Research Guides: American Studies: 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

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.
African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Ancient and Medieval Worlds to present. Materials available include topical articles, biographies, primary source documents, timelines, maps, and images in addition to articles from several reference titles... more.
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.
Archives Unbound: Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle This link opens in a new window
1970-1981. Search documents about the Black Liberation Army made up primarily of Black Panthers who waged an armed struggle consisting of robberies, bombings, and prison breaks....more.
Archives Unbound: Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s This link opens in a new window
1956-1971. Find diverse views on political, social, cultural, and economic issues through documents on internal organization, personnel, and activities of many prominent American radical movements of the 1960s.....more
Archives Unbound: Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984 This link opens in a new window
From the FBI Library, this collection contains documents regarding the Justice Department and its Federal Bureau of Investigation's widespread investigation into people and groups thought to be politically suspect....more
Archives Unbound: International Women's Periodicals, 1786-1933: Social and Political Issues This link opens in a new window
This collection consists of women's periodicals with articles about the lives and roles of women in society during the push for suffrage, fair pay, and better working conditions in the U.S. and England....more.
Archives Unbound: Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement This link opens in a new window
1913-1998. Search organizational records, print publications, and over 100 articles, poems, plays, and speeches by Baraka, collected by Dr. Komozi Woodard....more.
Archives Unbound: Republic of New Afrika This link opens in a new window
1968-1980. Search or browse materials documenting The Republic of New Afrika (RNA), whose main objectives were to create an independent Black majority country and get reparations for injustices suffered by African Americans....more.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
1600-1925. Platform that allows cross-searching of Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, The Times Digital Archive, Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926, The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926, The Economist Historical Archive: 1843-2014, and Archives Unbound....more.
NAACP Papers This link opens in a new window
1909-1972. Search this digitized collection from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) containing internal memos, legal briefings, letters, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country... more.
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).
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.

American Decades: Primary Sources, 1900-1999
Each volume includes approximately 165 full-text or excerpted historical documents from the period representing a diversity of views that provide insight into the seminal issues, themes, movements and events from the decade.
American Decades Primary Sources, 2000-2009
Covers the first decade of the twenty-first century.

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.