LibGuides: Primary Sources: Find Digital Collections

North American and European Collections

America's Historical Imprints This link opens in a new window
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Primary sources (monographs, pamphlets, broadsides, government documents and ephemera) covering 1639-1900.
American Broadsides and Ephemera This link opens in a new window
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Searchable monographs, pamphlets, broadsides, government documents and ephemera from 1760-1900
ARTFL This link opens in a new window
Collection of classical French writings including literary and political works, focusing on 18th-20th century, with some coverage of 17th century, medieval, and Renaissance texts.
Black Life in America This link opens in a new window
News sources from early 18th century to the early 21st documenting the experience and impact of African Americans.
Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new window
Digitized collections from libraries, archives, and museums around the country. Find primary sources in the forms of images, documents, film, sound recording, and other mediums.
Documenting White Supremacy and its Opponents in the 1920s This link opens in a new window
An open access digital collection of publications promoting, as well as those opposing, white nationalism.
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
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Digital reproductions of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
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18th century English-language publications in the humanities, arts, and sciences.
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
Gain insight into the cultural, political, and social history of Native Peoples from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
LGBT Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements throughout the twentieth century and into the present day.
Making of America This link opens in a new window
Primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
State Papers Online This link opens in a new window
17th century British State Papers linked to their full text-searchable calendars.

Wellcome Images
This site provides access to over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements from the historical holdings of the Wellcome Library in London. The images have been released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence and can be used free of charge, with an acknowledgement of the original source (Wellcome Library, London).

Women Working This link opens in a new window
Historical, manuscript, and image resources that explore women's roles in the US economy from the Open Collections Program, Harvard University 1870-1930
Women Writers Online This link opens in a new window
Digitized texts by pre-Victorian women writers

Digital Books and Magazines

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
Digital library of books and journals scanned by a partnership of major research institutions and libraries. Log in to access the largest number of volumes and features.

Internet Archive
In addition to digital text collections, there are also collections of music and video and the Wayback Machine to find archived versions of web pages.

Media Collections

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
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Image database of artwork, architecture, and other artifacts contributed from museums and collections around the world.
Dance in Video, Volume I This link opens in a new window
Productions and documentaries by the most influential performers and companies of the 20th century covering ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, improvisational, and modern concert dance.
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
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Content is provided by the BBC, the Canadian Broadcast Corp, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, PBS, and others.
Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window
Streaming classical music library
Naxos Music Library - Jazz This link opens in a new window
Naxos Sheet Music Library This link opens in a new window
ontheboards.tv This link opens in a new window
Films of full-length performances by artists working in dance, theater, music and other fields.

Global Collections

Aluka (Struggles for Freedom in Southern Africa) This link opens in a new window
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Primary source materials from archives and libraries around the world related to the dismantling of the Apartheid regime and Liberation of Southern Africa.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Primary sources including monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more.
Smithsonian Collections Online: World’s Fairs and Expositions: Visions of Tomorrow This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents about landmark exhibits from 1840 to 1940.

Regional Collections

Archives West This link opens in a new window
Central repository for finding aids for archival collections at colleges and cultural institutions throughout the western U.S.
Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project This link opens in a new window
The vital history of Seattle's civil rights movements to life with scores of video oral histories, hundreds of rare photographs, documents, movement histories, and personal biographies.