Research and Course Guides: HIST 207 Slavery in the Americas: Find Primary Sources

Find Primary Sources in Books

Search LibrarySearch to find primary sources in books and ebooks. When searching the catalog, you will want to use specific words in your searches to single out the primary source materials. Using the keywords like the following will help you find the source material you seek.

correspondence
diary or diaries
documents
documentary history
interviews
literary collections
oral history
personal narratives
pictorial works
songs and music
sources (search as a SUBJECT)
memoirs
reader
sermons

Find Period Books, Newspaper Articles and Other Printed Works

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, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new window
The Evans, Early American Imprint collection is a searchable full-image primary source collection which 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.
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.
Civil War Era This link opens in a new window
This database of Civil War materials provides you access to nearly 2,000 pamphlets and all articles from eight newspaper titles (3 from the North, 3 from the South and 2 from border states) dating from 1840 to 1865.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Find Period Images

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.

Find Primary Sources on the Web

Slave Voyages
The Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American slave trade databases are the culmination of several decades of independent and collaborative research by scholars drawing upon data in libraries and archives around the Atlantic world.
Slavery Images
A digital archive for hundreds of historical images, paintings, lithographs, and photographs illustrating enslaved Africans and their descendants before c. 1900.
Enslaved : Peoples of the Historic Slave Trade
750,000 records of People, Events, Places, and Sources that span slavery in North and South America, Africa, and Western Europe, from the early fifteenth century to final slave emancipation in Brazil, in 1888.
Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America is a searchable portal to a vast array digital collections.

Head of Special Collections & University Archivist | Special Collections & University Archives

Ann Kenne

(she/her)

Email Me

Contact:

O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library | LL09
2115 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105-1086

(651) 962 - 5461

Subjects: History, Irish Studies