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History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic

Databases of primary sources arranged by time period or topic

African-American history primary source collections

African American Archives
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
1860s-1980s
Primary sources documenting African American communities in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina.
African American Historical Serials Collection, 1816-1922
1816-1922
Newspapers and magazines published by African American churches, educational and service institutions.
African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
1827-1902
African-American newspapers including The Colored American, all of Frederick Douglass’ newspapers, The Freedmen’s Record, and more.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
1860-1865
Published memoirs, letters and diaries written about and during the Civil War.
Archives Unbound: African American Studies
17 collections of primary source documents, including government, FBI and organizational records, and oral histories, on topics in African American Studies.
Black Life in America
Global newspaper coverage of the African American experience from 1704 to today; sourced from nearly 20,000 American and global newspapers including over 400 African American newspapers. Updated daily.
Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
Good for: Primary sources from the civil rights movement in the United States.
Contains: Official publications and primary source material including records of the NAACP, papers from presidential administrations, and relevant records from the FBI and other federal agencies.
Dates covered: 1901-2000.
Black Studies Center
Scholarship and historical sources for Black Studies.
Black Thought and Culture
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.
Civil War 1860-1865: A Newspaper Perspective
Good for: Reading newspaper reports of major events of the U.S. Civil War.
Contains: Clippings from Union and Confederate sources.
Dates covered: 1860-1865.
Historical Black Newspapers from ProQuest
1893-2010
African American newspapers from Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Norfolk VA., Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
Historical Newspapers: Chicago Defender, 1909-2010
1909-2010
African American newspaper from Chicago, Illinois.
NAACP Papers
1913-1965
Selected sets of documents from the archives of the NAACP.
Archives of the NAACP: Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files; Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files; Special Subjects.
The NAACP's Major Campaigns--Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces; Legal Department Files; Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses.
Race Relations in America
1943-1970
Primary sources on the fight for civil rights, including speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Fisk University Race Relations Department’s staff and Institute participants, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice
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.
Territorial Papers of the United States
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.
Women and Social Movements in the United States
1600-2000
Books, images, historical documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies which document reform activities by and affecting women.

Microfilmed collections

Arts & Music

African American Music Reference
Comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of Black American musical expression.
Black Drama
Over 1200 plays by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.
Some 440 of the plays are published here for the first time, including a number by major authors.

Online resources

Umbra
Search engine for archival resources about African American history
Articles of Enslavement
Historical U.S. newspaper articles related to enslaved people available for free from ancestry.com
NARA African American Heritage
Documents from the National Archives and Records Administration
African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907
Pamphlets cover a wide range of topics including literary, political, religious, artistic, educational, and other areas; many are by African American authors.

Last Updated: May 30, 2025 3:00 PM
URL: https://guides.library.unlv.edu/c.php?g=941805
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