Primary Sources
This guide will provide more information about finding primary sources appropriate for your discipline and area of research.
History
The History discipline most often utilizes primary sources to study, analyze and interpret the past. The following databases and websites are authoritative places to look for primary sources.
For more research assistance, see the History guides.
Image shows a variety of images and primary source kits for Ancient Greece
- Alberta Airphoto Collection This link opens in a new windowThe Alberta Airphoto Collection,1922-1956 consists of about 32,000 copyright-cleared images from the University of Calgary Library's collection of about one million airphotos. The images cover mainly urban areas in Alberta, flown at various scales and years between 1922 and 1956. These airphotos are historical images of Alberta from the air and can provide information on changes in landscape and geographic features over time.The Alberta Airphoto Collection consists of about 30,000 public domain images from the University of Calgary Library's collection of about one million airphotos. The images cover mainly urban areas in Alberta, flown at various scales and years between 1924 and 1952. These airphotos are historical images of Alberta from the air, and can provide information on changes in landscape and geographic features over time.
- Calgary Stampede History This link opens in a new windowThe Calgary Stampede and Libraries and Cultural Resources, University of Calgary are pleased to present the Calgary Stampede Archives collection. View photographs, programs, catalogs, corporate records, and other printed ephemera, just as if you were in the archives yourself. Explore related resources as well, such as databases and books.Images, programs, catalogues, corporate records, booklets/pamphlets, and other printed ephemera.
Please note that the language, terminology or visual content in this collection reflects the context and culture of the time of its creation, and may include culturally sensitive information. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the University of Calgary, but is available in its original form to facilitate research. For questions or comments regarding sensitive content, access, and use related to this collection, please contact digitize@ucalgary.ca. - Canadian Military History This link opens in a new windowThe Military History Digital Collection contains documents, photographs, and books relating to the topic of military history. Specifically, this includes published and archival histories and photographs relating to military service in or for Canada from the late 19th to early 21st century.This collection will make accessible published and archival histories and photographs that are related to service in or for Canada. The British and Canadian Regiments, naval ships and air force squadrons will be featured among the outstanding collection of historical images and documents.
Please note that the language, terminology or visual content in this collection reflects the context and culture of the time of its creation, and may include culturally sensitive information. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the University of Calgary, but is available in its original form to facilitate research. For questions or comments regarding sensitive content, access, and use related to this collection, please contact digitize@ucalgary.ca. - Canadiana Online This link opens in a new windowThis virtual library holds the most complete set of full-text historical content about Canada, including books, magazines, and government documents. This database is particularly rich in primary sources.Canadiana online is a full-text searchable database that includes books, journals and government publications documenting Canadian History. The e-book collection, spans three and a half centuries of Canadian documentary history, holds rich primary materials exploring a wide range of subjects and disciplines. Topics range from major historical events to the development of institutions, laws, and science; from Canadian literature to philosophical treatises; from agriculture to politics, trade, and tariffs. The Serials collection includes a wide range of daily and weekly newspapers, specialized journals, and mass-market magazines, as well as city directories and annual reports from churches, schools, and corporations. Specialized publications include trade or industry journals as well as many men’s, women’s, student’s and children’s popular magazines. Early periodicals are an invaluable source of information for researchers in all fields, as they offer a remarkable record of thought and opinion on diverse issues. Lavishly-illustrated journals open a captivating window onto early Canadian society and culture through their articles, advertisements, cartoons, drawings, and photographs. The Government Publications collection includes over 1.7 million pages of historical pre-1920 colonial, provincial and federal government documents. This collection includes government acts, bills, committee reports, court rules, debates, journals, ordinances, a selection of official publications from France and Great Britain, sessional papers, regulations, royal commission reports, voter’s lists, and treaties.
- Early Encounters in North America This link opens in a new windowEarly Encounters in North America contains 1,482 authors and over 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters. Particular care has been taken to index the material so that it can be used in new ways.Early Encounters in North America documents the relationships among peoples in North America from 1534 to 1850. The collection focuses on personal accounts and provides unique perspectives from all of the protagonists, including traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, native peoples, and officials, both men and women. The project brings coherence to a wide range of published and unpublished accounts, including narratives, diaries, photographs, journals, and letters.
- Frontier life : borderlands, settlement & colonial encounters This link opens in a new windowThis digital collection of primary source documents helps us to understand existence on the edges of the anglophone world from 1650-1920. Discover the various European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia through documents that reveal the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in these areas.This digital collection of primary source documents helps us to understand existence on the edges of the anglophone world from 1650-1920. Discover the various European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia through documents that reveal the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in these areas. Major themes included are settlement development, law and order, violence, expeditions and exploration, relations with indigenous peoples, trade and commerce, death and disease, missionaries and religion, women's history, military matters, mining and gold rushes, settler governance, contested boundaries, and agriculture and livestock. The vast majority of the material is unique and unpublished manuscript in the form of correspondence, diaries, land records, and business records. Features of Frontier Life include: interactive maps and chronology, visual galleries, thematic guides, and frontier settlement floorplans and images.
- Glenbow ArchivesThe Glenbow Archives, Canada's largest non-governmental archival repository, has extensive holdings of unpublished documents and photographs related to the history of Western Canada. It houses a wide-ranging collection of unpublished archival records (such as diaries, letters, minute books, photographs, scrapbooks, speeches, membership lists, films, and sound recordings) for over 3,000 individuals, families, clubs, businesses, schools, and organizations in Calgary, southern Alberta and Western Canada. Areas of specialty include First Nations (especially Blackfoot), Mounted Police, pioneer life, ranching and agriculture, the petroleum industry, politics (especially the farmers' movement), labour and unions, women, the arts (especially theatre), and businesses.
- Grande Prairie Historical Photos This link opens in a new windowThis collection includes photographs from the Isabel Campbell photographic collection and issues of historic Grande Prairie newspapers from the years 1913 to 1939 such as The Frontier Signal, Grande Prairie Herald, Grade Prairie Herald-Tribune, Herald Tribune, and Northern Tribune.The Grande Prairie Photos Collection includes photographs from the Isabel Campbell photographic collection at the South Peace Regional Archives. These photographs cover a wide cross-section of life in Grande Prairie, Alberta in the 1960s. Source photographs can be found within the Campbell family fonds (subseries 032.08.08) at the South Peace Regional Archives and were formerly part of Grande Prairie in Words and Pictures from The Alberta Heritage Digitization Project.
- Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new windowIndigenous Peoples: North America provides users with a robust, diverse, informative source that will enhance research and increase understanding of the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political status of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada. Researchers will explore the impact of invasion and colonization on Indigenous Peoples in North America, and the intersection of Indigenous and European histories and systems of knowledge through the use of manuscripts, monographs, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, images of artwork, and more.Indigenous Peoples of North America provides users with a robust, diverse, informative source that will enhance research and increase understanding of the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political status of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada. Researchers will explore the impact of invasion and colonization on Indigenous Peoples in North America, and the intersection of Indigenous and European histories and systems of knowledge through the use of manuscripts, monographs, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, images of artwork, and more. These are the primary sources that take students beyond the facts and figures of history and into a deeper understanding of Indigenous Peoples. This digital collection fortifies the more general resources, by providing an opportunity for students to “dig into the past,” to discover the background of the ideas and cultures that have defined Indigenous societies, tribal organization, and Indian-white relations. The collection also features indigenous-language materials, including dictionaries, bibles, and primers.
- Library and Archives CanadaLibrary and Archives Canada’s (LAC) collection is the shared documentary heritage of all Canadians and spans the entire history of our country. The collection contains materials in all types of formats from across Canada and around the world that are of interest to Canadians. This is an excellent place to start searching for Canadian-focused primary sources.
- About Searching Collections - Libraries and Archives CanadaThis guide will walk you through a variety of FAQ's about searching collections on Libraries and Archives Canada such as: What is a Collection Search? What will I find? and what information will be yielded under each search tab.
- Military Heritage - Library and Archives CanadaLibrary and Archives Canada holds an extensive collection of records of the Canadian men and women who have served their country in the military and in the early years of the North West Mounted Police. There are records relating to Loyalists, the War of 1812, the Rebellions, the South African War, the First World War and the Second World War, many of which are featured in databases, research guides and virtual exhibitions. The records include muster rolls, military service files, unit war diaries, medal registers, photographic collections, documentary art and posters, as well as published sources.
- Multicultural Alberta This link opens in a new windowThis collection is a central place to access Albertan and Canadian newspapers, local histories, speeches, photographs, letters, and oral histories.Part of the Multicultural Canada project in partnership with Simon Fraser University, this collection features multicultural; oral histories, local histories, and Albertan and Canadian newspapers.
- North American immigrant letters, diaries, and oral histories This link opens in a new windowComposed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives, this series provides a rich source in a wide range of disciplines.North American immigrant letters, diaries, and oral histories includes 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information, so providing 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, the series provides a rich source for scholars in a wide range of disciplines. In selected cases, users will be able to hear the actual audio voices of the immigrants.
- Peel's Prairie ProvincesPeel's Prairie Provinces is a resource dedicated to assisting scholars, students, and researchers of all types in their exploration of western Canadian history and the culture of the Canadian prairies. This website contains both an online bibliography of books, pamphlets, and other materials related to the development of the Prairies, as well as a searchable full-text collection of many of these items. This includes digitized books, newspapers, postcards, and maps.
- Nineteenth century UK periodicals This link opens in a new windowThis database contains 2.1 million pages of periodicals published in Great Britain from 1800-1900. It includes publications on all aspects of the 19th century life--literature and culture, empire, feminism, the history of the book, the creative and performing arts, sport and leisure, science and medicine, the professions.The Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals series covers the events, lives, values, and themes that shaped the nineteenth century world. It provides an invaluable, fully-searchable facsimile resource for the study of British life in the nineteenth century—from art to business, and from children to politics. Few of the materials in this extensive collection have ever been reissued, in any format since original publication. Titles included have been identified and selected by leading scholars in nineteenth century studies; their choices reflect the broad scope and thrust of research and teaching in the twenty-first century. Part I covers the advent of commercial lifestyle publishing in Britain, drawn from the remarkable collections of the British Library, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Australia, and National Library of South Africa. The series acts as a barometer of literacy and social mobility in the 1800s, with a particular focus on the rarely documented aspects of women, children, humour, and leisure activity in the Victorian age. The rise of magazine publishing is reflected in the selection of publications, spanning publications aimed at and tailored to various audiences, including women and children. Part II looks at the role Britain played as an imperial power throughout the century, and contains periodicals from Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, and South Africa. The range of titles was selected by a team of more than twenty editors, all of which are specialists in the field of nineteenth century studies, and have been compiled from collections in the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the National Library of Australia.
- American History in Video This link opens in a new windowThe early newsreels, including the complete series of United Newsreel and Universal Newsreel capture history as it was made and reported to viewers of the time. The collection also contains award-winning documentaries, featuring dramatic reenactments and engaging analysis from prominent scholars and experts, that bring history alive for students and give library patrons hundreds of educational video titles they can view at home or in the classroom."American History in Video provides the largest and richest collection of video and documentaries available online for the study of American history, 2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles on completion. The collection allows students and researchers to analyze historical events, and the presentation of historical events over time, through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries"--Provided by publisher.
- American West This link opens in a new windowBrowse a wide range of rare and original documents including printed books, journals, historic maps, broadsides, periodicals, advertisements, photographs, artwork and more.Original manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material, and rare printed sources from the Graff Collection about the American West, including tales of frontier life, Native Americans, vigilantes, and outlaws, and the growth of urban centres and environmental impact of westward expansion and of life in the borderlands.
- Archives UnboundArchives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of scholars and students at the college and university level. Collections in Archives Unbound cover a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history. Collections are chosen for Archives Unbound based on requests from scholars, archivists, and students.
- Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and DiplomacyCreated by the Yale Law Library, this website features primary source documents from all over the world in law, history, and government from the eighteenth through twentieth centuries.
- Black thought and culture This link opens in a new windowBlack Thought and Culture contains 1,303 sources with 1,210 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Particular care has been taken to index this material so that it can be searched more thoroughly than ever before. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamphlets, letters and other fugitive material.Black Thought and Culture is a landmark electronic collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history. In addition to the most familiar works, Black Thought and Culture presents a great deal of previously inaccessible material, including letters, speeches, prefatory essays, political leaflets, interviews, periodicals, and trial transcripts. The ideas of over 1,000 authors present an evolving and complex view of what it is to be black in America.
- British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new windowBritish and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries includes the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 100,000 pages of diaries and letters. The collection now includes primary materials spanning more than 300 years. Each source has been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies. The collection also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database.This collection includes the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 100,000 pages of diaries and letters. Particular care has been taken to index this material so that it can be searched more thoroughly than ever before. The collection now includes primary materials spanning more than 300 years. Each source has been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies. The collection also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database.
- Coverage is of materials written between 1500 and 1900.
- Includes fulltext of documents.
- CRL library catalog This link opens in a new windowThe approximately five million newspapers, journals, books, pamphlets, dissertations, archives, government publications, and other resources held by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) support original research and teaching. While these shared collections are largely paper and microform, CRL provides online access to a continually expanding body of digital materials. The "Topic Guides" section of the website is an excellent place to start as it has a number of topic guides organized by discipline or region.
- Access digitized content directly through CRL online catalog request other material through UofC Interlibrary Loans
Membership in Center for Research Libraries provides access to a wide range of uncommon materials, with a focus on news, law and government, finance, the history of science, technology and engineering, and the history and economics of agriculture. The approximately five million newspapers, journals, books, pamphlets, dissertations, archives, government publications, and other resources held by CRL support original research and teaching. CRL holdings include materials from all world regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Central, South and Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. While these shared collections are largely paper and microform, CRL provides online access to a continually expanding body of digital materials. CRL digital collections of primary source materials support research and teaching in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. - Churchill Archive: a window on history This link opens in a new windowThis database includes more than 800,000 pages of original documents, produced between 1874 and 1965, ranging from Winston S. Churchill’s personal correspondence to his official exchanges with kings, presidents, politicians, and military leaders. This is more than a fantastic collection of primary source material; it is a unique online resource offering new insight into a fascinating period of our past.The Churchill Archive is a massive resource that brings together online nearly a million documents amassed by Winston Churchill through out his lifetime, including hand-written notes and private letters. It will also offer an expanding range of additional materials - pedagogical resources and secondary materials, video and audio content, and more.
- Digital national security archive This link opens in a new windowThis archive is an online collection of more than 100,000 declassified records documenting historic U.S. policy decisions. DNSA provides authoritative access to the original documents, most of them formerly classified and previously unavailable, that underlie the crucial decisions facing former presidents of the United States.From the award-winning, nongovernmental National Security Archive, this resource consists of expertly curated, and meticulously indexed, declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events – including their military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions – from 1945 to the present. Each collection is assembled by foreign policy experts and features chronologies, glossaries, bibliographies, and scholarly overviews to provide unparalleled access to the defining international issues of our time. Subject coverage includes: history, political science, Latin American studies, Middle East studies, Asia studies, diplomacy, and intelligence.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowThis database includes resources such as books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides, works published in the UK during the 18th century, and an image gallery.A comprehensive digital edition of The Eighteenth Century microfilm set, which has aimed to include every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas, between 1701 and 1800. Consists of books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemera. Subject categories include history and geography; fine arts and social sciences; medicine, science, and technology; literature and language; religion and philosophy; law; general reference. Also included are significant collections of women writers of the eighteenth century, collections on the French Revolution, and numerous eighteenth-century editions of the works of Shakespeare. Where they add scholarly value or contain important differences, multiple editions of each individual work are offered.
- English Historical Documents This link opens in a new windowEnglish Historical Documents Online contains over 5,500 expertly indexed and fully searchable primary documents from 500-1914.English historical documents includes over 5,500 documents dating from 500 to 1914. Each document has been indexed and classified by experts. The sources include treaties, statutes, declarations, government and cabinet proceedings, military dispatches, orders, acts, sermons, newspaper articles, pamphlets, personal and official letters, diaries and more. Each section of documents and many of the documents themselves are accompanied by editorial commentary. The sources cover a wide spectrum of topics, from political and constitutional issues to social, economic, religious as well as cultural history. Personalized login for individual users to bookmark entries and save and manage searches.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowThis resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.Over 70,000 images of original documents relating to Empire Studies. The images are sourced from libraries and archives around the world, including a strong core of document images from the British Library. Five thematic sections selected around the key topics of Empire courses: Cultural Contacts; Literature; The Visual Empire, Exhibitions; Religion; Race, Class, Colonialism and Imperialism.
- Gale Primary sources This link opens in a new windowThe Gale Primary Sources cross-search interface provides access to millions of pages of content spanning many centuries and geographic regions. Users can explore a wide range of content including monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, maps, and more.Gale Primary Sources is a universal research experience that combines Gale's acclaimed digital archives in a single cross-search interface. This powerful platform greatly enhances the research experience for students and researchers by broadening their discovery of primary source documents through the use of multiple search options and research tools. The Gale Primary Sources cross-search interface provides access to millions of pages of content spanning many centuries and geographic regions. Users can explore a wide range of content including monographs, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, maps, and more. As Gale continues to create additional digital archives, we will automatically add the content to the Gale Primary Sources cross-search experience.
- Gale in context. World history This link opens in a new windowWith a focus on history, this database contains over 1,800 primary sources. The "Browse Topics" is particularly helpful to choose a category or topic of study to find related primary sources, images, audio, etc.Gale In Context: World History reaches back to the ancient world—and forward to today's headlines—to deliver a chronicle of the people, cultures, events, and societies that have formed the history of the human race. A range of topics such as Aztecs, Industrial Revolution, Silk Road, the Buddha, Space Race, and more provide a wide perspective across the globe.
- Grand Tour (The) This link opens in a new windowThis collection of manuscript, visual and printed works allows scholars to compare a range of sources on the history of travel for the first time, including many from private or neglected collections. This includes letters; diaries and journals; account books; printed guidebooks; published travel writing; paintings and sketches; architectural drawings and maps.These accounts of the English abroad, c1550-1850, highlight the influence of continental travel on British art, architecture, urban planning, literature and philosophy. This collection of manuscript, visual and printed works allows scholars to compare a range of sources on the history of travel for the first time, including many from private or neglected collections. We include letters; diaries and journals; account books; printed guidebooks; published travel writing; paintings and sketches; architectural drawings and maps. The Grand Tour is a wonderful source of information about daily life in the eighteenth century, highlighting such everyday issues as transportation, money, communications, food and drink, health and sex. The material also covers European political and religious life, British diplomacy; life at court, and social customs on the Continent, and is an invaluable resource for the study of Europe's urban spaces. There is a wealth of detail about cities such as Paris, Rome, Florence and Geneva, including written accounts and visual representations of street life, architecture and urban planning.
- Hanover Historical Texts ProjectThe Hanover Historical Texts Collection makes available digital versions of historical texts for use in history and humanities courses. Categories include ancient Greece and Rome; medieval, early modern and modern Europe; Africa and Asia; and America from the 17th to 20th-centuries.
- Hathi Trust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowHathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives. HathiTrust contains a number of collections, organized by subject topic and compiled by university institutions. It is recommended you start here to narrow your search.As a digital repository for the nation's great research libraries, HathiTrust brings together the immense collections of partner institutions. It was initially conceived as a collaboration of the thirteen universities of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the University of California system, and the University of Virginia to establish a repository for those universities to archive and share their digitized collections, and quickly expanded to include additional partners with fast growing treasure of digitized collections.
- Oral history online This link opens in a new windowOral History Online is also an index to free oral history information on the Web. Working with archives, repositories and individuals, this database has indexed oral histories held by organizations around the world.Oral History Online provides in-depth indexing to more than 2,700 collections of Oral History in English from around the world. The collection also provides keyword searching of more than 329,400 pages of full-text by close to 10,000 individuals from all walks of life. It also contains pointers to over 4,200 audio and video files and almost 19,000 bibliographic records.
- U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to a previously classified federal records spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. The types of materials include intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports.U.S. Declassified Documents Online provides access to previously classified federal records in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The collection brings together the most sensitive documents from all the presidential libraries and numerous executive agencies in a single, easily searchable database, including: intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports. The search and discovery interface for the collection allows researchers to locate the full text of documents and quickly filter their search results by document type, issue date, source institution, classification level, and date declassified as well as other document characteristics. Coverage: 1900-2015.
- Women and social movements in the United States 1600-2000 This link opens in a new windowThe collection currently includes 125 document projects and archives with more than 5,100 documents and 175,000 pages of additional full-text documents, written by 2,800 primary authors. It also includes book, film, and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools.Women and social movements in the United States is a resource for students and scholars of U.S. history and U.S. women's history. Organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1700 and 2000, the website seeks to advance scholarly debates and understanding at the same time that it makes the insights of women's history accessible to teachers and students at universities, colleges, and high schools.
- Last Updated: Jan 9, 2025 8:52 AM
- URL: https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/primarysources
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Subjects: History, History-Primary Sources, Library & Information Science, Reference Tools, Research, Writing
Tags: History, primary sources