying the zeitgeist of the decade and its effects into the middle of the next. Alongside 70,000 pages of letters, diaries, and oral histories, there are more than 30,000 pages of posters, broadsides, pamphlets, advertisements, and rare audio and video materials. The collection is further enhanced by dozens of scholarly document projects, featuring richly annotated primary-source content that is analyzed and contextualized through interpretive essays by leading historians.
- Twentieth Century Advice LiteratureThis collection includes how-to books and guides; employee manuals, sorority and fraternity pledge manuals; scouting manuals; textbooks; commercial literature; and government manuals.Twentieth Century Advice Literature focuses on gender roles and relations, American consumerism, views of democratic citizenship, character development for children, changes in reaction to each major war (including World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam), class relations, and adjustments to new technology (such as proper manners when using the telephone, point-and-shoot camera, or e-mail). Included are how-to books and guides; employee manuals, sorority and fraternity pledge manuals; scouting manuals; textbooks that deal with home economics, health and hygiene, and sex education; teacher-training and course manuals; commercial literature that promotes specific behaviors; and government instruction manuals for a variety of workplaces and industries.
- Women and Social Movements in the United StatesDocument projects that interpret and present materials, many of which are not otherwise available online, in U.S. history and U.S. women's history.
Freely Available Online Primary Sources
Below are a sample of free Web sites with digitized primary sources.
- 100 Milestone Documents (National Archives)100 documents that chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965.
- American Journeys (Wisconsin Historical Society)Created by the Wisconsin Historical Society this collection contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
- 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.
- American Women (Library of Congress)A Gateway to the Library of Congress's Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States. Part of the American Memory project.
- British History Online (University of London & History of Parliament Trust)Digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.
- Digital Public Library of AmericaDPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of the materials found through DPLA—photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and so much more—are free and immediately available in digital format.
- Digital South Asia Library (Center for Research Libraries & University of Chicago)Books and research materials pertaining to South Asia.The Digital South Asia Library provides digital materials for reference and research on South Asia to scholars, public officials, business leaders, and other users.
- Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina)Project of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, provides access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes fifteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
- EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents from Western Europe (Brigham Young University)EuroDocs is a collection of links to facsimiles, translations, and transcriptions of documents which shed light on key happenings within the countries of Western Europe. Includes political, economic, social and cultural history from about the first century AD to the present.
- European History Primary Sources (European University Institute)An index of scholarly websites that offer online access to digitized primary sources on the history of Europe. The websites listed on EHPS are not only meta-sources but also include invented archives and born digital sources.
- Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project (Michigan State University)Collection of some of the most influential and important American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century.The Michigan State University Library and the MSU Museum have partnered to create an online collection of some of the most influential and important American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. The goal of this project is to make these materials available to a wider audience. Digital images of the pages of each cookbook are available as well as full-text transcriptions and the ability to search within the books, across the collection, in order to find specific information.
- Ibero-American Electronic Texts (University of Wisconsin-Madison)This collection covers a wide array of works from Latin America and Spain that span from the medieval to the contemporary period.Currently, the series holds over 35 titles in Spanish that cover a wide array of works from Latin America and Spain that span from the medieval to
contemporary period. Some titles included in the Ibero-American Electronic Text Series are: Vida de Santa María Egipciaqua; Manuscrito de Chichicastenango/Popol buj; Loa para el auto sacramental de "El Divino Narciso", Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; Don Quijote de la Mancha, Miguel de Cervantes; Principios de Moral e Instrucción Cívica, Rafael Montoro. - Immigration to the United States, 1789–1930 (Harvard University)A web-based collection of historical materials from Harvard's libraries, archives, and museums that documents voluntary immigration to the United States from the signing of the Constitution to the onset of the Great Depression.
- The Irish RevolutionThe Irish Revolution is a collaborative online project between University College Cork and the Irish Examiner newspaper. It represents an ever growing resource collection that includes Cork's War of Independence Fatality Register; historic newspaper reactions; teaching materials; a diary; spy files; and descriptions (in various formats) of people who took part in this historic event which happened between January 1919 and July 1921 in Ireland.
- Making of America at CornellA distributed digital library of important materials (journals and books) that document nineteenth century America and the history of the United States.MOA is a collaborative publishing effort by Cornell University Libraries and the University of Michigan Libraries. Approximately 900,000 pages of materials were selected from the Cornell University Library, and 600,000 pages from the University of Michigan. Collectively, these materials represent more than 750 bound volumes of journals and more than 2,000 books. These 1.5 million pages are all black and white, and they represent a wide range of illustration processes used during the nineteenth century. More information is available from both MOA sites at Cornell and at the University of Michigan.
- Making of America at MichiganA distributed digital library of important materials (journals and books) that document nineteenth century America and the history of the United States.MOA is a collaborative publishing effort by Cornell University Libraries and the University of Michigan Libraries. Approximately 900,000 pages of materials were selected from the Cornell University Library, and 600,000 pages from the University of Michigan. Collectively, these materials represent more than 750 bound volumes of journals and more than 2,000 books. These 1.5 million pages are all black and white, and they represent a wide range of illustration processes used during the nineteenth century. More information is available from both MOA sites at Cornell and at the University of Michigan.
- Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin (Library of Congress)138 volumes from the Library of Congress' General Collections and Rare Books and Special Collections Division depicting the Upper Midwest, 1820–1910. Includes first-person accounts, biographies, promotional literature, local histories, ethnographic and antiquarian texts, colonial archival documents, and other works.
- Project RunebergContains 200 original-language classic works of Nordic literature, music, and the history of science, plus selected texts in Swedish law and in other disciplines.Project Runeberg is a Swedish-centered, volunteer-based project that offers in HTML format more than 200 original-language classic works of Nordic literature, music, and the history of science, plus selected texts in Swedish law and in other disciplines. Works represent Sweden (the bulk of the offerings thus far), Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. The site also provides biographical information and links to additional reading, to other text sites, and to other electronic text projects.
- Digital Yiddish LibraryThe National Yiddish Book Center offers access to the full texts of nearly 11,000 out-of-print Yiddish titles.The National Yiddish Book Center is proud to offer online access to the full texts of nearly 11,000 out-of-print Yiddish titles. You can browse, read, download or print any or all of these books, free of charge. These titles were scanned under the auspices of our Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library, and have been made available online through the Internet Archive.