Research Guides: HIS 366: Progressive Era to New Deal: Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

A primary source is a source of information, such as document, recording, or artifact, that has a direct connection to a person from a period of time. Examples of primary documents are correspondence, diaries, memoirs or oral interviews.

A secondary source uses primary sources to create their argument. Examples of secondary sources are books or journal articles.

Primary Sources on the Web

The Library of Congress American Memory Collection
This site offers a rich collection of over 7 million American primary historical documents dating back to the 15th century. Browse to find your topic, or do a specific search, and then use the subject headings you find in relevant documents - they will be hyperlinked to other documents under the same heading.
National Archives
The portal into the U.S.'s National Archives, click on "Start your Research" to investigate research paths and see what they make available online.
DocsTeach: Digital Vaults
From the Foundation of the National Archives, this site allows you to browse or search for historical documents that span U.S. history.
U.S. Department of State - Office of the Historian
This site offers searchable collections (sometimes in full-text format, other times only in bibliographic format) of historical documents pertaining to foreign relations in the United States during the Kennedy, up to the Ford administration. Go to the 'Historical Documents' page to browse the resources by theme, by chronology, or by volumes, as they were published.
George Mason University - History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web
This site offers a searchable and browsable collection of digital primary source archives available through the open web.
Yale Law School , Lillian Goldman Law Library - Avalon Project
This site offers primary documents important to the field of law, such as agreements, treaties, accords, hearings, etc. Browse through their twentieth century collection, or search through the site for specific keywords that reflect your topic of interest.
Central Intelligence Agency - Freedom of Information Act
Search through the titles of documents that have been made available by the Freedom of Information Act. Note that these items are not full-text.
Chronicling America:Historic American Newspapers
Chronicling America allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Foreign Relations of the United States, form the University of Wisconsin
This site contains declassified, edited documents of U.S. foreign relations decisions between 1861-1960.