Looking for primary sources?
Even if you're an experienced researcher, searching for primary sources online can be quite different than other types of information. If you get stuck, please don't hesitate to ask for help!
General Tips
- If you can't find what you're looking in the resources linked on this page, don't worry! Try searching for your topic on Google with the words digital collection.
- Often, larger institutions who provide significant digitized resources will include a "resources for educators" or "information for teachers" section of their website.
- Digitizing collections is an expensive and time-consuming process for archivists. This may limit the amount of sources available on your specific topic. Try brainstorming more general areas and searching for those. For example, if you're searching for digitized photographs of one specific town, try broadening your search to the entire state.
- Credo Reference via NC LIVE This link opens in a new windowCredo is a database of background (secondary source) content, including historical and biographical information.
Digital Archival Collections
- DocsTeachDocsTeach is a provided by the National Archives education division and includes primary source documents and information for educators.
- Library of Congress - Teacher ProgramThe Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching.
- Educator Resources - National Archives"Educator Resources" page provided by the National Archives of the United States
- Smithsonian Institution - Learning LabThe Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology created the Smithsonian Learning Lab to inspire the discovery and creative use of its rich digital materials—millions of images, recordings, and texts. Includes curated collection sets.
- BlackPast Links to Digital CollectionsLinks to major digitized archival collections in African American history, sorted by state.
- CalisphereOver 1,675,000 digitized images, texts, and recordings from California libraries
- Digital Public Library of AmericaDiscover 45,130,539 images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States.
- New York Public Library Digital CollectionsDigital collections from the New York Public Library with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
- Internet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a digital library of Internet sites, images, books, videos, audio recordings, and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
Primary Source Databases
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to historical coverage of scholarly journals in a wide range of disciplines. Coverage goes back to the first issue (some as far back as the 1800s), but does not include the most recent issues (usually last 3-5 years).
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowGale Primary Sources cross-searches three digital archives: The Times Digital Archives, Slavery and Anti-Slavery, and 19th U.S. Century Newspapers. Use this source as a powerful search engine for finding historical newspapers and documents.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
HathiTrust is a collaborative of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of over 17 million titles digitized from libraries around the world.
- News & Newspapers in ProQuest This link opens in a new window
In addition to prominent and respected titles like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Financial Times, and others, News & Newspapers also offers curated regional, specialty and international news titles and collections for a wide spectrum of viewpoints and counterviewpoints over time.
- North American Women's Letters and Diaries via NC LIVE This link opens in a new windowA collection of women's writings from the Colonial period to 1950, in 150,000 pages of diaries and letters. The collection also contains biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database. Includes writings by Abigail Adams, Louisa May Alcott, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Dorothea L. Dix, Julia Ward Howe, and more.
- North Carolina Newspapers via NC LIVE This link opens in a new window
North Carolina newspapers spanning 1751-2018.
- Sanborn Maps of North Carolina via Library of Congress This link opens in a new windowA searchable database of the fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Library of Congress. The Sanborn maps are arranged by state, then city and release data. Currently there are over 25,000 sheets from over 3000 city sets online.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new windowConsists of more than five million cross-searchable pages sourced from books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, legal documents, court records, monographs, manuscripts, and maps from many different countries. The content covers a wide spectrum of issues related to the issue of slavery.
HPU Archives
- High Point University Archives - Digital Collections
The High Point University Digital Archives are an evolving collection of digitized photographs, videos, student publications, campus histories and other artifacts highlighting the history of the university.
Digital Archival Collections - Local to NC
- DigitalNC from the Digital Heritage CenterThe Digital Heritage Center works with cultural heritage institutions across North Carolina to digitize and publish historical materials online.
- Documenting the American South (DocSouth)Primary resources for the study of southern history, literature, and culture.
- Duke University Digital CollectionsDigitized historic photographs, advertisements, texts & more from Duke's unique library collections.
- Gateway from UNCGGateway is a collaborative platform that showcases digitized historical materials contrbuted by institutions, community groups, and individuals in the North Carolina Piedmont Triad Region.
- NC Digital CollectionsDigital collections of the State Archives of North Carolina and the State Library of North Carolina.
- UNC Digital CollectionsDigital collections of the UNC University Library, primarily focused on North Carolina, the American South, the experience of African Americans, the Civil War, and others.