Types of Primary Sources
- Autobiography--use the library catalog to search your person as the AUTHOR.
- Diaries/Journals--use the library catalog to search your person as the AUTHOR.
- Letters--use the library catalog to search your person as the AUTHOR.
- Speeches--use the library catalog to search your person as the AUTHOR.
- Government Documents
- Magazines/Newspaper Articles--use the Magazines and Newspapers Tab on the research guide
- Manuscripts
- Treaties--Likely in a Reference Source
Primary Sources in the Catalog
1. Choose KEYWORD search for your topic and the type of primary source.
For example: Kennedy, John F. and letters
2. Choose AUTHOR search for items written by your topic.
For example: Kennedy, John F.
Primary Sources in Library Databases
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History Databases CenterType a word or phrase in the search box. Click Go. From the results page, select the "Primary Sources" tab to view the documents.
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Salem HistoryType a word or phrase in the search box. Click Search Now. The results will appear in the box on the right. Select the "Primary Sources" tab to view the documents.
Primary Sources in Reference Books
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100 Key Documents in American Democracy
Call Number: R 973 O583 -
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The Cold War Presidency
Call Number: R 973.92 L2855 c -
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Greenwood Library of American War Reporting
Call Number: R 973 G8165 -
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Milestone Documents in American History
Call Number: R 973 M643 -
Milestone Documents of American Leaders
Call Number: R 973 M6434 -
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Vietnam War: Primary Sources
Call Number: R 959.7043 H6555 vi
Internet Primary Sources
Avalon Project--Yale Law School--Primary sources documents in law, history, and diplomacy.
Cold War International History Project – Wilson Center – Materials related to the Cold War from both Eastern and Western perspectives, including biographies, pamphlets, conference proceedings, legal documents, and other primary source materials.
Digital Public Library - "DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States." The DPLA portal allows you to search digital collections from institutions and organizations such as Hathi Trust, Internet Archive, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, Boston Public Library and more.
HathiTrust - HathiTrust is a partnership of academic libraries and research institutions that have come together to build and share a digital repository of print works. The HathiTrust Digital Library has "more than 10 million volumes, making it one of the largest research library collections in the world. Over 3 million of these volumes are in the public domain and fully viewable online."
Internet Archive - The Internet Archive hosts one of the largest collections of freely available digital content on the Web and includes digitized print books, audio files, moving images and, by means of the Wayback Machine, cached copies of websites.
Internet History Sourcebook--Fordham University--a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly for educational use. Primary sources are available mainly for use in high-school and university/college courses.
The Wars for Viet Nam: 1945 to 1975 – Vassar College – An overview of the war and numerous official documents.