LibGuides: HIST2540: Family History: Finding Primary Sources

Finding Primary Sources

Your research paper will include the use of primary sources. There are a wide variety of such sources, both published and unpublished, and this section will point you to some resources you can use to locate them.

While it may be necessary to conduct searches in catalogs, databases, and the web, you should not underestimate the enormous value of your secondary sources in providing you with guidance in identifying useful primary sources. Always check the notes and bibliographies of the books and articles you are using for your project, as these can be enormous time-savers.

Archives and Manuscript Collections

Primary Source Documents on Immigrants from "American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940"
Almost 300 documents from a collection of life histories "compiled and transcribed by more than 300 writers from 24 states, working on the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program that was part of the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936 to 1940. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents vary in form from narratives to dialogues to reports to case histories."

Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States / United States. National Historical Publications and Records Commission. - 2nd ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1988. - National Historical Publications and Records Commission.; Includes index. - Call Number: REF CD3020.D49: Holdings data on 4,560 archival and manuscript repositories in the nation. Despite its age, still useful as a tool for planning research trips. [Choice]
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): "NARA is an independent Federal agency that helps preserve U.S. history by overseeing the management of all Federal records." NARA is currently undertaking a number of major digitization projects, including the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), an online searchable database containing information about some of NARA's holdings across the country. NARA has already digitized copies of its most popular and significant manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings, maps, drawings and other documents. Approximately 124,000 digital copies are available for researchers to view online through ARC, and the items can be searched by title, subject, or other keywords.
http://www.archives.gov/
Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States / United States. National Archives and Records Administration, Robert B. Matchette, Jan Shelton Danis, and United States. National Archives and Records Administration. - Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995. - compiled by Robert B. Matchette with Anne B. Eales ... [et al.].; 3 v. ; 29 cm; "Supersedes both the 1974 edition and the 1987 reprint. It includes descriptions of federal records in the National Archives of the United States as of September 1, 1994"--Introd.; Rev. ed. of: Guide to the National Archives and Records Administration. 1987.; v. 1. Record groups 1-170 -- v. 2. Record groups 171-515 -- v. 3. Index / compiled by Jan Shelton Danis. - Call Number: REF CD3026: This major reference work provides an introduction to more than 1.7 million cubic feet of textual records, 300,000 rolls of microfilm, 2.3 million maps and charts, 9.2 million aerial photographs, 7.4 million still pictures, 178,000 sound recordings, 123,000 motion picture reels, and 7,000 computer data sets located in National Archives depositories in Washington; College Park, MD; regional branches; presidential libraries; and affiliated archives. It describes NARA's holdings as of September 1, 1994. The Guide is organized into descriptions of nearly 500 record groups, some dating from the prefederal period, that document the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Separately published finding aids noted in some record group descriptions supplement Guide entries. The third volume is a comprehensive index. [Choice]
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC): NUCMC is a free-of-charge cooperative cataloging program operated by the Library of Congress. The purpose of NUCMC is to make available in one database the contents of archival and manuscript collections in research libraries, museums, state archives, and historical societies located throughout North America. From 1959 to 1993, the contents of NUCMC were published in print volumes. Since 1986, bibliographic records created for NUCMC have been made available in electronic format and can now be searched using this database. An important resource for U.S. history.
http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/

Newspapers and Other Periodicals

American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection, 1684-1912
This database provides full-text access to over 7,500 historic periodicals published between 1684 and 1912, digitized from the extensive collections of the American Antiquarian Society, a major research library of pre-twentieth century American history and culture. The periodicals cover a vast array of subjects, including agriculture, applied science and technology, art and literature, business, education, music, politics, religion, and women's studies, and they offer students and faculty broad access to unique source material for research into American history and culture prior to the twentieth century. The database contains scanned page images of the original periodicals, and it supports the bookmarking and annotation of individual documents with a personal account, the export of documents to PDF format, and the ability to create direct links to specific documents.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Chronicling America is a web site providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program. Included in the site is a full-text database providing access to almost 15 million pages from 436 U.S. newspapers published between 1836 and 1963. The project continues to add content on a regular basis.
Making of America (at the University of Michigan)
Making of America (MoA) at the University of Michigan is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
Making of America (Cornell University collection at the Hathi Trust)
The Cornell University Library Making of America Collection is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.
U.S. Major Daily Newspapers
Full-text access to the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal, 1980-Present.

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective, 1890-1982
Access to citations from over 3 million articles from approximately 375 leading magazines spanning the period from 1890 to 1982. Includes articles from the most widely read popular periodicals of the day, journals of news and opinion, and a selection of research publications. [1890 - 1982]

The Unz Review: An Alternative Media Selection
Large full-text archive of digitized periodicals includes substantial content from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The interface is somewhat complicated, as it combines searching and "filtering" options, but the content is substantial.

Web-Based Digital Sources

American Immigration Council
The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. Through research and analysis, the Council promotes the development of fair and rational immigration policies that reflect fundamental American values. It produces a number of publications covering a wide variety of immigration topics and these are accessible from its web site. One example is the five-page Immigrants in New Jersey fact sheet.
Center for Immigrants' Rights Clinic (Penn State Law School)
Penn State Law School's Center for Immigrants' Rights Clinic produces a number of publications, including policy reports, community and educational presentations, and legal practitioner toolkits, available from its web site.
Institute for Immigration Research (George Mason University)
The Institute for Immigration Research (IIR) is a multidisciplinary research institute at George Mason University. The IIR’s mission is to inform and refocus the immigration conversation among academics, policymakers, and the public — including the business community and the media — by producing and disseminating valid, reliable, and objective multidisciplinary academic research related to immigrants and immigration to the United States. Its publications cover a wide variety of immigration topics.
Migration Policy Institute
The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute seeks to improve immigration and integration policies through authoritative research and analysis, opportunities for learning and dialogue, and the development of new ideas to address complex policy questions. It provides accessible and timely data, information, and analysis on immigration and integration issues that cover the major issues on which policymakers and the general public need information. It also pursues research that fills major gaps of understanding around migration flows and immigration and integration policy.
The New Americans
Companion site to a documentary program "is divided into three primary areas where visitors can meet the immigrant and refugee families profiled in the program, learn about their diverse cultural traditions, and take a quiz on the myths and realities of immigration and its effects on American society. The section where visitors can learn about the diverse families profiled (such as the Ogoni family from Nigeria) is quite nice, and visitors can also find out how they are doing currently. The additional features on the site include resources for educators, a place for visitors to offer their own comments on the program, and a topically organized section of additional online resources on the experiences of immigrants and refugees in the United States." [Internet Scout Project]
Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
"Created as part of the Open Collections Program at Harvard University, this online archive includes over 400,000 pages from more than 2,200 books, pamphlets, and serials; over 9,600 pages from manuscript and archival collections; and more than 7,800 photographs. By incorporating diaries, biographies, and other writings capturing diverse experiences, the collected material provides a window into the lives of ordinary immigrants. The collection also includes contextual information on voluntary immigration and quantitative data."
The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
"This well-developed collection tells the story of Chinese immigration to California in the late 19th and early 20th century through approximately 8,000 images and pages of primary source materials. This fine brocade of ephemera includes letters, business records, legal documents, cartoons, photographs, and original art. These materials cover everything from family life to inter-ethnic tensions. San Francisco's Chinatown is the subject of special attention as well. First-time visitors should consider the Topical Overview area, which features galleries and essays such as 'Anti-Chinese Movements and Chinese Exclusion' and 'San Francisco's Chinatown-Business and Politics.' Additionally, visitors can browse the materials by subject, name, title, group, or theme. [Internet Scout Project]
Bracero History Archive
The Bracero History Archive collects and makes available the oral histories and artifacts pertaining to the Bracero program, a guest worker initiative that spanned the years 1942-1964. Millions of Mexican agricultural workers crossed the border under the program to work in more than half of the states in America. The archive currently contains over 3,200 items, including images, documents, oral histories, and other materials.
Minnesota Immigrant Oral Histories
"Immigrant Oral Histories presents a collection of over 360 oral history interviews conducted between 1967 and 2012 with recent immigrants to Minnesota and their American-born children, including both streaming audio and written transcripts accessible online in digital formats. These interviews are a unique source of contemporary history through the experiences of the newest Americans, in their own words. New oral history projects will continue to be added to this site as they are completed."
Immigration History Research Center Archives (University of Minnesota)
"The Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA, or IHRC Archives) is a renowned archives and library for the study of immigration, ethnicity, and race. It selects sources documenting a broad range of immigrant and refugee experiences, and strives to connect history to today’s experiences. It works closely with the Immigration History Research Center, and is part of the Migration and Social Services Collections in Archives and Special Collections (ASC) in the University of Minnesota Libraries. The collections' strengths are first and second generation immigrants and displaced persons who came to the USA from central, eastern, and southern Europe; the eastern Mediterranean (formerly called the “Near East” region of the Middle East and North Africa); and late-20th and early 21st century immigrants and refugees. The collections vary from print to manuscript to born-digital. They include personal papers as well as organizational records of ethnic and immigrant-formed groups, and of social service providers."
Arab Immigration Oral History Digital Collection (University of Florida)
"The Arab Immigration Oral History Digital Collection project aims to make available through Oral History interviews the life and professional experiences of Arab immigrants who have settled in Florida after leaving their homelands. The interviews are recorded digitally in Arabic and English and are also transcribed into English and available as PDFs. The collection is intended to help scholars, researchers, students and the general public to understand the reasons why certain Arabs immigrate to Florida. These interviews reveal specific life and professional experiences these immigrants have had and how they have created a new home for themselves in Florida."
Immigration and Citizenship in the United States, 1865-1924
This collection explores the subject of immigration in U.S. history with particular attention to the two and a half decades from 1890 to the start of World War I. The documents here approach the history of immigration and citizenship from several different angles: national and personal identity, the experience of immigration, immigrant life in the cities, and political debates over immigration.
Digital Public Library of America
DPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of the materials found through DPLA—photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and so much more—are free and immediately available in digital format.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
The Library of Congress' ongoing digitization projects now include over 340 different collections covering a wide array of of historical and other topics. All collections can be searched or browsed.

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