Research guides: Primary Source Databases for Historical Research: Home

Major Collections

[Photo credit: Maguis & David]

Archive of Americana
Books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, government documents and ephemera printed in America over three centuries.
Early Books Online Text Creation Partnership
Provides standardized, accurate XML/SGML encoded electronic text editions of early print books.

Canadiana Online
Documents Canada's printed heritage, including books, magazines, and government documents, from the time of the first European settlers up to the early 20th century.
Early English Books Online (EEBO)
Digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America from 1473 to 1700, as well as works in English printed elsewhere.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
Works published in English and other European languages in United Kingdom in the 18th century, including books, essays, pamphlets, and broadsides.
Gerritsen Collection
Documents largely from Western European and English sources concerning women and gender from 1543 to 1945.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, photographs, statistics, and other kinds of documents in both Western and non-Western languages. Subject areas include politics, society, popular culture, literature, maps, religion, women's history, and more.

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation.

They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented.

Writing about History and Finding Primary Sources (UTSC) explain more about primary source research.

Think about what kinds of primary sources might be related to your topic:

Nowadays even your social media can be a primary source, because it reflects the reality of the times.

1. Start with what you already have: to uncover references to primary sources. Consult your:

They can also help you identify relevant historical figures, authors, or keywords for searching library databases

2. Use the library catalogue to find books and other materials.

To find primary sources on your subject, combine keywords for different kinds of primary sources with keywords for your topic.

Examples:

reformation sources

world war 1914 correspondence

national socialism documents

3. Use reliable online text collections, such as the ones in this research guide.