Primary Sources

Primary Source Databases
HathiTrust

Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Newspapers, books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs. Simultaneously search: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Sunday Times (London), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Making of the Modern World, Times Literary Supplement, and Times Digital Archive, Financial Times (London).
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more. Collections: British Politics and Society, Asia & The West, British Theatre and Popular Culture, Corvey Collection of European Literature, Europe and Africa, Photography, Science, Technology, and Medicine Parts 1 & 2, Women Transnational Networks, Children Literature and Childhood, Mapping the World, Religion and the Periodical.
Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library This link opens in a new window
Early printed books in Arabic script. Covering religious literature, law, science, mathematics, astrology, alchemy, medicine, geography, travel, history, chronicles, and literature, and including European translations of Arabic works and Arabic translations of European books.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Digital images of books published during the 18th Century in the areas of history, geography, social sciences, religion and philosophy, general reference, fine arts, literature and language, law, medicine, science and technology.
Coverage: 1701-1800.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Manuscript, printed, and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences, predominantly from the British Library. Secondary resources include scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
User Limit: Unlimited.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
Visual, manuscript, and printed materials explore the history of fifteen key commodities that have been transported and consumed around the world for hundreds of years, transforming societies, global trading operations, habits of consumption, and cultural practices.
Coverage: 18th - 20th century.
Age of Exploration This link opens in a new window
Explore five centuries of journeys across the globe, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes, the discovery of the Northwest and Northeast Passages, and the race for the Poles. Features an in-depth interactive visualization of over 50 influential voyages.
Coverage: 1410-1920.
EEBO - Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in English from 1473-1700.
Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents on key aspects of the history of slavery. The African Coast, the Middle Passage, the varieties of slave experience, religion, revolts, abolition, and legislation. Case studies from America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Cuba.
Slavery and Anti-Slavery This link opens in a new window
Books and pamphlets, US Supreme Court records, newspapers and periodicals, manuscripts, and reference materials for the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective.
U.K. Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
Historical and current working documents from the House of Commons and the House of Lords, including papers, debates, journals, bills, and acts. Also included are command papers, Hansard (Official Report of debates), and public petitions to Parliament.
Coverage: 1688-present. Vendor Tutorials: https://proquest.libguides.com/parliamentary
Colonial State Papers This link opens in a new window
Offers access to hand-written documents and bibliographic records on early American history, British colonial history, Caribbean history, maritime history, Atlantic trade, plantations, and slavery.

World Heritage Sites: Africa
Includes Timbuktu manuscripts, documents and images from many historical and cultural sites throughout Africa.

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
Digitized collections of some of the nation’s great research libraries, established in this repository to archive and share their digital content.
Access Note: VU is a partner institution. Login is required for downloading. Vendor Tutorials: http://researchguides.library.vanderbilt.edu/HathiTrust