LibGuides: History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic: 1801-1900

Primary Source Collections, 1801-1900

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.

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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1860-1865
Published memoirs, letters and diaries written about and during the Civil War.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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1500-1900.
Searchable collection of women's letters and diaries.
North American Immigrant Letters & Diaries This link opens in a new window
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1840-
Personal narratives, including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories about immigrating to the U.S. or Canada.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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1770-1950
Diaries, journals, and letters written by famous and not-so-famous North American women.
War Department and Indian Affairs This link opens in a new window
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1800-1824
Handwritten correspondence from Indian superintendents and agents, factors of trading posts, Territorial and State governors, and others.

Use the date range limit to narrow your search to a relevant time period.

Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1800-1900
American newspapers including the New York Herald, Lynchburg Virginian, The Hawaiian Gazette, Rocky Mountain News, Southern Illustrated News (VA), Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago), the Milwaukee Sentinel, and many more.
African American Newspapers: The 19th Century This link opens in a new window
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1827-1902
African-American newspapers including The Colored American, all of Frederick Douglass’ newspapers, The Freedmen’s Record, and more.
America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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1690-1923
Historical newspapers from every state in the U.S.
American Indian Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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1828-2016
Includes national periodicals as well as local community news and student publications from an Indigenous perspective.
Historical Black Newspapers from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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1893-2010
African American newspapers from Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Norfolk VA., Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
British Library Newspapers (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1732-1950
National and regional British newspapers representing different political and cultural views.
Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune, 1849-1998 This link opens in a new window
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1849-1998
Cover to cover digital reproductions of the Chicago Tribune with searchable full text.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
1789-1924
Newspapers from the Library of Congress, including Nevada newspapers.
Civil War 1860-1865: A Newspaper Perspective This link opens in a new window
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1860-1865
Newspaper reports of major events of the Civil War covered by both Union and Confederate sources.
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 This link opens in a new window
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1808-1980
Newspapers published by Hispanic-American communities primarily in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and New York.
Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times, 1881-2014 This link opens in a new window
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1881-2014
Historical California newspaper.
Historical Newspapers: New York Times, 1851-2017 This link opens in a new window
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1851-2017
Historical New York newspaper.
Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune, 1841-1922 This link opens in a new window
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1841-1922
Full text of New York Tribune, 1841-1922.
San Francisco Chronicle, 1865-current This link opens in a new window
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1865-1984, 1985-current
Full page images of the daily San Francisco Chronicle, Northern California's largest circulation newspaper, through 1984. Text of articles only after 1985.
Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
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1785-2019
The Times (London) newspaper.
Historical Newspapers: Washington Post, 1877-2004 This link opens in a new window
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1877-2004
Text and images from The Washington Post
Women's Suffrage Collection This link opens in a new window
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1849-1913
Newspaper collections deliver an in-depth look at the eighty-year struggle by women to secure the right to vote.
The Lily. 1849-1856
National Citizen and Ballot Box. 1878-1881
The Revolution. 1868-1872
The New Citizen. 1909-1912
The Western Woman Voter. 1911-1913
The Remonstrance. 1890-1913

California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC)
Google News Archive
Nevada newspapers online
United States Online Historic Newspapers
List of digitized historical newspaper collections, including many that are free.

Search for articles published in popular magazines and journals from different times in history.

African American Historical Serials Collection, 1816-1922 This link opens in a new window
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1816-1922
Newspapers and magazines published by African American churches, educational and service institutions.
American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society, Part I-V (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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1684-1912
Popular magazines, newspapers, and journals published in the United States.
EBSCO version offers subject indexing. Also searchable via Gale or Gale Primary Sources combined search portal.
American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
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1740-1940
Magazines and journals published in the U.S. mostly before 1900.
British Periodicals Collection I and II This link opens in a new window
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1681-1920
Popular British periodicals mostly from the 19th century.
Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2015 (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1843-2015
Issues of The Economist, a news magazine with a global scope published in London.
Eighteenth Century Journals This link opens in a new window
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1685-1835
Literary, satirical, political, religious and theatrical magazines and newspapers from Britain, Ireland, Scotland, India and the Caribbean.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
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1880-2015
Music, film, broadcasting and theater industry trade publications published before 2015 including Variety, Billboard, Spin, The Hollywood Reporter, American Cinematographer, American Film, Picturegoer and more.
Godey's Lady's Book This link opens in a new window
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1830-1880
American magazine with firsthand information on social, historical and cultural aspects of the 19th century.
Harper's Bazaar Archive This link opens in a new window
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1867-
Harper's Bazaar magazine shows changes in American fashion, culture and society.
Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals, part I: Women's, Children's, Humour, and Leisure (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1800-1900
Magazines revealing British life in the Victorian age and the events, lifestyles, values, and ideas that shaped their world.
Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals, part II: Empire (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1800-1900
Magazines by and for British imperial colonizers, settlers and travelers.
South Asia Archive This link opens in a new window
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Journals, books, and primary source documents from government agencies of colonial and early post-colonial India, many from the Bengal region and some from the wider sub-continent. Also film booklets!
Substantial runs of more than 200 journals in a range of subjects published from India and South Asia, including early journals such as Asiatic Researches (first published in 1788), Indian Review, Modern Review and Calcutta Gazette. There is also an array of vernacular journals such as: Bharatbarsha, Prabasi, Manasi, and Sachitra. Also includes Indian Film Booklets, 1930 – 1949. A significant proportion of the collection is in English, but thirty percent of the documents are written in various vernacular languages of the period/region(s).
Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
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1892-
Images and text from Vogue Magazine
Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
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1887-2005
North American women's magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents Magazine, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Essence.

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

African American Archives This link opens in a new window
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1792-1941
Primary source documents from the National Archives about the lives of African Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
African American Communities This link opens in a new window
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1860s-1980s
Primary sources documenting African American communities in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina.
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.
Americana This link opens in a new window
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1493-1975
Search all American history archival collections from Adam Matthew Publishers.
Combined search of American History, American Indian Histories and Cultures, American West, Everyday Life & Women in America c.1800-1920, Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975, Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, and Virginia Company Archives.
American Consumer Culture This link opens in a new window
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1850-1990s
Search three archival collections representing 20th century advertising and marketing from Adam Matthew Publishers.
Combined search of Market Research & American Business, 1935-1965, Trade Catalogues and the American Home, J. Walter Thompson: Advertising America
American History (Gilder Lehrman collection) This link opens in a new window
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1493-1945
Primary sources from the Gilder Lehrman collection about American history from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century.
American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new window
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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.
American Pamphlets This link opens in a new window
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1820-1922
Pamphlets with advice and opinions about all kinds of 19th century controversies.
American West This link opens in a new window
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1830-1939
Pamphlets, maps, books, ephemeral material and rare printed sources related to the history of the American West.
Archives Direct (all) This link opens in a new window
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1833-1981
Government and agency records from the British National Archives.
Collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew - the UK government's official archive. Subsets are: Apartheid South Africa, Confidential Print: Africa, Confidential Print: Latin America, Confidential Print: Middle East, Confidential Print: North America, Foreign Office Files for China, Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Foreign Office Files for Japan, Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, The Nixon Years, Macmillan Cabinet Papers, Women in The National Archives, Kew.
Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
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Scholarship and historical sources for Black Studies.
Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule This link opens in a new window
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1834-1922
Correspondence, intelligence reports, agents’ diaries, minutes, maps, newspaper excerpts and other materials from the British Foreign Office Files about the history of Persia (Iran), Central Asia and Afghanistan from the decline of the Silk Road in the first half of the nineteenth century to the establishment of Soviet rule over parts of the region in the early 1920s.
Children's Literature and Cultures This link opens in a new window
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1790s-1930s
Rare books, games, ephemera, and artwork from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that reveals the socio-cultural history of the United States.
Materials from the Children’s Literature and Graphic Arts collections held by the American Antiquarian Society and the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
China and the Modern World: Missionary, Sinology and Literary Periodicals, 1817-1949 (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1817-1949
Academic and literary journals, journals of sinology, and missionary periodicals in English about China.
China and the Modern World: Records of the Maritime Customs Service of China, 1854-1949 (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1858-1949
Primary source collection for the study of China and its relations with the West in the late Qing and Republican periods.
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.
Churchill Archive This link opens in a new window
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1690-1965 (mainly 1940-1955)
Primary source historical documents from the archives of Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during and after World War II.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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1804-2009
Newspapers, journals and reports offering the perspective of Anglican missionary administrators and workers on cultural encounters and historical events.
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
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1606-1822
British government documents from the CO 5 series about administering the American colonies.
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.
Confidential Print: Africa This link opens in a new window
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1834-1966
Primary source documents about African colonies generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices of the British government between 1834 and 1966.
Confidential Print: Africa This link opens in a new window
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1834-1966
Primary source documents about African colonies generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices of the British government between 1834 and 1966.
Confidential Print: Latin America This link opens in a new window
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1833-1969
Government and agency records from the British National Archives concerning Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Confidential Print: Middle East This link opens in a new window
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1839-1969
Government and agency records from the British National Archives concerning the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Sudan.
Confidential Print: North America This link opens in a new window
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1824-1961
Government and agency records from the British National Archives concerning the United States, Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean, with some coverage of Central and South America.
Defining Gender This link opens in a new window
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1500s-1920
Primary sources selected to illustrate changing views about gender, themed around conduct, domesticity, consumption and leisure, education, and the body.
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.
Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship and the Stage This link opens in a new window
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1737-1824.
Archive of plays submitted for license in England between 1737 and 1824, as well as diaries, playbills, theatre records and correspondence.
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.
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.
Everyday Life and Women in America This link opens in a new window
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1800-1920
Primary source material for the study of American social, cultural, and popular history in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Food and Drink in History This link opens in a new window
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9th century-2015
Cookbooks, advertising ephemera, government reports, films, and other primary sources revealing the evolution of food and drink within everyday life and the public sphere.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan This link opens in a new window
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1947-1980
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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.
Gateway to North America This link opens in a new window
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1801-1900
Community histories, atlases, and other primary sources documenting people, places, and organizations of 19th century New York.
Gender: Identity and Social Change This link opens in a new window
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1800-present
Primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations, like women's suffrage, the feminist movement, the men’s movement, employment, education, family and the body.
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.
Historical Annual Reports This link opens in a new window
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1884-
Corporate annual reports from 1884 to 2008.
Update frequency: annual
A rich source for scholars in business, economics, and history, this collection of annual reports for 800 U.S. companies dating from 1884 to 2008 provides information on companies, including financial performance, key officers, competitors, and market trends.
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.
J. Walter Thompson: Advertising America This link opens in a new window
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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.
Jewish Life in America This link opens in a new window
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1654-1954
Organizational and personal archival collections including rare printed books and pamphlets from the American Jewish Historical Society in New York.
Latino-Hispanic American Experience: Leaders, Writers, and Thinkers This link opens in a new window
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1800-1960
Primary sources related to Hispanic-American writers and activists in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Leisure, Travel and Mass Culture: The History of Tourism This link opens in a new window
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1850-1980
Archival material from the travel agency Thomas Cook, a pioneer of package tourism. Includes periodicals such as the Excursionist magazine, personal accounts from travelers on early Cook’s tours, photographs, advertising brochures, guidebooks, posters and ephemeral items.
Literary Print Culture: The Stationers Company Archive This link opens in a new window
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1554-2007
Collection of primary source documents related to the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding.
London Low Life This link opens in a new window
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1800-1910
Primary sources like ballads, slang dictionaries, brothel guides and posters sold on the street during the 19th century in London.
Medical Services and Warfare This link opens in a new window
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1850s-1930s
Primary sources from Crimean War, the American Civil War and the First World War tell the story of medical advances during warfare, including the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in 1918 and the discovery of penicillin in 1927.
Meiji Japan This link opens in a new window
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1850s-1930s
Publications, papers, journals and diaries of Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925), a polymath notable for his work in natural history, ethnography and art history – but, perhaps most famous for his work in bringing Japan and the West closer together.
Migration to New Worlds This link opens in a new window
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1800-1924
Primary sources like personal accounts, correspondence, maps, plans and photos documenting the movement of peoples from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia to the New World and Australasia.
Native American Archives This link opens in a new window
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1792-1940
Treaties and correspondence between the US government and American Indian tribes; also photos, census rolls, Dawes packets and enrollment cards.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1750-1916
Government and archival collections show the development of urban centers and of the restructuring of society that took place during the Industrial Revolution.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1800-1906
Primary source documentation related to the “Scramble for Africa,” colonial conquest and the legacy of slavery, missionaries, explorers, economics, world politics, and international strategy.
Nineteenth Century Literary Society This link opens in a new window
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1768-1900s
Archival collection digitizing more than 1,400 letters, literary works, and financial records from the historic John Murray publishing company. Includes annotated drafts of Byron’s works and correspondence from Jane Austen, Charles Darwin and Isabella Bird.
Also features correspondence charting the founding of the business by John Murray in 1768, the completed, first edition file copy of On the Origin of Species, with related correspondence from Charles Darwin, and financial papers charting the sales success of hundreds of Murray titles.
Popular Medicine in America This link opens in a new window
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1800-1900
Advertising pamphlets, trade cards, posters and promotional work by commercial manufacturers of medical aids revealing trends such as phrenology, herbal medicine and hydrotherapy.
Poverty, Philanthropy and Social Conditions in Victorian Britain This link opens in a new window
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1834-1930
Archival collections of records from philanthropic organizations and the British government documenting social conditions in Victorian England.
Discover the conditions of workhouses and the administration of the new poor relief system through the official government correspondence of the Poor Law Commission, and explore the demonstrable shift in social conditions and welfare reform. Topics include workhouses and outdoor relief, health and medicine, disability, housing, sanitation, education, and social reform.
Sex & Sexuality This link opens in a new window
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1800s-2010s
Archival research collections exploring changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviors and investigating the breadth and complexity of human sexual understanding through the work of leading sexologists, sex researchers, organizations and personal accounts.
Please be aware that this resource contains material of a sexually explicit nature. Includes official records of pressure groups and community organizations, anonymous qualitative surveys, diaries, correspondence, periodicals, photographs, erotic fiction and visual erotica, papers of sexologists, newsletters, reports, pamphlets and ephemera.
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.
Trade Catalogues and the American Home This link opens in a new window
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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.
Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History This link opens in a new window
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1818-1974
Travel writing in manuscripts, diaries and correspondence as well as drawings, guidebooks and photographs.
Victorian Popular Culture, 1779 to 1930 This link opens in a new window
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1779 to 1930
Primary source material relating to popular entertainment in America, Britain, and Europe in the period from 1779 to 1930. Has books, posters, scrapbooks and optical toys.
Virginia Company Archives This link opens in a new window
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1590-1790
Archival collection of the Ferrar Papers, 1590-1790, revealing details about the Atlantic world and early Colonial period.
Women's Suffrage Collection This link opens in a new window
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1849-1913
Newspaper collections deliver an in-depth look at the eighty-year struggle by women to secure the right to vote.
The Lily. 1849-1856
National Citizen and Ballot Box. 1878-1881
The Revolution. 1868-1872
The New Citizen. 1909-1912
The Western Woman Voter. 1911-1913
The Remonstrance. 1890-1913
Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires This link opens in a new window
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1820-present
Primary sources highlighting the voices of colonized women, including in China, Japan, the Philippines, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and Balkans, and South Africa. Includes Native American women, also American women in Guatemala and China.
Women and Social Movements in the United States This link opens in a new window
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1600-2000
Books, images, historical documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies which document reform activities by and affecting women.
World’s Fairs This link opens in a new window
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1851-2000s
Official records, monographs, publicity, artwork and artifacts about world’s fairs, exhibitions and expos.

Digitized collections of books published during different time periods.

American Broadsides and Ephemera This link opens in a new window
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1749-1900
Printed menus, advertisements, cards, playbills, poems and other printed items never intended to last.
American Pamphlets This link opens in a new window
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1820-1922
Pamphlets with advice and opinions about all kinds of 19th century controversies.
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
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1840-2006
Non-fiction writing, interviews, correspondence and oral histories by leading figures in African American life and culture. Includes the complete run of the Black Panther newspaper and a wide selection of abolitionists' writings from the nineteenth century.
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new window
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1639-1800
Complete books, pamphlets and broadsides published in North America before 1800.
Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 This link opens in a new window
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1801-1819
Complete books, pamphlets and broadsides published in North America between 1801 and 1819.
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 (ECCO) 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): Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
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1600-1926
The Gale Primary Sources interface allows cross-searching of 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.
Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1500-1926
Digital library of works written or published in the United States, as well as items printed elsewhere, that document the history of the Americas (North, Central, South and the Caribbean) from 1492 to the mid-1800s.
Primary sources that offer original accounts of exploration, settlement, military actions, Native Americans, westward expansion, European relations with Latin America and more. Based on Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana.

Official government publications, including laws, treaties, and records of legislative proceedings.

United States

Congressional Publications (ProQuest Congressional) This link opens in a new window
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1789-
U.S. legislative information, including access to many full-text Congressional publications, bills, laws, regulations, committee information, and more. Includes the U.S. Serial Set.
Comprehensive access to U.S. legislative information, including access to many full-text Congressional publications, bills, laws, regulations, committee information, and more. Additionally, searchers can retrieve CIS Legislative Histories for public laws. Contains an index of congressional publications from 1789 to the present and locate information about members and committees. Statutes at Large and Congressional Indexes from 1789-1969 are included.
Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions 1789-2016 This link opens in a new window
1789-present
Contains searchable full text of all U.S. bills and resolutions from 1789 to the present.
Individual bills may be directly accessed or searched via a composite bill profile page that links out to its various versions.
HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
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Online law journals and full text federal legal materials.
HeinOnline is an image-based, fully searchable database made up primarily of law journals. Newer content is not added until the end of a volume year so the most recent issues are likely a year old. Coverage varies by title, but most sources go back to volume one. In addition to journals, it also contains treaties, the federal register, some classic treatises and some federal legislative materials. Subscription to HeinOnline is sponsored by the Wiener-Rogers Law Library.
Military & Government This link opens in a new window
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1751-present
Government reports, laws, legislative histories, ebooks and selected scholarly articles related to branches of the United States armed forces.
Research government administration of the armed forces along with issues confronting the military on and off the battlefield with access to primary source documents including committee prints, government reports, congressional hearings, legislative hearings, etc. The database also includes books, serials, periodicals and scholarly articles.
Territorial Papers of the United States This link opens in a new window
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1764-1953
Archival records of each territory of the United States before statehood. Includes Native American negotiations and treaties, correspondence with federal agencies, military records, judicial proceedings, population details, financial statistics, land records, and more.
Official documents include correspondence between territorial officials and federal agencies, details of tribal treaties, accounts of battles and troop movements, petitions for statehood, and records of agricultural and industrial production. Collections also contain firsthand accounts of frontier life via letters and financial documents.

Great Britain

Routledge English Historical Documents This link opens in a new window
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476 -1914
Primary sources with editorial commentary representing significant British historical documents, like treaties, statutes, declarations, government and cabinet proceedings and more.
U.K. Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
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1801-2000
Bills, reports, correspondence and command papers all highlight Britain's role in the political, social, economic and foreign policy arenas.
Archives Direct (all) This link opens in a new window
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1833-1981
Government and agency records from the British National Archives.
Collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew - the UK government's official archive. Subsets are: Apartheid South Africa, Confidential Print: Africa, Confidential Print: Latin America, Confidential Print: Middle East, Confidential Print: North America, Foreign Office Files for China, Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Foreign Office Files for Japan, Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, The Nixon Years, Macmillan Cabinet Papers, Women in The National Archives, Kew.
Making of Modern Law (MOML): Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
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1600-1926
The Gale Primary Sources interface allows cross-searching of 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.
Confidential Print: Africa This link opens in a new window
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1834-1966
Primary source documents about African colonies generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices of the British government between 1834 and 1966.
Confidential Print: Latin America This link opens in a new window
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1833-1969
Government and agency records from the British National Archives concerning Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Confidential Print: Middle East This link opens in a new window
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1839-1969
Government and agency records from the British National Archives concerning the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Sudan.
Confidential Print: North America This link opens in a new window
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1824-1961
Government and agency records from the British National Archives concerning the United States, Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean, with some coverage of Central and South America.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan This link opens in a new window
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1947-1980
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Digitized photos and art images.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Photography (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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Collections of photographs, photograph albums, photographically illustrated books, and texts on the early history of photography found in libraries and archives across the globe.
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.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog This link opens in a new window
Images held by the Prints and Photographs division of the Library of Congress.
The Prints and Photographs Online Catalog contains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and other units of the Library of Congress. About 90% of the records are accompanied by one or more digital images. In some collections, only thumbnail images display to those searching outside the Library of Congress because of potential rights considerations.

Life Photo Archive
Millions of news and editorial photographs and other images dating from 1750 to the present. Includes many iconic images, but most were never published.
NYPL Digital Photo Collections
Includes several fashion design collections as well as many historical photos from the NY Public Library.
Smithsonian Photography Initiative
Online database of photographs dating from the 1850s to the present. Subjects cover the arts and literature, culture and society, nature and science, industry and technology, history and geography. Includes both professional photos and amateur snapshots.
UNLV digital photo collections
Search collection of photos of Nevadans and more held in UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives.

These links allow you to search across multiple databases at the same time.

Accessible Archives combined search
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Cross search 19thC American periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, and clippings.
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Collections include African American Newspapers, The Civil War A Newspaper Perspective, Godey's Lady's Book, South Carolina Newspapers (colonial), and antislavery and woman suffrage publications.
EBSCO 19th C periodicals
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Cross search American Antiquarian Society periodicals with African American Serials, Gateway to North America collections.

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 U.S. Newspapers from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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1841-2000 with some more recent
Search all ProQuest U.S. historical newspaper collections simultaneously.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Defender‎ (1909 - 1975)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune‎ (1849 - 1993)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Christian Science Monitor‎ (1908 - 2003)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times‎ (1881 - 1993)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times‎ (1851 - 2013)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune‎ (1841 - 1922)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post‎ (1877 - 2000)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: U.S. West, including Reno Gazette-Journal (1876-2008), San Francisco Examiner (1889-2007), and Spokane Statesman-Review (1894-2009)
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
Readex AllSearch This link opens in a new window
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1639-1922
Combined search of American historical newspapers (1690-1922), printed books (1639-1819), and pamphlets and ephemera (1749-1922).
Search all collections of historical primary sources from Readex simultaneously: America's Historical Newspapers, American Broadsides and Ephemera; American Pamphlets; Early American Imprints (Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker).

19th Century Government Documents

United States Congressional Serial Set.
Online version of the United States Congressional Serial Set.
Serial Set Links: U.S. Congressional Documents
Historical Statistics of the United States
Historical Census Browser
Hein Online
Avalon Project - 19th Century Documents : 1800 - 1899
Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1909

History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic

Primary Source Collections, 1801-1900

19th Century Government Documents

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