LibGuides: Welcome to Urban's Library!: Newspapers & Primary Sources

Newspapers

Historical Newspapers
Historical Newspapers in Proquest gives you access to the archives of many newspapers going back over 200 years. Access by selecting Historical Newspapers under Source Type.
San Francisco Chronicle
Username: BYI
Password: UrbanBlues
Proquest
Search many full-text journal, magazine and newspaper articles in one place.
Gale NewsVault

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.
The 19th News
The 19th is an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting at the intersection of gender, politics and policy.
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.
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.
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.
New York Times
We have schoolwide access to NYTimes.com. To activate, please follow the link.

Other Primary Source Resources

Black Freedom Struggle
Find historical newspaper articles, pamphlets, diaries, correspondence and more from specific periods in U.S. history marked by the opposition African Americans have faced on the road to freedom.
U.S. History in Context
World History in Context

American Decades Primary Sources
This database includes material in various mediums. This series is also available in the library at 973.9/AME
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.
Umbra
Umbra Search African American History makes African American history more broadly accessible through a freely available search tool; digitization of African American materials across University of Minnesota collections including primary sources!
Digital Public Library of America
Primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators.

Oral Histories

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 elders who witnessed key historic events of the 20th century.

HistoryMakers, The

Use your SFPL card to access the largest oral history collection documenting the Black experience in the United States. The nationally acclaimed digital archive features clips, images, and transcripts for the stories of thousands of prominent African Americans.

Need More?

The Internet is full of primary source materials. 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 find the primary source. Add your desired source type as an additional keyword when searching. For instance: "Katherine Johnson" NASA speech

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

Welcome to Urban's Library!

Specific Sources from the Library

Speeches and other documents

Newspapers

Other Primary Source Resources

Oral Histories

HistoryMakers, The