Primary Sources: Websites Specializing in Primary Sources

HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Search for documents via keyword, or browse collections created by university partners by clicking "collections" in the top menu bar.

The Internet History Sourcebook Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly, without advertising, for educational use provided by Fordham University. Find links to sourcebooks with narrower focus here. Examples include: Ancient History, Medieval History, Modern History, African History, East Asian History, Indian History, Islamic History, Jewish History, History of Science, LGBT History, and Women's History.

Browse this collection of primary source documents from libraries, museums, and archives arranged by sets. Search by time period or subject.

The WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures and significant historical documents on one site, in a variety of ways. Content on the WDL includes books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, journals, prints and photographs, sound recordings, and films.
WDL items can be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, language, and contributing institution. The search feature can be used to search all of the metadata and descriptions and the full text of printed books on the site.

Explore the digital collection of primary source materials provided by Harvard libraries. Search by keyword, or browse collections, but make sure to click "Available Online" box to make sure your results are full-text online. Examples of collections include: Chilean Protest Murals, Colonial North America, Chinese Collection, English Broadsides, Immigration to the U.S., 1789-1930, Latin American Pamphlet Collection.

Digital historical documents relevant to the fields of law, economics, politics, diplomacy and government from 4000bce to the early 21st century. Currently contains, among other things, The debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, reported by James Madison, materials relating to the Nuremberg trials, works by Thomas Jefferson, and materials relating to diplomatic relations between the United States and Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Search by date or keyword.

Browse Yale University Library's collections of digital primary sources. Example collections: Arabic & Middle East, Arts of the Book, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscripts, Classics Department, Manuscripts & Archives, Henry A. Kissinger Papers, or The Silk Road. Please Note: not all collections are available to the general public!

Hosted by Brigham Young University, this collection of sources is searchable via time period or country. In most cases documents are presented in chronological order.

The Digital Archive contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, uncovering new sources and providing fresh insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy. Included topics are, but not limited to: Cold War origins, Soviet foreign policy, Cuban Missile Crisis, German Reunification, Space Race, and Vietnam War

Latin provides individual subscriptions to digital New York Times for all students, faculty, and staff. Once you have created your account, you will have unlimited free access to the New York Times archives via the TimesMachine. Browse headlines or search for specific stories via the search box.

Search by keyword or browse the +100 digital collections of primary source materials offered by the Library of Congress.

Choose from collections like, "America's Founding Documents", "Foreign Policy, Military Records, and Investigations", or "Arts and Culture".

Some of Brown University's digital collections include, "African American Sheet Music", "Alcohol, Temperance, and Prohibition", "African American Vaudeville", and/or "Catskill Institute."

Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet 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. The University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sponsors Documenting the American South, and the texts and materials come primarily from its southern holdings. The UNC University Library is committed to the long-term availability of these collections and their online records.

This digital memorial raises questions about the largest slave trades in history and offers access to the documentation available to answer them. European colonizers turned to Africa for enslaved laborers to build the cities and extract the resources of the Americas. They forced millions of mostly unnamed Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas, and from one part of the Americas to another. Analyze these slave trades and view interactive maps, timelines, and animations to see the dispersal in action. Including "Oceans of Kinfolk" dataset that includes information of domestic slave trade within the United States.

The Newberry Library houses +80 digital collections, many focused on Chicago, Abraham Lincoln, and other Illinois based leaders and events.

Curated by the New York Public Library, this site includes over ten thousand individual collections. Featured collections include: James Baldwin papers, Lou Reed papers, James Madison papers, Alexander Hamilton papers, Thomas Jefferson papers. Please note: advanced notice is required to view some of these online collections, so plan ahead and request access early.

The extensive collections at the Library of Congress contain historic artifacts and cultural materials from across the U.S. Click on the interactive map to see select items from your state.

The CGP is the finding tool for federal publications that includes descriptive information for historical and current publications as well as direct links to the full document, when available. Users can search by authoring agency, title, subject, and general keywords, or click on "Advanced Search" for more options.