Primary Sources are immediate, first-hand accounts from people who were present or had a direct connection with an event or era. This guide provides entry points into collections or databases of primary sources.
Primary sources can include:
These are subscription databases of full-text primary sources provided by the MSU Library. Most require an MSU NetID login for use.
Titles representing American society between 1684 - 1912
American Indian life and culture in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Includes documents, images, maps, and timelines.
Magazines and journals chronicling the development of America (1740 - 1940)
Primary documents relating to the history of the American West
Full-text articles from magazines and journals published in Great Britain between 1600s and early 20th century
Primary source material from British archives on the study and analysis of gender, leisure, and consumer culture.
Primary sources on the UK and U.S. entertainment industry as it evolved over the 20th century
Archive of indexed publications related to the Americas and written in Europe between 1493 and 1750
Primary source material on both women's and men's issues circa 1800 - 1920
Primary source material about food and drink throughout history
British Foreign Office files dealing with Japan between 1919 and 1952
Cross-search Gale primary source collections
This database searches the following Gale collections:
Textual and visual primary source materials for the study of global commodities in world history
Search manuscript collections, rare books and monographs, newspapers, periodicals, census records, legal documents, maps, drawings and sketches, oral histories, and photos
History of the evolution of British and American tourism from 1850 - 1980
Primary sources from the 1800s mainly from Western perspectives
Primary documents related to the New World, Americas, and the Western World
Legal materials related to slavery in the United States before 1870
Explore domestic consumerism, life and leisure in America between 1850 - 1950
Primary source material relating to popular culture in America, Britain, and Europe from 1779 - 1930
History of women in social movements between 1600 - current
The library's subscription includes the following sub-collections:
World's Fairs collection materials including international diplomacy, correspondence, plans & design concepts, personal accounts, guidebooks, and contemporary ephemera
Digitized materials from the Smithsonian's vast collection related to U.S. history in the 19th and 20th century
The library has access to the following archival collections:
Most of these full-text newspaper databases are made available through MSU Library subscription and require an MSU NetID login for use. Some, such as Chronicling America, are free and open to the public.
Historical American newspapers published between 1690 and 1900
The library's subscription includes access to the following newspaper series:
Cross-search Gale primary source collections
This database searches the following Gale collections:
Search the world's first fully illustrated weekly newspaper
Search manuscript collections, rare books and monographs, newspapers, periodicals, census records, legal documents, maps, drawings and sketches, oral histories, and photos
Search digitized newspaper content in Montana newspapers dating from 1864 - 2018
Search newspapers from around the world by keyword and date (1607 - current)
Historical and contemporary news articles regarding Russian politics with incomplete coverage between 1912 - 2016 (printed in Russian)
Search the Sunday Times from 1822 - 2006
Perform full-text searches of The Times of London from 1785 - 2014
Unless otherwise noted the content on this LibGuide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.