LibGuides: History: Primary Sources

Finding Primary Sources

Finding primary source material for your topic is easier than you might think.

Many primary sources can be found in the Harbor College Library within books, encyclopedias, or as reprints of the original source.

Many more can be found on reputable websites from universities, government sites, and library websites.

Search the library catalog using your topic, but add the word "sources," both searched as subject keywords.

Examples:

Basic Search for Books and eBooks

Advanced Search for Books and eBooks

American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
Primary source and archival materials covering topics such as art and architecture, performing arts, technology and applied sciences.
American Presidency Project
Search thousands of documents related to historical and current U.S. presidencies, such as speeches, official papers, executive orders, proclamations, news conferences, and press briefings.
Calisphere
Digitized images including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts that reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history.
Making of America (Cornell University)
Primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
Chronicling America
Search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published from 1690-present.
Documenting the American South
Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a a project at UNC-Chapel HIll that provides online access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
Amdocs: Documents for the Study of American History
An index of digitized primary sources.