Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Sources in Library Databases

Historical Periodical Databases

ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search across the following historical newspapers at one time: Chicago Defender (July 1909-1975), Chicago Tribune (1849-1996), Kansas City Call (1919-2010), Los Angeles Times (1881-2014), The New York Times (1851-2016) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1874-2003)....more.
19th Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
19th Century newspapers from cities and rural areas throughout the United States... more.
Periodicals Index Online This link opens in a new window
1665-2005. Provides indexing for magazines and journals back to 1665. This database pairs with Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) for its available full text in the social sciences and humanities....more.
AAS Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides digital access to 50 thematic series of American magazines and journals published between 1684 and 1912 and collected by the American Antiquarian Society...more.

Other Primary Source Collections

ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new window
Provides access to millions of primary source, full-text/full-image documents on the most widely studied topics in 19th and 20th-century American history. Includes sources related to slavery, civil rights (NAACP papers), women's rights, labor, international relations and military conflicts, Latinx history, and American politics and the Catholic church (John A Ryan papers).
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
1600-1925. Search platform that allows searching Nineteenth Collections Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926, The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926, The Economist Historical Archive (1843-2011), The Times Digital Archive (1785-1985), and 19th Century U.S. Newspapers at the same time.
Archives Unbound: All Subscribed Collections This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound consists of discrete, topically-focused digital collections of historical documents. SLU collections include: Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s, Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984, Holocaust and the Concentration Camp Trials: Prosecution of Nazi War Crimes, International Women’s Periodicals, 1786-1933: Social and Political Issues,
The Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle,
The Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement
African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Materials available include topical articles, biographies, primary source documents, timelines, maps, and images.
American Slavery Collection, 1820-1922 This link opens in a new window
This digital collection from the holdings of the American Antiquarian Society contains primary source American slavery and abolition materials in the form of over 3,500 printed books, pamphlets, graphics, and ephemera in full color....more.
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
This database brings together diverse primary source materials reflecting broad views across American history and culture from the 1700s and 1800s. Content includes newspapers, magazines, books, and county histories such as African American Newspapers, Godey’s Lady Book, and the Pennsylvania Gazette. Search across all content or select one of the collections....more.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new window
This HeinOnline collection contains legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. It includes "every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery."....more.

Congressional Documents

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
1789-present. Congressional materials indexed (including selected full text) include U.S. legislative information such as congressional hearings, committee prints and reports, the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, American State Papers, Congressional Research Services (CRS) Reports and more. Full text of selected Executive Branch Documents (from 1789-1948) are also included. Full text of all Congressional Hearings and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set is included.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new window
This digital version of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set contains U.S. Senate and House of Representatives reports, documents, and journals published between 1817 and 1994 (15th through 103rd Congresses).
American State Papers This link opens in a new window
A full-text compilation of U.S. legislative and executive documents 1789-1838. Predecessor to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set.
ProQuest Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive legislative histories for most laws from 1929-2016, and selected earlier laws. Each legislative history includes the full-text of all documents created during the lawmaking process such as committee hearings and reports, excerpts from the Congressional Record, all version of the bill, and the final public law.
LLMC Digital This link opens in a new window
Courtesy of the Law Library, LLMC Digital Collections consist of digitized law materials from the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Branches of the U.S. government, military law, some state law, and some common law abroad. This collection will continue to grow in breadth and depth as more law and other materials in the public domain are digitized.

Research Tip

When searching primary source library databases, make sure you're searching for keywords and phrases that were used during the time period you're researching.