Finding Primary Sources - History 4900 Capstone - Gunther Fall 2023 - Library Research Guides at Georgia Gwinnett College

Primary Source Materials

Primary sources provide the evidence upon which history is written. These sources are not contained in one database, website, or book so different strategies are used to find them. Newspapers, letters, photographs, speeches, autobiographies, oral histories, maps, government records, and many other items are considered primary sources.

Where to Look - General Sources

TIP: On the Kaufman Library A-Z list use the drop-down menu All Database Types and choose "Primary Source" to see databases that contain primary sources.

Historical Newspapers: The Atlanta Constitution (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Digitized newspaper archive, coverage from 1868 to 1984
Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and The Observer (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Digitized newspaper archive, coverage from 1791 to 2003
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Digitized newspaper archive, coverage from 1851 to 2013
Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Digitized newspaper archive, coverage from 1877 to 2000

Below are some external resources for primary sources.

The American Presidency Project
On-line source for presidential public documents. Materials provided by the White House media office, the Government Printing Office, and the National Archives (NARA). These include texts of presidential documents such as statements and remarks; press conferences; statements; Executive Orders; (some) memorandums; and Proclamations. They also include daily press briefings, statements from the Office of the Press Secretary, and print media pool reports.
Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers (The Library of Congress)
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
David Rumsey Map Collection
The David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 35 years ago and contains more than 150,000 maps. The collection focuses on rare 16th through 21st century maps of North and South America, as well as maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, globes, wall maps, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children's, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from around 1550 to the present.
Europeana
The Europeana website provides cultural heritage enthusiasts, professionals, teachers, and researchers with access to Europe's digital cultural heritage. Why? To inspire and inform fresh perspectives and open conversations about our history and culture. To share and enjoy our rich cultural heritage. To use it to create new things.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
Collection of links to sites with primary sources.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
A collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented for educational use. Primary sources are available here mainly for use in high-school and university/college courses. From Fordham University.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.

Where to Look - Primary Sources for Specific Topics

National Archives - The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection
John F. Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963. Almost 30 years later, Congress enacted the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. The Act mandated that all assassination-related material be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The resulting Collection consists of more than 5 million pages of assassination-related records, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and artifacts (approximately 2,000 cubic feet of records). Most of the records are open for research. Includes information on the Martin Luther King, Jr. assissination.

The Crisis
Fully digitized issues of the Crisis magazine, a publication of the NAACP focusing on civil rights and equality issues. Digitized issues cover the years 1911-2011.
Civil Rights Digital Library
The collection includes related collections from 75 libraries, archives, and museums across the nation. Most are original documentation of the period, such as news film, oral histories, letters, diaries, FBI files, and photographs.
FBI Records: The Vault - Civil Rights

National Archives - Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled "Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force", was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. In June of 1971, small portions of the report were leaked to the press and widely distributed. However, the publications of the report that resulted from these leaks were incomplete and suffered from many quality issues. On the 40th anniversary of the leak to the press, the National Archives, along with the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon Presidential Libraries, has released the complete report. There are 48 boxes and approximately 7,000 declassified pages. Approximately 34% of the report is available for the first time.

FBI Records: The Vault - Anti-War Movement

National Archives - Vietnam War
Remembering Vietnam is an exhibit at the National Archives in Washington, DC, on display from November 10, 2017, through February 28, 2019, featuring records related to 12 critical episodes in the Vietnam War. The National Archives has a wealth of records and information documenting the U.S. experience in the Vietnam conflict. These include photographs, textual and electronic records, audiovisual recordings, exhibits, educational resources, articles, blog posts, lectures, and events.
NSA: Gulf of Tonkin
On 30 November 2005, the National Security Agency (NSA) released the first installment of previously classified information regarding the Vietnam era, specifically the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This release includes a variety of articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, signals intelligence (SIGINT) reports and translations, and other related memoranda.

On 30 May 2006, NSA released the second and final installment of Gulf of Tonkin materials. This final release includes additional articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, and other related memoranda.