LibGuides: History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic: British Empire, 1900-2000

British 20th Century Primary Source Collections

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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: The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times, 1859-2019 This link opens in a new window
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1859-2019
Newspaper from Dublin, Ireland published daily except Sundays.
Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
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1785-2019
The Times (London) newspaper.

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

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.
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive, 1902-2013 (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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1902-2013
London Times Literary Supplement publishes letters, poems and articles.

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

Apartheid South Africa This link opens in a new window
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1948-1980
British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices documenting the history of South Africa's apartheid regime.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 (parts I and II) This link opens in a new window
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1940-present
Primary sources from more than 35 countries related to LGBTQ activism and the HIV/AIDS crisis.
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.
Chatham House Online This link opens in a new window
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1920-2008
Commentary, speeches and analysis on international affairs from a British non-profit NGO.
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.
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.
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.
First World War Portal This link opens in a new window
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1900-1950
Primary sources including documents, films and oral histories themed around personal experiences, propaganda and recruitment, visual perspectives and narratives, and the global conflict.
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 South East Asia This link opens in a new window
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new window
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1937-1960
Personal diaries, surveys, questionnaires, photos and printed research done about everyday lives of ordinary British people.
Social research organization Mass Observation was founded in 1937 by anthropologist Tom Harrisson, film-maker Humphrey Jennings and poet Charles Madge, who recruited a team of observers and a panel of volunteer writers to document their experiences as evidence for a study of the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain.
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.
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.

Northern Ireland: A Divided Community, 1921-1972 Cabinet Papers of the Stormont Administration
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Political Extremism and Radicalism: Far-Right and Left Political Groups in the U.S., Europe and Australia in the Twentieth Century (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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Campaign materials, periodicals, propaganda, government records, oral histories, and ephemera from fringe political movements on the right and the left.
Popular Culture in Britain and America This link opens in a new window
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1950-1975
Primary sources documenting music and popular culture in the US and Britain, 1950-1975, including manuscripts, video, photos, underground magazines and more.
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.
Secret Files from World Wars to Cold War This link opens in a new window
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1873-1953
From The National Archives, U.K., documents encompass signals intelligence reports and government-directed policy and strategy from the period of Appeasement right through to the early Cold War.
British government secret intelligence and foreign policy files from 1873 to 1953, with the majority of files dating from the 1930s and 1940s, across four major conflicts – the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, the early years of the Cold War and the Korean War.
Service Newspapers of World War Two This link opens in a new window
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1939-1948
The story of World War II as told by the newspapers that brought information, entertainment and camaraderie to the forces at home and overseas. Explore over 200 titles from key nations across the globe that took part in the world-changing conflict.
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.
Socialism on Film This link opens in a new window
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1918-1990
Documentaries, newsreels and feature films that reveal the 20th century world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, British and Latin American filmmakers.
This collection of films from the communist world reveals war, history, current affairs, culture and society as seen through the socialist lens. Covers countries such as the USSR, Vietnam, China, Korea, much of Eastern Europe, the GDR, Britain and Cuba.
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.
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 in the National Archives This link opens in a new window
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1903-1962
Original documents from the National Archives on the suffrage question in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories.
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.

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.

Great Britain

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.
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 China This link opens in a new window
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1919-1980
British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980.
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.
Foreign Office Files for Japan This link opens in a new window
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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.
Foreign Office Files for the Middle East This link opens in a new window
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1971-1981
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the Middle East in the 1970s.
Macmillan Cabinet Papers This link opens in a new window
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1957-1963
Archival collection from the British National Archives focused on Harold Macmillan’s government and selected policy committees.
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.
Middle East Online: Arab-Israeli Relations This link opens in a new window
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1917-1970
Primary source documents from the British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers from the 1917 Balfour Declaration through to the Black September war of 1970-1.
The Nixon Years This link opens in a new window
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1969-1974
Archival collection from the British Foreign Office focused on the Nixon presidency and impeachment (FCO 7 and FCO 82).
Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement This link opens in a new window
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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.
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.
Secret Files from World Wars to Cold War This link opens in a new window
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1873-1953
From The National Archives, U.K., documents encompass signals intelligence reports and government-directed policy and strategy from the period of Appeasement right through to the early Cold War.
British government secret intelligence and foreign policy files from 1873 to 1953, with the majority of files dating from the 1930s and 1940s, across four major conflicts – the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, the early years of the Cold War and the Korean War.

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 Collections online photos
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.

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).

History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic

British 20th Century Primary Source Collections

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