Research and Course Guides: HIST 228 Environmental History: Find Primary Sources

Find Primary Sources in Books

Search LibrarySearch to find primary sources in books and ebookss. When searching the catalog, you will want to use specific subject headings in your searches to single out the primary source materials. These subject headings are specialized "tag" added to the records to books by catalog librarians to provide accurate descriptions of books. Using the following words in your search will help you find the source material you seek:

correspondence	personal narratives
literary collections	pictorial works
diary or diaries	songs and music
sources	documents

Find Period Magazine and Newspaper Articles

The following full-text newspapers and periodicals may provide you with source documents:

British Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
With this database you have access to magazines, popular journals and other periodicals published in Great Britain dating from the from the late 1600s to World War II.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection This link opens in a new window
This database access to largest collection English news media from the 17th and 18th centuries. It includes more than 1,200 titles, including pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers.
British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
In this database you will find full-text content and images of 70 national, regional and local 19th century British newspapers including both liberal and conservative perspectives on the social and political developments of the times in which they were published.
The Times (London) Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to a searchable full-text facsimile of The Times (London), the world’s oldest continuously published newspaper, from 1785 –2019.
Sunday Times Digital Archive 1822-2021 This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to a searchable full-text facsimile of The Sunday Times (London) newspaper from 1822 to 2021.
Guardian and The Observer (Historical) This link opens in a new window
This database provides you access to the complete content of the British newspapers, The Guardian (1821 - 2003) and The Observer (1791- 2003) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Irish Times (Historical) This link opens in a new window
This database provides you access to the complete content of the Irish Times newspaper (1859-2012) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
With this database you have access to 1,500 magazines, newspapers and popular journal titles published in the United States dating 1741 through the 1930s.
New York Times (Historical) This link opens in a new window
This database provides you access to the complete content of The New York Times newspaper (1851 - 2008) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Washington Post (Historical) This link opens in a new window
This database provides you access to the complete content of Washington Post newspaper (1877 - 1997) including access to all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
In this database, you will find full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life.
ProQuest US Newsstream, including Star Tribune This link opens in a new window
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US Newsstream enables users to search current U.S. news content, as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. It features top newspapers, wires, broadcast transcripts, along with national and regional news sources including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Star Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Chicago Tribune.
Access World News This link opens in a new window
This database contains electronic editions of thousands of local, national and international newspapers, along with broadcast transcripts and college and university news. It also includes the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune.

Find Digitized Books and Goverment Documents

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Early English Books Online is searchable full-image primary source collection which features books, pamphlets, tracts and ephemera printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales in British North America as well as works published in English printed elsewhere between 1473 – 1700.
Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926 This link opens in a new window
Sabin Americana, 1500–1926 is digital archive of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean the from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s.
Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new window
The Early American Imprints collection is a searchable full-image primary source collection that features books, pamphlets, and ephemera documenting life in 17th- and 18th-century America. It includes materials relating to agriculture, foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, slavery, temperance, and witchcraft.

Hathi Trust Digital Library
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
Google Books
Google Books is a collection of digitized books and periodicals. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given its permission, the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.

Image Databases

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
A searchable database of more than 1 million images, covering many time periods, cultures and disciplines. Users can search, view and download images.