Primary Sources

Primary Source Databases
HathiTrust

Gallica
Digital library of the French National Library (BnF).

EEBO - Early English Books Online
Digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in English from 1473-1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
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.
Gale Primary Sources
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).
Colonial State Papers
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.
Empire Online
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.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange
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.
Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, 1600-1970
Historical legal codes, statutes, regulations, and commentaries on codes from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and other countries in northern Europe. Crucial sources of historical statutes and regulations for the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Making of the Modern World
Digital facsimile images of unique primary sources that track the development of the modern, western world through the lens of trade and wealth. History, political science, social conditions, technology and industry, economics, area studies, etc.
Coverage: 1450-1930.
State Papers Online: Early Modern Government in Britain and Europe
British state papers and government documents.

SPO, 1509-1714 encompasses the 16th- and 17th-century State Papers Domestic, Foreign, Scotland, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council from The National Archives, Kew, UK with some series from the British Library.

SPO, Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782 covers the 18th century from the accession of the Hanoverian monarchs to the British throne in 1714 to the end of the State Papers series in 1782.
Coverage: 1509-1782.
Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Bibliography of articles, essays, books and reviews. Also: a directory of scholars, an online edition of Paul Oskar Kristeller's Iter Italicum, access to the journal Renaissance Quarterly, and the Baptisteria Sacra.
Medieval Family Life
Letter correspondence of five 15th century English families describing everyday life including discussions of advantageous marriages and inheritance, estate management, women and their role within the family, arguments between parents and children, births, deaths, politics, and community.
Coverage: 1400 - 1490.

HathiTrust
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. Tutorial: https://researchguides.library.vanderbilt.edu/HathiTrustAccess