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).
Confidential Print: Africa This link opens in a new window
Important papers generated by the British Government's Foreign and Colonial Offices between 1834-1966, ranging from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches.
Apartheid South Africa This link opens in a new window
British Foreign Office files on the apartheid Governments of South Africa. These formerly restricted documents, sourced from The National Archives, UK, provide unprecedented levels of detail, with in-depth analysis of events, international reaction and policy dilemmas, accompanied by numerous first-hand accounts and reports.
Coverage: 1948-1980.
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.
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.
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.
Vendor Tutorial: http://proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/login?url=https://proquest.libguides.com/parliamentary
Proquest Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
U.S. Congressional materials (hearings, bills, Congressional Record and compiled legislative histories) and Executive Branch documents.

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