The library offers an extensive collection of primary source databases. Below is just a sampling of available databases.
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
Unique or rare historical primary sources, digitized from leading societies, libraries, and archives around the world, and made accessible in ways that tie directly to research outcomes and educational goals. Contains tools for searching, browsing, analyzing and visualizing primary source content.
Historical Newspapers
Primary source material for the study of American history and African-American culture, history, politics, and the arts. Includes: Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Chicago Defender (1909-1975), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2003), The Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), and Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).
Current News Sources
Direct link to the newspaper section of ProQuest. Includes Alt-Press Watch, Ethnic NewsWatch, GenderWatch, Latin American Newsstand, Canadian Newsstand Complete, ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Times of London, and The Tennessean.
News and newspaper stories, federal and state court cases, US law reviews and journals, company profiles and directories. Company Dossier; data on public figures.
Alternative/ Minority News Sources
Journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and minority presses. National and regional publications: African American, Caribbean, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, European, Eastern European, Hispanic, Jewish, Native People.
Alternative press journals, magazines, and newspapers covering feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinx, gays, lesbians, etc.
Oral History Databases
Collection of interviews with Holocaust survivors and witnesses that detail a wide range of experiences, including imprisonment in concentration camps, living in hiding, fighting with partisans or the resistance, rescuing and protecting those targeted by Nazi persecution, and escape to Allied or neutral countries.
First time users must register for an account then search for and request access to an initial testimony. You only need to request access to one testimony to obtain viewing rights for the entire collection. Users must always be logged in to the site to view videos. Detailed instructions for access can be found at http://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/archive/search.
Off-campus access is not working at this time.
Documentaries and Streaming Media
Documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, raw footage, and thousands of award-winning films.
IMPORTANT: Streaming clips from the Television News Archive from off-campus requires the installation of the Pulse VPN service and the use of Duo Multi-Factor Authentication. You can find detailed information about the Pulse VPN and Duo as well as download files on Vanderbilt's Information Technology page: https://it.vanderbilt.edu/services/catalog/end-point_computing/network_access/remote-access/index.php