Primary Sources
This guide will provide more information about finding primary sources appropriate for your discipline and area of research.
Anthropology & Archaeology
Primary sources in anthropology and archaeology are original, first-hand records or artifacts of a particular culture, event, or time period. This can include first-hand evidence, contemporary accounts of events, ethnographies, research data, and oral histories. The below databases contain a number of primary sources and are excellent places to begin your research.
For more research assistance, see the Anthropology and Archaeology guides.
- Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new windowThis database provides extensive indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works and obituaries in anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, etc.As a compilation of the Anthropological Index and Anthropological Literature databases, Anthropology Plus is the world's most comprehensive index of bibliographic materials covering the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and related interdisciplinary research. This database offers worldwide indexing of all core periodical and lesser-known journals from the early 19th century to today, providing extensive indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, interdisciplinary studies, etc.
- Artefacts CanadaContains millions of collection records and over 200,000 images from hundreds of Canadian museums, including images of art objects, of social history artifacts, of biological samples, and of archaeological digs from across Canada.
- 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. - ETANA - Electronic Tools and Ancient Near East Archives This link opens in a new windowThis database contains digitized texts related to ancient Near Eastern studies.Core texts and internet materials relevant to the history and culture of the ancient Near East.
- Includes full-text of core texts.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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