Primary Sources on the Internet

Primary sources offer a first hand view of an event. Secondary sources interpret and analyze primary sources. The same document may be a primary source in one investigation and a secondary source in another. Technically primary sources should be original documents. The resources below are digitally reproduced original documents.

AMERICA’S STORY FROM AMERICA’S LIBRARY Library of Congress designed for young people.

AMERICAN MEMORY HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS FOR THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY Gate way to primary source materials from United States history. Offers more than 7,000,000 digital items.

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN SOUTH Offers primary materials providing Southern perspectives on American history and culture. Includes “slave narratives, first-person narratives, Southern literature, Confederate imprints, materials related to the church and black community…”. For all educational levels.

ELECTRONIC TEXTS AND PRIMARY SOURCES Eclectic, up-to-date selection from a wide variety of subject areas and languages.

EURODOCS: PRIMARY HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS FROM WESTERN EUROPE Offers links to Western European (mainly primary) historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DIGITAL LIBRARY COLLECTION Online access to collections of unique and rare materials; for example, “African American Women Writers of the 19th Century”