U.S. History Primary Sources at UW Tacoma Library
- What are Primary Sources?
- General Sources
- Using the Library Catalog to find Primary Sources
- Databases available through UWT including Historic Newspapers
- African American History
- American Radicalism
- American Women's History
- Early American Newspapers
- Labor
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Congress
- Executive Branch
- Internet Sites
Primary sources include documents or artifacts created by a witness to or participant in an event. They can be firsthand testimony or evidence created during the time period that you are studying. Primary Sources may include diaries, letters, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music. The collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.
Many U.S. history primary resources are available at the UW Tacoma Library or through databases which can be accessed through the library home page. Additional information is also available through the UW Libraries Resources by Subject on the library home page, for example Government Publications and History.
To locate books written during a specific time period, published collections of correspondence, memoirs, etc, start with the UW Libraries Catalog. Below are a few examples (all available for checkout from the Tacoma Stacks):
- The Federalist Papers, KF4515. F4 1981
- Selected Writings and Speeches of Alexander Hamilton, E302 .H22 1985
- Documents of American Constitutional and Legal History, KF 4502 .D635 1986, v. 1-2
- The Papers of George Washington Presidential Series, E312.72 1987, v. 1-3
Using the UW Libraries Catalog to Find Primary Sources in US History
The UW Libraries has a strong collection of published primary sources dealing with American history. These include books written during the period, books written by participants (e.g. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography), published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs, and reprints of collections of primary source material. Most books are printed, some are microfilmed, and a few are available full-text online.
Use the following strategies in the UW Libraries Catalog to find books that can be considered primary sources:
- Search for books written by key participants and organizations.
- Do a keyword search and limit your search by publication date.
- Do a keyword search for your subject and add special terms that designate primary sources:
Terms for primary sources |
Example keyword searches |
sources |
states rights and sources |
personal narratives |
Burr and personal narratives |
diaries |
Madison and diaries |
journals |
Gorgas and journals |
correspondence |
etiquette and early works to 1800 |
letters |
women and suffrage and letters |
interviews |
civil rights and interviews |
church records and registers |
Methodist and church records |
early works to 1800 |
Jefferson and early works to 1800 |
wills |
testaments and wills |
probate records |
Boston and (probate records or wills) |
sermons |
Philadelphia and sermons |
Adapted from history web site by UW Seattle librarian Theresa Mudrock
Databases available through the UW Libraries
Below is a sampling of the databases which either contain primary sources or citations to resources that may be used as primary sources.
Type in the title of the resource on the Research Databases page.
American Periodicals Series Online (1740-1900)
Includes full-page images of 18th and 19th Century American magazines.
Early American Imprints (1639-1800)
Database of full-page images of more than 30,000 works published in America between 1639 and 1800; documents a broad spectrum of life in 17 th -and 18 th -century America , including literature, music, religion, foreign affairs, diplomacy, and much more.
Reader's Guide Retrospective - Citations to American magazine articles, 1890 to 1982
A database containing comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and reflects the history of 20th century America; covers 1890-1982
Historic Newspapers Online
The New York Times (1851-2003)
To access this resource search the library catalog using a journal search. Choose the first New York Times entry. Next, choose The New York Times electronic resource.
Times (London, England : 1788)
To access this resource search the library catalog using a journal search. Choose the first Times London England 1788 entry. Next, choose Times (London, England : 1788).
African American History Resources
Some examples of items available at UWT Library:
Microfilm
Manuscript Collections from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Guide to the Scholarly Resources Microfilm Edition
Index shelved on top of Tacoma Microfilm cabinet
Negro Labor Committee Record Group 1925-1969 Microfilm TAC 460
Crisis v.1-54 (November 1910-December 1975) Microfilm TAC-424
Books
The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. E185.97.K5 A2 1992 v.1 and v.2
Internet Sites
The Martin Luther King, Jr. papers project (Stanford)
Databases
New Crisis (newspaper of NAACP) 1997-2003 and Crisis 2003-present
Available online through the library catalog
LexisNexis Academic
Available through the Libraries Research Databases page. On the left- hand side under "Search for Other Information" choose "Primary Sources in U.S. History."
American Radicalism Collection
Some examples of items available at UWT Library:
Microfilm
From the holdings of the American Radicalism collection, Special Collections, Michigan State University Libraries.
Part 1: Leftist Politics and Anti-War Movements
Part 2: The Religious and Radical Right
Part 3: Race, Gender, and the Struggle for Justice and Equal Rights
Part 4: Twentieth-Century Social, Economic, and Environmental Movements
The Index guides are shelved on top of the Microfilm cabinets, Tacoma Microforms.
Books
Venceremos Brigade: young Americans sharing the life and work of revolutionary Cuba; diaries, letters, interviews, tapes, essays, poetry, by the Venceremos Brigade. F1788 .V44
Internet
Some information and digital images are available on online at:
Michigan State University Libraries American Radicalism Collection
American Women's History Primary Sources
Some examples of items available at UWT Library:
Microfilm
From the holdings of the American Radicalism collection, Special Collections, Michigan State University Libraries.
Part 1: Leftist Politics and Anti-War Movements
Part 2: The Religious and Radical Right
Part 3: Race, Gender, and the Struggle for Justice and Equal Rights
Part 4: Twentieth-Century Social, Economic, and Environmental Movements
The Index guides are shelved on top of the Microfilm cabinets, Tacoma Microforms.
Books
Women's voices, women's lives : documents in early American history
HQ1416 .W67 1998
Internet Sites
North Carolinians and the great war: the impact of World War I on the Tar Heel state
A digitization project that examines how World War I shaped the lives of different North Carolinians on the battlefield and on the home front as well how the state and federal government responded to war-time demands. The site focuses on the years of American involvement in the war between 1917 and 1919, but it also examines the legacies of the war in the 1920s. The site includes full texts and images of posters and artifacts.
Databases
LexisNexis Academic
Available through the Libraries Research Databases page. On the left- hand side under "Search for Other Information" choose "Primary Sources in U.S. History"
North American women's letters and diaries Colonial to 1950
Available through the Libraries Research Databases page. Full-text database of letters and diaries of women who lived in North America before 1950. Browsing and searching of both the bibliographic and full-text elements provided by PhiloLogic software
Early American Newspapers Microfilm at the UW Tacoma Library
1719-1798
Boston Gazette ( Boston , MA ), Dec 21, 1719- Sept 17, 1798 . Weekly. Microfilm TAC-452
1745-1839
Maryland Gazette (Md), Jan 17, 1745 - Dec 12, 1839 . Weekly. Microfilm TAC-458
1759-1767
Newport mercury ( Newport , R.I. : 1759) Jan. 24,1759-Dec. 28, 1767 Microfilm TAC-445
1764, 1778-1791
Connecticut courant ( Hartford , Conn. : 1764), 1764, 1778-1791 (Incomplete) Microfilm TAC-447
1768-1783
The New-York gazette; and the weekly mercury ( New York , NY ), Feb 1, 1768 - Nov 10, 1783 no.848-no.1673. Weekly.
Microfilm TAC-454
1773-1783
Rivington's New York Gazette & The Royal Gazette ( New York , NY ), Apr 22, 1773 - Dec 31, 1783 . Weekly. Microfilm TAC-455
1776
Independent chronicle ( Boston , Mass. : 1776) Sept. 19-Oct. 31, 1776 TAC-449
New-England chronicle ( Boston , Mass. ) Apr. 25-Sept. 12, 1776 Microfilm TAC-449
1782-1796
Independent Gazetteer (Philadelphia, Pa.) Jan. 11, 1794-Sept. 10, 1796 Microfilm TAC-442
1784-1791
American mercury ( Hartford , Conn. : 1784 : Weekly) July 1784-May 1791 Microfilm TAC-444
1785
New-York daily advertiser ( New York , N.Y. : 1785) May 16- July 14, 1785 ) Incomplete Microfilm TAC-451
1787-1788, 1791-1803
The city gazette, and the daily advertiser [microform] Charleston [S.C.] : Haswell & M'Iver, 1787-1803. Nov. 6, 1787-1788, 1791-1803 Incomplete Microfilm TAC-450
1787-1806
Daily advertiser ( New York , N.Y.: 1787) Oct. 17, 1787-Aug. 30, 1806 Microfilm TAC-451
1789-1836
Gazette of the United States ( Philadelphia , PA ), April 15, 1789 - Dec 1836. Semi-weekly. Microfilm TAC-457
1795-1805
The Otsego herald; or, Western advertiser, Cooperstown [N.Y.] : Elihu Phinney, 1795-1805 Apr. 3, 1795-Sept. 12, 1805 Microfilm TAC-446
1797-1799
The times and Alexandria, Alexandria, [Va.] Apr. 10, 1797-Apr. 16, 1799 Microfilm TAC-448
1808-1817
Western Express & Carthage Gazette ( Carthage , TN ), Sept 26, 1808 -1817 Smith County , Carthage , Tennessee . Weekly.
Microfilm TAC-453
1814-1820
Weekly Recorder ( Chillicothe , OH ), Jul 5, 1814 - Dec 27, 1820 . Weekly. This was a religious newspaper which was sponsored by the Western Education Society and the Auburn Theological Seminary. In addition to religious and missionary news, it included some poetry and music. Microfilm TAC-456
1820-1840
Independent chronicle & Boston patriot ( Boston , Mass. : Semiweekly) and Dec. 30, 1820- May 23, 1840 , Microfilm TAC-449
1856-1877
Farmer's cabinet ( Amherst , N.H. ) Jan. 3, 1856-Dec. 25, 1877 Microfilm TAC-443
Some examples of items available at UWT Library:
Microfilm
Papers of the NAACP
Supplement to Part 13: The NAACP and Labor 1956-1965
Microfilm TAC-434
Books
Sticking to the union : an oral history of the life and times of Julia Ruuttila by Sandy Polishuk HD8073.R88 P65 2003
Black workers remember : an oral history of segregation, unionism, and the freedom struggle by Michael Keith Honey HD8081.A65 H66 1999
The words of César Chávez edited by Richard J. Jensen
HD6509.C48 A25 2002
Internet Sites
The Triangle Factory Fire Presented by the Kheel Center at the Cornell University Library, in collaboration with UNITE!
Strikes!: labor and labor history in the Puget Sound "This presentation resulted from a collaborative campus-wide project in early 1999 at the University of Washington to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the Seattle General Strike of 1919 and the 65th anniversary of the Maritime Strikes of 1934."
Databases
Everett massacre collection
This collection, documenting labor's perspective of the 1916 Everett Massacre and its aftermath, currently holds 39 articles from the Seattle Union Record as well as 49 other items including pamphlets, fliers, hand- and typewritten works, postcards and a photograph.
Some examples of items available at UWT Library:
United States Supreme Court. United States Reports. Vol. 1-497, Sept 1754 - Sept 1990
United States Reports contain tables of cases reported, a table of statutes cited, and a topical index. They contain written opinions, per curiam decisions, orders, and chamber opinions. These are cases adjudged in the Supreme Court.
United States reports : cases adjudged in the Supreme Court at ... and rules announced at.
Available online at:
Supreme Court of the United States Bound Volumes
“The materials collected here contain not just opinions, but the full text, from cover through index, of bound volumes 502 et seq., including all of the opinions, orders, and other materials issued for the Court's 1991 Term and subsequent years. Caution: Only the printed bound volumes of the United States Reports contain the final, official opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States. In case of discrepancies between a bound volume and the materials included here--or any other version of the same materials, whether print or electronic, official or unofficial--the printed bound volume controls.”
Oyez
U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia
A program of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Search and View Full Text of Supreme Court Decisions
Issued between 1937 and 1975
Cases and Codes : Supreme Court Opinions
Some examples of items available at UWT Library:
Microfilm
Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1789-1824.
With an appendix, containing important state papers and public documents, and all the laws of a public nature/ compiled from authentic materials by Joseph Gales. Continued by “Register of debates in Congress.”
Filed alphabetically with journal microfilm. Microfilm TAC-245
Register of Debates in Congress. Washington: Gales & Seaton, 1825-1837. Comprising the leading debates and incidents of the second session of the 18th Congress; December 6, 1824, to the first session of the 25th Congress, October 16, 1837.
Contains an appendix with state papers, public documents, and laws enacted during the session. Index.
Filed alphabetically with journal microfilm. Microfilm TAC-244
Journals of the Continental Congress. United States. Continental Congress.
Vol. 1-34. 1774-1789. Edited from the original records in the Library of Congress.
Includes biographical references and indexes.
Filed under title in microfiche box. Microfiche TAC-4
United States Statues at Large (Stat.)
Vol. 86 - 104. 1972-1990 Includes Index.
Chronological arrangement of the “slip laws.” Included in these compilations are public and private laws, joint and concurrent resolutions, presidential proclamations, reorganization plans, and proposed amendments to the Constitution.
Filed alphabetically with journal microfilm. Microfilm TAC-113
Books
Documentary history of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. KF350 .D63 1972
The diary of William Maclay and other notes on Senate debates
KF350 .D63 1972 v.9
Internet sites
Congressional Directory 1887 – current
Published since 1888, the Congressional Directory presents short biographies of each member of the Senate and House, listed by state or district, and additional data, such as committee memberships, terms of service, administrative assistants and/or secretaries, and room and telephone numbers. It also lists officials of the courts, military establishments, and other Federal departments and agencies, including D.C. government officials, governors of states and territories, foreign diplomats, and members of the press, radio, and television galleries.
Databases
Lexis-Nexis Congressional
Available through the Libraries Research Databases page.
CQ.com on Congress. 1983 - current
Click on CQ Weekly, then Advanced Search for a range of years.
Legislative tracking and Capitol Hill
news service. Unique content includes CQ BillWatch (essay
style analysis back to 1995), CQ Schedules, and CQ
Archives. Access not available for every listed resource.
Some examples of items available at UWT Library:
Books
Selected Writings and Speeches of Alexander Hamilton, E302 .H22 1985
Thomas Jefferson's Selected Writings, E302 .J442 1987
The Mind of the Founder: Sources of Political Thought of James Madison, E302. M185 1981
The Adams Papers. Series III. General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesmen, E302. A275 1977, v. 1-8
The Papers of George Washington Presidential Series, E312.72 1987, v. 1-3
Internet Sites
The National Archives Presidential Libraries
Databases
The UW Libraries Government Publications--The Executive branch.
Internet Sites for Primary Resources
Developed by the Library of Congress, American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
A selection of history resource web sites created by UW librarians may contain links to primary sources.
THOMAS In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, legislative information from the Library of Congress
From the National Archives web site:
Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.
Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family's history, need to prove a veteran's military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you.
Checklist of what is available online through the National Archives web site.
