LibGuides: History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic: World History, 1650-1800

World Primary Source Collections, 1650-1800

Collections of several types of primary sources curated around a topic or theme.

Age of Exploration This link opens in a new window
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1420-1920
Primary sources like manuscripts, maps and illustrated documents, diaries and ship logs recording the experiences of Europeans as they explored trade routes, colonized the Americas and Australasia, and raced to the North and South Poles.
China Studies This link opens in a new window
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1750-1980
Primary source documents like printed books, pamphlets, paintings, manuscripts, diaries, newspapers and periodicals offer evidence of Chinese life and culture over the past 300 years
Combined search of: China, America and the Pacific, China: Culture and Society, and China: Trade, Politics and Culture.
Colonial Caribbean This link opens in a new window
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1624-1832
Colonial Office files from the National Archive U.K. about British governance of 25 islands in the Caribbean from 1624-1872 trace the rise and decline of trade in enslaved peoples, from transportation through trade and shipping to the rise of the abolition movement.
East India Company This link opens in a new window
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1599-1947
British government records from the India Office chart the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
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1492-1969
Primary sources about British colonies in Africa, North and South America, Australia, and South Asia, 1492-1969.
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement and Colonial Encounters This link opens in a new window
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1650-1920
Primary sources like expedition records, letters, diaries and government records from Europeans creating colonies in North America, Africa, and Australasia.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
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1500-present
Primary source materials that tell the story of global trade in chocolate, coffee, cotton, fur, opium, oil, porcelain, silver and gold, spices, sugar, tea, timber, tobacco, wheat, and wine and spirits.
The Grand Tour This link opens in a new window
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1550-1850
Firsthand travel accounts of British tourists visiting Europe.
India, Raj and Empire This link opens in a new window
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1615-1947
Documents recording the history of South Asia between the initial involvement of the East India Company and Indian and Pakistani independence.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
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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.
Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window
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1500-1930
Manuscripts, pamphlets and books about witch hunts, including anti-persecution writings, works by penologists, legal and church documents, exposés of persecutions, and philosophical writings and transcripts of trials and exorcisms.

Digitized collections of books published during different time periods.

Sabin Americana: History of the Americas This link opens in a new window
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Good for: Finding primary source materials on exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and more.
Contains: Historical books, pamphlets, serials and other documents about North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Dates covered: 1500-1926
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
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1475-1700
Books on all subjects published in England between 1475 and 1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
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1701-1800
Books on all subjects published in English between 1701 and 1800.
Gerritsen Collection-Women's History Online, 1543-1945 This link opens in a new window
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1543-1945
Books and periodicals reflecting the evolution of a feminist consciousness and the movement for women's rights.
Hathi Trust This link opens in a new window
Access to nearly any public domain (pre-1924) book owned and scanned by a library. UNLV users can login with their ACE accounts and download entire "full view" books/documents.
Making of Modern Law (MOML) This link opens in a new window
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1600-1926
Cross-search five Making of Modern Law databases: Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law 1600-1926, Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources 1620-1926, Making of Modern Law: Treatises, 1800-1926, and Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926.

Making of Modern Law (MOML) This link opens in a new window
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1600-1926
Cross-search five Making of Modern Law databases: Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law 1600-1926, Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources 1620-1926, Making of Modern Law: Treatises, 1800-1926, and Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926.

Digitized photos and art images.

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
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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.

AM Explorer This link opens in a new window
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1493-1975
Search all archival collections from Adam Matthew Publishers.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
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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.
Historical Periodicals from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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1740-1940 with some more recent
Search all ProQuest historical periodical collections simultaneously.
American Periodicals‎ (1740 - 1940)
British Periodicals‎ (1681 - 1939)
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive‎ (1880 - 2000)
The Harper's Bazaar Archive‎ (1867 - current)
Periodicals Archive Online‎
The Vogue Archive‎
Women's Magazine Archive‎ (1846 - 2005)
The Women's Wear Daily Archive‎

RetroNews (French)
1631-1950
Newspapers from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

Microfilm Research Collections

UNLV Libraries Microform Collection Finder This link opens in a new window
Discover microform research collections at UNLV Libraries.
Browse or search brief descriptions of the research collections available on microform at Lied Library. Use a very broad search term (for example, try "women and history" instead of "Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention") because this tool searches short summaries of very large microfilmed collection. The Microform Collection Finder does not search the microfilm itself.

History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic

World Primary Source Collections, 1650-1800

Microfilm Research Collections

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