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Primary Sources for Humanities and Social Sciences : Books

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.

Library Catalog

Finding E-books

Many historically-relevant books are available electronically. Find out how to find them through the link below.

Finding Books

Books may be or contain primary sources. Examples may include personal narratives, memoirs, and autobiographies, collected works, and collections of documents. They may be published at the time or compiled and published at a later time.  

The following catalogs can help you find both print and electronic books.  

E-book Collections

These collections represent some of the e-book collections that can be found in the Database Library. They represent only a fraction of what is available; for more, see complete list. Some are Library subscription databases and some are free digital libraries.

Freely Available E-books

Some of the largest collections of freely-available electronic books: