Research Guides: English Guide for the Major: Primary Sources for Historical Study

Getting Started with Primary Sources

Primary sources are usually defined as first hand information or data that is generated by witnesses or participants in past events. Primary sources are characterized not by their format but rather by the information they convey and their relationship to the research question. The interpretation and evaluation of these sources becomes the basis for other research. Click on the link below to get started understanding and identifying primary sources for your topic.

The Research Using Primary Source guide was developed by the University of Maryland Libraries' Special Collections.

Streaming Video

American History in Video
Provides the largest and richest collection of video available online for the study of American history, with 2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles on completion. The collection allows students and researchers to analyze historical events, and their presentation over time, through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries.
Films on Demand Master Academic Collection
Streaming video service of almost 12,000 full length videos of high-quality educational titles. Subject sets featured are: business & economics, humanities & social sciences, science & mathematics, health & medicine. This collection also includes thousands of video clips and a collection of archival films & newsreels. Special features allow users the ability to organize and bookmark clips, create and share playlists; most videos available with closed-captioning and interactive transcripts; may be viewed through most mobile devices.

Primary Source Databases

The following are large primary source databases which offer access to full-text books, pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals for the early modern period through the 20th century. The focus is on English language materials published in the United States and Great Britain.

17th & 18th Century Nichols Collection Newspapers
17th and 18th Century Nichols Collection Newspapers Part of the British Library Newspapers collection, 17th and 18th Century Nichols Collection Newspapers is full text, fully searchable digital archive of newspapers and news pamphlets from the United Kingdom.
17th and 18th Century Burney Collection: UK Newspapers
Part of the British Library Newspapers collection, 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers is a full-text, fully searchable digital archive of nearly 1,270 newspapers and news pamphlets from the United Kingdom.
19th Century UK Periodicals
Two of a five-series periodical collection covering British life in the Victorian age. Series 1: New Readerships includes a wide variety of periodicals that reflect the changes and influences in political and rural life, children's literature and leisure. Series II: Empire covers the expansion of the Empire, addressing economic as well as non-mercantile aspects of British expansionism. The two series, which can be searched separately or together, draw from the collections of the British Library, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Australia and National Library of South Africa.
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
Digitized and fully searchable collections of more than 270 African American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries. A subset of America's Historical Newspapers.
NOTE: Choose as a subset of America’s Historical Newspapers
America's Historical Newspapers
Digitized and fully searchable collections of early American newspapers. Includes five databases, Early American Newspapers Series 1 - 3 and African American Newspapers which can be searched together or separately, as well as select Maryland newspapers including the Maryland Gazette (1728-1832) and Baltimore American (1861-1870, 1903-1922). Early American Newspapers includes more than 1,000 U.S. newspapers published between 1690 and 1922. African American Newspaper includes more than 270 African American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1-5
This collection includes digitized images of over 6,500 American magazines and journals published between 1691 and 1877. The collection is available in five series: Series 1 (1691-1820); Series 2 (1821-1837) Series 3 (1838-1852)' Series 4 (1853-1865) and Series 5 (1866-1877). The series can be searched separately or in combination.
Black Thought and Culture
Contains full text and bibliographic information about the black community and its leaders, from the 1700's to present times. Includes monographs, essays, articles, speeches, interviews, and other publications. Contains many never before published materials. Most significant, for the first time in electronic format, newspaper articles from the Black Panther Party publication is made available.
British Library Newspapers
The British Library Newspapers collection feature London national newspapers, English regional papers, and newspapers from Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. It includes the following six collections which can be searched separately or together: Part I: 47 publications from 1800-1900; Part II: 22 publications from 1800-1900; Part III: 35 publications from 1741-1950; Part IV: 23 publications from 1732-1950; Part V: 1746-1950 and Part VI: Ireland, 1783-1950..
British Periodicals
British Periodicals provides access to the searchable full text for nearly 500 British periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images.
Early American Imprints, Series I (1639-1800)
This digital collection contains virtually every books, pamphlet and broadside published in America over a 160-year period. American History. Contains books, pamphlets, games, periodicals, etc. 17th and 18th Century
Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker 1801-1819
Based on the noted American Bibliography, 1801-1819, provides a comprehensive set of American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the early part of the 19th century.
Early English Books Online
Database of most imprints (books, pamphlets, and broadsides) published in English anywhere or published in any language in English-speaking countries, appearing from 1473 to 1700. One can search the full ASCII text of selected* documents and view both the text and the corresponding original page images. Useful for research in all subject areas during the early modern period. Also helpful to study the history of books and printing.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online
The Eighteenth Century Collections Online (Parts I and II) is a full-text searchable digital database of over 180,00 English-language and foreign-language titles printed in the United Kingdom during the 18th century, along with thousands of works from the Americas. It includes a variety of materials, from books and directories, Bibles and sheet music to sermons and advertisements, Includes both well-known and lesser-known authors and canonical titles of the period as well as contemporary works that analyze and debate those same titles.
Eighteenth Century Journals Portal
Rare printed journals, periodicals and newspapers of the long Eighteenth century (1680-1820) from the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the British Library, and other prominent collections. All items are full-text searchable.
English Short Title Catalog
Catalog of most imprints (books, pamphlets, and broadsides) published from 1473 to 1800 in English or published in any language in English-speaking countries. Many titles are available on microform in the UM Libraries; most pre-1700 titles are available online in Early English Books Online. Useful for research in all subject areas during the period. Also helpful to study the history of books and printing.
Historical newspapers
Searchable full-text of the Los Angeles Times (1881-1986); Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003); Atlanta Constitution (1868-1945); Chicago Tribune (1849-1986); Chicago Defender (1909-1975); Boston Globe (1872-1979); Christian Science Monitor (1908-2001); Cleveland Call and Post (1934-1991); Detroit Free Press (1831-1922); St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1874-1922); Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005); Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001); Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002); San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922); New York Tribune (1841-1922); New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993); Hartford Courant (1764-1984); Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2003); Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988); Baltimore Sun (1837-1989); San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922); Wall Street Journal (1889-1997); Washington Post (1877-1998)
Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003
Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 provides access to the entire run of the world's first fully illustrated weekly newspaper. High-quality color facsimile images bring to life more than 150 years of social, political and cultural history for researchers. Areas covered include politics, social history, fashion, theatre, media, literature, advertising and graphic design, as well as genealogy.
New York Times (1851-2016 )
The New York Times Historical (1851-2016 ) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) provides fulltext to news, business and legal information. Newspapers date back to the 1970's. Please Note: The Washington Post is no longer included in Nexis Uni.The National Newspapers Core database includes the Washington Post.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) is a growing collection of archives which brings together rare primary source materials monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, photographs and more from the long nineteenth century (1789-1914.) UMD has access to archives 1-12.
Periodicals Archive Online
An online archive of digitized, full-image journal articles, Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) provides access to hundreds of scholarly journals. Coverage includes U.S. and international scholarly journal literature in the arts, humanities and social sciences disciplines with date coverage ranging from 1802 to 2000. NOTE: Current journal issues are not included in PAO but may be covered in other journal collections (use Find It).
Times Digital Archive
The Times Digital Archive provides convenient access to an extraordinary library of back issues of this renowned newspaper online. By taking the microfilm collection of The Times (London) and producing a high-resolution digital format with searchable images, The Times Digital Archive represents unprecedented access to one of the most highly regarded resources for the study of 18th century history and onward.

Guide to British and US Primary Sources

This guide offers a very comprehensive list of resources that will help you find primary source material available electronically, on microform, and in the Special Collections at the University of Maryland Libraries.

Guide to British & U.S. Primary Sources
This guide provides information about American and British primary source material available at the University of Maryland Libraries. It covers electronic, microform, and Special Collections resources. The electronic and microform materials cover the period between ca. 1500 and 2000.