Primary Sources for Humanities and Social Sciences : Archival 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.
- What are Primary Sources?
- Finding and Using Primary Sources
- Online Primary Sources
- Books
- Journals and Magazines
- Newspapers
- Government Documents
- Archival Sources
- Multimedia Sources
Sample Freely Available Archival Collections Online
A growing number of archival materials are being digitized, and researchers are able to access increasing amounts of material online. Below are some sample digital archival collections. For additional collections, see the Online Primary Sources tab and this list.
- 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 CongressAmerican 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.
- 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.
- 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- EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents from Western Europe (Brigham Young University)EuroDocs is a collection of links to facsimiles, translations, and transcriptions of documents which shed light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.
- 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.
- 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.
Finding Archives and Archival Sources
Archival sources can often be difficult to find, however, there a number of tools that can help you find both local, national, and international archival materials.
- Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding AidsPresents archival finding aids prepared and contributed by: The University of Wisconsin Archives and Records Management Service, University of Wisconsin Memorial Library Department of Special Collections, Wisconsin Historical Society, and the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures.
- Discovery – The National Archives of the UKNational archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, holding over 1,000 years of the nation's records. The indexes to the National Archives contain references to papers of approximately 150,000 corporate bodies, persons and families relating to British history with a further 100,000 connected records.
- Historical Research in Europe: a Guide to Archives and LibrariesSearchable database of libraries and archives in Europe.
- Library CatalogThe Catalog contains information about the archival holdings in the University Archives, Special Collections, and the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.
- UW-Madison Archives and Records Management Service (ARMS)Official repository for the UW-Madison, the UW-System Administration, and the UW Colleges and UW-Extension. Archives collects primary source materials such as student newspapers, yearbooks, minutes of the Regents and the Faculty Senate, course catalogs, timetables and directories, subject and correspondence of administrators and faculty, and documents related to groups and organizations.
- Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles (WLHBA)Historical and biographical articles preserved in scrapbooks at the Wisconsin Historical Society in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Local Archives
Archival sources are available in print in many locations on campus and in Madison. This is a list of a few locations of interest:
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Special Collections
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Ebling Library Historical Services
- Universityof Wisconsin-Madison Archives and Records Management Service
- Wisconsin Historical Society Library/Archives
- Wisconsin Center for Film & Theatre Research
- University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures
- Wisconsin Music Archives
- Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Local Archival Collections Online
Below is a sample of local digital collections. For additional collections, see the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.
- American JourneysCreated 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.
- Gay Peoples Union CollectionPresents digital copies of primary source materials documenting GPU -- the most important gay and lesbian rights organization in Milwaukee during the 1970s -- and Milwaukee's gay liberation movement. Materials were selected from collections housed in the UWM Libraries Division of Archives and Special Collections.
- The Aldo Leopold ArchivesAldo Leopold is considered by many to have been the most influential conservation thinker of the 20th Century. Leopold's legacy spans the disciplines of forestry, wildlife management, conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, restoration ecology, private land management, environmental history, literature, education, esthetics, and ethics.
- The State of Wisconsin CollectionThe collection includes published material as well as archival materials such as books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps and other resources.The State of Wisconsin Collection brings together, in digital form, two categories of primary and secondary materials: writings about the State of Wisconsin and unique or valuable materials that relate to its history and ongoing development. The collection includes published material as well as archival materials. The materials were digitized from a variety of formats including books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps and other resources deemed important to the study and teaching of the State of Wisconsin.
- Turning Points in Wisconsin HistoryThe most important historic events in Wisconsin through hundreds of eyewitness accounts, pictures, and museum objects.