Finding Primary Resources - ENGL 1260W - Literature and the Environment - Nugent

Primary Resources

A primary source is a document or other sort of evidence written or created during the time under study, or by one of the persons or organizations directly involved in the event. Primary sources offer an inside view of a particular event. Some types are:

Original Documents (excerpts or translations acceptable)

Diaries
Speeches
Letters
Interviews
News film footage
Autobiographies

Creative Works

Drama
Novels
Music
Art
Films

Artifacts

Clothes
Jewlery
Pottery

Useful Keywords When Searching for Primary Sources in the Library Catalog

Diaries		Correspondence

Sources		Personal narratives

20th century		Biography

Interview

American History, 1493-1945 This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History that cover the major themes of American History.
Coverage: 1493-1945.
American West This link opens in a new window
Original manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material, and rare printed sources from the Everett D. Graff Collection at the Newberry Library cover social, political, and economic aspects of the American West. Explore tales of frontier life, Indigenous Peoples, the growth of urban centers, and the environmental impact of westward expansion.
Coverage: Early 18th to Mid-20th Century.
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).
Historic Documents This link opens in a new window
Primary sources covering current events around the world.
Coverage: 1972 to present.
History Vault This link opens in a new window
Digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and other primary source materials.

• American Indians and the American West
• American Politics and Society
• Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
• International Relations and Military Conflicts
• Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War
• Women's Studies
• Workers and Labor Unions
Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
Alternative press journals, magazines, and newspapers covering feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinx, gays, lesbians, etc.
Coverage: 1951-2015.

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, raw footage, and thousands of award-winning films.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
On-demand streaming video service for documentaries, training films, and theatrical releases. Films under a current license agreement are available for immediate viewing. Other films may require a request through the Kanopy site. Viewing films in a group forum is permitted as long as the viewing is by Vanderbilt authorized viewers only (current faculty, staff, or students) and it is not for commercial benefit (i.e. no admission costs are charged and no profit is made from the screening).