LibGuides: RCAH 112 (Paula): Primary Sources

What Is A Primary Source?

An online tutorial about different types of primary sources

Finding Primary Sources

Browse Primary Sources by subject

Other Places To Try

ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Includes the full text of:
Atlanta Daily World (1931-2010)
Calgary Herald (1883-2010)
Chicago Defender (1909-2010)
Chicago Tribune (1849-2013)
Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953)
Cleveland Call and Post (1934-2010)
Communist Historical Newspaper Collection (1919-2013)
Detroit Free Press (1831-1922)
Indianapolis Star (1903-2004)
Le Monde (1944-2000)
Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals (1845-2015)
Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2010)
Los Angeles Times (1881-2014)
Louisville Courier Journal (1830-1922) (1830-1922)
Louisville Defender (1951-2010)
Michigan Chronicle (1939-2010)
Minneapolis Star Tribune (1867-2001)
Montreal Gazette (1785-2010)
New York Amsterdam News (1922-2010)
New York Tribune / Herald Tribune (1841-1962)
Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2010)
Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2010)
Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2010)
San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922)
South China Morning Post (1903-2001)
St. Louis Post Dispatch (1874-2003)
The American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (1857-1922)
The American Israelite (1854-2000)
The Atlanta Constitution (1868-1984)
The Austin American Statesman (1871-1980)
The Baltimore Afro-American (1893-2010)
The Baltimore Sun (1837-1997)
The Boston Globe (1872-1991)
The Christian Science Monitor (1908-2009)
The Cincinnati Enquirer (1841-1922) (1841-1922)
The Globe and Mail (1844-2019)
The Guardian and The Observer (1791-2003)
The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times (1859-2021)
The Jerusalem Post (1932-2008)
The Jewish Advocate (1905-1990)
The Jewish Exponent (1887-1990)
The Korea Times (1956-2016)
The Nashville Tennessean
The New York Times (1851-2019)
The Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-2001)
The Province (1894-2010)
The Scotsman (1817-1950)
The Times of India (1838-2010)
The Wall Street Journal (1889-2011)
The Washington Post (1877-2006)
Toronto Star (1894-2020)
U.S. Midwest Collection

Finally, it contains these aggregations: "Ethnic NewsWatch" (1959-present) and "ProQuest Civil War Era" (selected newspapers and pamphlets from 1850-1870).

Women and Social Movements
Full text of important documents pertaining to the history of women's movements in the US.
Gerritsen Collection
Full-text books and documents relating to history of women's movement in the US.
Jazz Music Library
Streaming music.
Black Thought and Culture
Important documents relating to the history of black thought and culture in US history.
Black Studies Center
Combines primary and secondary sources, so think carefully about which you are seeking.

ProQuest History Vault. Black Freedom Struggles in the 20th Century, Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Pt. 2 This link opens in a new window
This Black Freedom module is highlighted by the records of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Africa-related papers of Claude Barnett, and the Robert F. Williams Papers. SNCC, formed by student activists in 1960 after the explosion of the sit-in movement, was one of the three most important civil rights organizations of the 1960s, alongside SCLC and the NAACP. With the addition of SNCC records, History Vault now includes SNCC, SCLC, and NAACP records. Rounding out this module are the papers of Chicago Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell, the Chicago chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, and records pertaining to the Mississippi Freedom Summer.

American Memory Project
Rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States - more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
MSU American Radicalism Collection - Digital Images
The American Radicalism Collection holds over 17,000 items. It includes books, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, and ephemeral material some of which are reporoduced here in digital form. The material covers a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, and economic issues in America. The emphasis in the collection is on materials produced by radical groups - both left and right.

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Cross-searchable portal for streaming video collections from Alexander Street Press.
Kanopy Films This link opens in a new window
Watch over 30,000 Documentaries, Classic and Indie Films.
Music Online: American Music This link opens in a new window
American Song is a history database that will contain 50,000 tracks that allows people to hear and feel the music from America's past. The database will include songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys. Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests, and more. This release includes 728 albums -- more than 12,103 tracks.
Black Studies in Video This link opens in a new window
Black Studies in Video is a signature Alexander Street Press collection featuring award-winning documentaries, newsreels, interviews and archival footage surveying the evolution of black culture in the United States.

In partnership with California Newsreel, the database provides unique access to their African American Classics collection, and includes films covering history, politics, art and culture, family structure, social and economic pressures, and gender relations.
LGBT Studies in Video This link opens in a new window
This interdisciplinary online video collection (Parts 1 and 2) includes more than 500 titles focusing on the cultural, social, and political impact of the LBGTQ experience from the twentieth century to the present.
LGBT Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
LGBT Thought and Culture is an online resource hosting books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements throughout the twentieth century and into the present day. The collection illuminates the lives of lesbians, gays, transgender, and bisexual individuals and the community with content including selections from The National Archives in Kew, materials collected by activist and publisher Tracy Baim from the mid-1980s through the mid-2000s, the Magnus Hirschfeld and Harry Benjamin collections from the Kinsey Institute, periodicals such as En la Vida and BLACKlines, select rare works from notable LGBT publishers including Alyson Books and Cleis Press, as well as mainstream trade and university publishers.
Archives Unbound Collections This link opens in a new window
African America, Communists, and the National Negro Congress 1933-1947

The American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism

The Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle

Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)

Confederate Newspapers: A Collection from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama

Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman

FBI File: Assassination of Martin Luther King, JR.

FBI File on John L. Lewis

Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s

Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984

Federal Surveillance of the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño

Feminism in Cuba, 1898-1958

Final Accountability Rosters of Japanese-American Relocation Centers, 1944-1946

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Race Relations, 1933-1945

Global War on Terrorism

Grassroots Civil Rights & Social Activism: FBI Files on Benjamin J. Davis, Jr.

Grassroots Civil Rights and Social Action: Council for Social Action

La Guerra Espanola (The Spanish Civil War)

Holocaust Studies collections

The Homophile Movement: Papers of Donald Stewart Lucas, 1941-1976

International Climatic Changes and Global Warming

The International Women's Movement: The Pan Pacific/Southeast Asia Women's Association, 1950-1985

International Women’s Periodicals, 1786-1933: Social and Political Issues

Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life

Liberation Movement in Africa and African America

Minority Voter, Election of 1936 and the Good Neighbor League

National Farm Worker Ministry: Mobilizing Support for Migrant Workers, 1939-1985

The Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement

Personal Justice Denied: Public Hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment, 1981

Politics, Social Activism, and Community Support: Selected Gay and Lesbian Periodicals and Newsletters

Public Housing, Racial Policies, and Civil Rights

Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Enforcement of Federal Law in the South

Reporting on the Coal Industry

Republic of New Afrika

Revolution in Honduras and American Business: The Quintessential "Banana Republic"

Sunday School Movement and Its Curriculum

Tiananmen Square and U.S. - China Relations, 1989-1993

War of 1812: Diplomacy on the High Seas

War on Poverty and the Office of Economic Opportunity

"We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death": Freedom Riders in the South, 1961
Political Extremism and Radicalism in the 20th Century This link opens in a new window
Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century is a compilation of rare and unique archival collections covering a wide range of fringe political movements. It has been sourced from distinguished libraries and archives across the world but also premiers some previously hidden treasure troves.

Includes content from MSU's American Radicalism Collection, among many other sources.

MSU Libraries

Course Guides

RCAH 112 (Paula)

What Is A Primary Source?

Finding Primary Sources

Other Places To Try