LibGuides: Welcome to Urban's Herbst Library: Primary Sources

Newspapers

Historical Newspapers
Historical Newspapers in Proquest gives you access to the archives of many newspapers going back over 200 years.
Proquest
Search many full-text journal, magazine and newspaper articles in one place.
Gale NewsVault

California Digital Newspaper Collection
The California Digital Newspaper Collection contains significant historical California newspapers from 1846-present, including the first California newspaper, The Californian, and the first daily California newspaper, The Daily Alta California.
Chronicling America
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
The Times Digital Archive
This database can be cross-searched in NewsVault; on its own, it allows readers to search over 200 years’ worth of the London-based publication.
19th Century U.S. Newspapers
This database aggregates primary sources from America throughout the 19th Century, making it a useful tool for students looking at topics from America’s first century of independence.
Liberty Magazine Historical Archive: 1924-1950
Liberty flourished when illustrated magazines were the most important form of mass entertainment. This digital collection provides a unique opportunity to view Liberty and how it charted the moods, attitudes, lifestyles, fads, and fortunes of middle class America through its three most significant decades.
Historical Newspapers Edited by Frederick Douglass
This online collection presents newspapers edited by Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the African American abolitionist who escaped slavery and became one of the most famous orators, authors, and journalists of the 19th century.

Specific Sources from the Library

The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers : The Human Rights Years, 1945-1948, 2007
This series is also available in the library at 973.917/ROO

Crime and Punishment : Essential Primary Sources
Companion to print Encyclopedia in the library at 364/CRI

Gender Issues and Sexuality : Essential Primary Sources
Companion to print Encyclopedia in the library 306.76/GEN

Social Policy : Essential Primary Sources
Companion to print Encyclopedia in the library 320.609/SOC

Other Primary Source Resources

American Decades Primary Sources
This database includes material in various mediums. This series is also available in the library at 973.9/AME

Annals of American History

Smithsonian Collections Online
Search the Smithsonian’s publication archive.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Click on the "Primary Sources" tab at the top to browse their selection. (The collection is searchable by clicking the "Search the Collection" option at the left.)
Calisphere
The University of California's gateway to more than 200,000 digitized items reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history.
American Memory from the Library of Congress
American Memory provides text and images of the original pages for many documents, photographs and prints, films, sound recordings, and other resources.
Digital Public Library of America
Primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators.

Speeches and other documents

Internet Archive
Find footage from public television news shows.

Oral Histories

7 Billion Others
This collection of over 6,000 short testimonies from 64 countries is searchable by country or topic.

Regional Oral History Office
This youtube channel offers select videos from the UC Berkeley Regional Oral History Office interviews spanning many subject areas. Their full collection of transcripts can be found on their website.

Telling Their Stories
Read, watch, and listen to Urban student interviews of elder who witnessed key historic events of the 20th century.

Need More?

The Internet is full of primary source materials. The problem is that it can be difficult to know where to start. Begin by asking yourself what kind of information you would like: a speech, an article, a photograph, a painting, a TV show, a map or a piece of music? This can help you determine where to fnd the primary source.

If the sites listed above didn't lead you to excellent primary source material, ask the librarian for help!