Use the date range limit to narrow your search to a relevant time period.
1732-1950
National and regional British newspapers representing different political and cultural views.
1785-2019
The Times (London) newspaper.
Collections of several types of primary sources curated around a topic or theme.
Good for: Exploring social justice, civil rights, and decolonization movements in Africa and for understanding the American Committee on Africa's (ACOA) efforts to inform the public and promote solidarity with African liberation movements
Contains: Records of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) which chart the organization's involvement in African liberation struggles in the twentieth century
Dates covered: 1953-1981
1948-1980
British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices documenting the history of South Africa's apartheid regime.
Can also be searched as part of the Archives Direct 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: Studying the history of Persia (Iran), Central Asia, and Afghanistan.
Contains: Correspondence, intelligence reports, diaries, minutes, maps, newspaper excerpts, and other primary sources from British Foreign Office Files.
Dates covered: 1834-1922.
Good for: Researching international affairs from a British perspective.
Contains: Commentary, speeches, and analysis from a nonprofit NGO.
Dates covered: 1920-2008.
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: Researching China and its relations with the West during the late Qing and Republican periods.
Contains: Official correspondence, dispatches, reports, memoranda, and records of the Maritime Customs Service of China.
Dates covered: 1858-1949.
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: Researching the life and career of Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during and after World War II.
Contains: Primary sources including personal papers and official records.
Dates covered: 1690-1965 (mainly 1940-1955).
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: Primary source evidence of the British administration of the American colonies.
Contains: British government documents from the Colonial Office (CO 5).
Dates covered: 1606-1822.
Part of Americana combined search portal
Good for: Primary sources documenting European colonization of the African continent from the British government’s perspective.
Contains: Government records from the British Colonial Office and Foreign Office.
Dates covered: 1834-1966.
Good for: Primary sources recording the British perspective on Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Contains: Government and agency records.
Dates covered: 1833-1969.
Good for: Primary sources about British involvement in the Levant, the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Sudan.
Contains: Government and agency records.
Dates covered: 1839-1969.
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: Researching British trade and colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent.
Contains: British government records from the India Office.
Dates covered: 1599-1947.
Good for: Exploring colonial history, politics, culture and society from British and European perspectives.
Contains: Primary sources from archival collections.
Dates covered: 1492-1969.
1919-1980
British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1947-1980
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1919-1952
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on Japan: sections on Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific, 1931-1945; Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952; and Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1963-1980
Correspondence, reports, maps and other primary source evidence of British Foreign Office involvement in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
What's included. Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1971-1981
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the Middle East in the 1970s.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1900-2000. Campaign materials, periodicals, propaganda, government records, oral histories, and ephemera from fringe political movements on the right and the left.
1945-1950
Records from the National Archives of the UK reveal challenges facing Displaced Persons, refugees and humanitarian aid organizations in the aftermath of World War II.
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.
Good for: Examining primary sources about the work of women activists working on social reforms around the world
Contains: Archival collections including organizational records, letters and diaries
Dates covered: 1840-2010
Women and Social Movements, International is a landmark collection of primary materials. Through the writings of women activists, their personal letters and diaries, and the proceedings of conferences at which pivotal decisions were made, this collection lets you see how women’s social movements shaped much of the events and attitudes that have defined modern life.
Good for: Examining primary sources about the work of women activists contributing to international development programs, including the Peace Corps and United Nations organizations
Contains: Archival collections including organizational records from intergovernmental (IGOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and personal papers of activists
Dates covered: 1919-2019
This collection examines efforts to foster gender equity through expanded economic and social participation of women on a global scale. Covering a century, the database highlights and evaluates activism through individual efforts, organizational initiatives, and socio-cultural projects led by or for women in the Global South. It shows how women have negotiated power and status regarding private or public programs centered on their rights and social inclusion. Stressing the historical problem of the feminization of poverty, coupled with women’s invisibility within most foreign aid regimes and approaches to technical assistance, the project documents how women and their allies worked to balance economic growth and social improvement while navigating equity and the fairer allocation of resources. Accompanying essays by leading scholars in the field outline and critique significant shifts in approaches to development, including that of a gendered post-development perspective.
Video and documentary film
(Documentary films or television news reports may include footage that can be considered as a primary source, though the narrative and film's point of view make it a secondary source)
Good for: Viewing television news coverage of events in American and world history
Contains: Video clips from CBS news programming
Dates covered: 1950s - 2010s
Archive of video segments from six decades of news programming and journalistic coverage of American and world history events, as they were originally reported by CBS News, 1950s-2010s.
Good for: Viewing narratives and images of 20th century China created by non-Chinese visitors
Contains: Newsreels, documentaries, and government and amateur films
Dates covered: 1900-1997
This streaming video service provides access to thousands of titles in such areas of the arts, humanities, business, sciences, media/communications, education and more.
Source producers include Media Education Foundation, BBC, PBS, Kino Lorber, Documentary Educational Resources Collection, among others.
Good for: Viewing or searching documentary films and video series on a wide range of topics in science, history, art, business and many more.
Contains: Streaming video
Dates covered: 1979-current
Digitized collections of books published during different time periods.
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
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
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.
Official government publications, including laws, treaties, and records of legislative proceedings.
Good for: Studying the history of Persia (Iran), Central Asia, and Afghanistan.
Contains: Correspondence, intelligence reports, diaries, minutes, maps, newspaper excerpts, and other primary sources from British Foreign Office Files.
Dates covered: 1834-1922.
Good for: Primary sources documenting European colonization of the African continent from the British government’s perspective.
Contains: Government records from the British Colonial Office and Foreign Office.
Dates covered: 1834-1966.
Good for: Primary sources recording the British perspective on Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Contains: Government and agency records.
Dates covered: 1833-1969.
Good for: Primary sources about British involvement in the Levant, the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Sudan.
Contains: Government and agency records.
Dates covered: 1839-1969.
Good for: Primary sources generated by the British Foreign and Colonial Offices about events in the United States, Canada, and the English-speaking Caribbean.
Contains: Government and agency records.
Dates covered: 1824-1961.
Good for: Primary sources about trade, economic development, and political and military conflict in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the 1960s and 70s.
Contains: Records created by the British Foreign Office.
Dates covered: 1959-1979
Good for: Researching British trade and colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent.
Contains: British government records from the India Office.
Dates covered: 1599-1947.
Good for: Exploring colonial history, politics, culture and society from British and European perspectives.
Contains: Primary sources from archival collections.
Dates covered: 1492-1969.
1919-1980
British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1947-1980
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1919-1952
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on Japan: sections on Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific, 1931-1945; Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952; and Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
1971-1981
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the Middle East in the 1970s.
Part of the Archives Direct combined search portal.
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.
1945-1950
Records from the National Archives of the UK reveal challenges facing Displaced Persons, refugees and humanitarian aid organizations in the aftermath of World War II.
These links allow you to search across multiple databases at the same time.
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.
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.