Works of short fiction produced by writers from Africa and the African Diaspora from the earliest times to the present.
Part of ProQuest One Literature combined search portal
Works by Black women writers from the African diaspora, including African American women and Caribbean writers.
Part of ProQuest One Literature combined search portal
Good for: Exploring poetry, fiction and essays from Caribbean writers.
Contains: Literary works, biographies, reference works, and literary criticism.
Good for: Reading play scripts and scholarly books analyzing drama.
Contains: Scripts for over 1000 plays, from Aeschylus to the present day, including modern classics from Tom Stoppard, David Mamet, Caryl Churchill and many more.
Fiction, short fiction, and poems written from the end of the colonial era to the present by South Asian and Southeast Asian writers.
The collection captures a broad range of personal experiences—South Asian elites educated in legacy British colonial schools; Indian descendants of 19th-century indentured plantation and railroad laborers, now living in the Caribbean or Africa; and writers born into immigrant communities in London, Toronto, and New York. Part of the ProQuest One Literature combined search portal.
Good for: Reading plays by Native American playwrights
Contains: Dramatic works from playwrights from Cherokee, Métis, Creek, Choctaw, Pembina Chippewa, Ojibway, Lenape, Comanche, Cree, Navajo, Rappahannock, Hawaiian/Samoan, and other American Indian and First Nation communities.
Dates covered: 1920-2019
North American Indian Drama contains 244 plays by 48 playwrights representing the stories and creative energies of American Indian and First Nation playwrights of the twentieth century. More than half of the works are previously unpublished, and hard to find, representing groups such as Cherokee, Métis, Creek, Choctaw, Pembina Chippewa, Ojibway, Lenape, Comanche, Cree, Navajo, Rappahannock, Hawaiian/Samoan, and others. Together, the plays demonstrate Native theater’s diversity of tribal traditions and approaches to drama—melding conventional dramatic form with ancient storytelling and ritual performance elements, experimenting with traditional ideas of time and narrative, or challenging Western dramatic structure.
1784-2006
Biographies, oral histories, personal papers, images and audio files documenting the history of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Peoples with representation of historical events as told by the individuals who lived through them.
The full text of letters and diary entries, often from works that have been previously published as books containing collections of letters or diaries. Use the Browse indexes to find works about specific historical or life events.
Good for: Exploring women’s letters and diaries to learn about historical events and details of daily life in the past.
Contains: Handwritten letters and diaries with a detailed index
Dates covered: 1770s-1970s
The letters and diaries reveal, in each woman’s own hand, the details of the authors’ daily lives, their activities and concerns, and their attitudes towards the people and world around them. The collection is drawn entirely from the extensive holdings of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Use the date range limit to narrow your search to a relevant time period.
1690-1923
Historical newspapers from every state in the U.S.
1732-1950
National and regional British newspapers representing different political and cultural views.
1909-2010
African American newspaper from Chicago, Illinois.
1849-2014
Major daily newspaper from Chicago.
Good for: Researching historical events through American newspapers, including Nevada newspapers.
Contains: Historical newspapers.
Dates covered: 1789-1963.
1881-2015
Historical California newspaper.
1851-2020
Historical New York newspaper.
1785-2019
The Times (London) newspaper.
1877-2007
Daily newspaper from Washington, DC.
search tips
Search for articles published in popular magazines and journals from different times in history.
1681-1920
Popular British periodicals mostly from the 19th century.
1843-2015
Issues of The Economist, a news magazine with a global scope published in London.
1903-1995. Film industry and fan publications.
1902-2013
London Times Literary Supplement publishes essays, letters, poems and articles.
Good for: Researching fashion and culture, including specific garments, accessories or brands.
Contains: Images and text from Vogue Magazine.
Dates covered: 1892-present.
Collections of several types of primary sources curated around a topic or theme.
1850-1990s
Search three archival collections representing 20th century advertising and marketing from Adam Matthew Publishers.
1493-1945
Primary sources from the Gilder Lehrman collection about American history from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century.
1400-1950s
Primary sources for American Indian history in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books from pre-contact through the mid-20th century.
1830-1939
Pamphlets, maps, books, ephemeral material and rare printed sources related to the history of the American West.
Part of Americana combined search portal
1940-present
Primary sources from more than 35 countries related to LGBTQ activism and the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Also searchable in Gale Primary Sources.
Good for: Primary sources from the civil rights movement in the United States.
Contains: Official publications and primary source material including records of the NAACP, papers from presidential administrations, and relevant records from the FBI and other federal agencies.
Dates covered: 1901-2000.
Good for: Researching international affairs from a British perspective.
Contains: Commentary, speeches, and analysis from a nonprofit NGO.
Dates covered: 1920-2008.
Good for: Exploring the socio-cultural history of the United States in the 19th century through children's literature.
Contains: Rare books, games, ephemera, and artwork.
Dates covered: 1790s-1930s.
Good for: Studying China's relations with the West in the 19th and early 20th century.
Contains: Academic and literary journals and missionary periodicals in English about China.
Dates covered: 1817-1949.
Good for: Exploring Chinese life and culture over the past 300 years.
Contains: Primary source documents like printed books, pamphlets, paintings, manuscripts, diaries, newspapers, and periodicals.
Dates covered: 1750-1980.
Good for: Understanding the perspective of Anglican missionary administrators and workers on cultural encounters around the world.
Contains: Newspapers, journals, and reports.
Dates covered: 1804-2009.
Good for: Evidence of changing views about gender, themed around conduct, domesticity, consumption and leisure, education, and the body.
Contains: Primary sources like correspondence, advice literature, periodicals, ephemera and government documents.
Dates covered: 1500s-1920.
Good for: Examining scripts of plays submitted for license in England before 1824.
Contains: Archive of plays, diaries, playbills, theatre records, and correspondence.
Dates covered: 1737-1824.
Good for: Exploring colonial history, politics, culture and society from British and European perspectives.
Contains: Primary sources from archival collections.
Dates covered: 1492-1969.
Good for: Studying American social, cultural, and popular history in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Contains: Primary sources like periodicals, pamphlets and books.
Dates covered: 1800-1920.
1880s-1990s
The J. Walter Thompson Company advertising agency archives include brand case studies and account files about campaigns for Kellogg’s, Kodak, Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Pan Am, the US Marine Corps, and more.
Part of the American Consumer Culture combined search portal.
1935-1965
Market research reports and supporting documents regarding the American consumer boom of the mid-20th century from the archives of Ernest Dichter and the Institute for Motivational Research.
Part of the American Consumer Culture combined search portal.
Good for: Finding primary sources about the development of urban centers and of the restructuring of society that took place during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.
Contains: Government and archival collections
Dates covered: 1750-1916
Also searchable in Gale Primary Sources.
1900-2000. Campaign materials, periodicals, propaganda, government records, oral histories, and ephemera from fringe political movements on the right and the left.
1950-1975
Primary sources documenting music and popular culture in the US and Britain, 1950-1975, including manuscripts, video, photos, underground magazines and more.
Part of Americana combined search portal
1490-2007
Case studies documenting slavery in America, the Caribbean, Brazil and Cuba, along with material examining European, Islamic and African involvement in the slave trade.
1850-1950
Primary sources like catalogs, price lists, and brochures reflecting the history of consumer advertising and marketing and life and leisure in America. Includes department store catalogs, cosmetic advertisements, real estate brochures and much more.
Part of the American Consumer Culture combined search portal.
Good for: Finding primary sources related to popular entertainment in America, Britain, and Europe.
Contains: Books, posters, scrapbooks, and optical toys.
Dates covered: 1779-1930.
1903-1962
Original documents from the National Archives on the suffrage question in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
Digitized collections of books published during different time periods.
1820-1922
Pamphlets with advice and opinions about all kinds of 19th century controversies.
Part of America's Historical Imprints combined search portal
Good for: Searching books and periodicals, including full text access to those in the public domain and limited search for those still under copyright.
Contains: Scanned books and periodicals
Digitized photos and art images.
Art digital images and related data.
A repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, social sciences and related data; the tools to actively use those images; and a restricted usage environment that seeks to balance the rights of content providers with the needs and interests of content user.
These links allow you to search across multiple databases at the same time.
Good for: Searching across all collections of historical primary sources from Adam Matthew Publishers.
Contains: Primary sources held in libraries, museums and archives around the world.
Includes 19th Century UK Periodicals, Archives of Sexuality & Gender (LGBTQ History), British Library Newspapers, The Economist (1843-2014), Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers, Sabin Americana (1500-1926), China and the Modern World, London Times Digital Archive, and London Times Literary Supplement.