Skip to Main Content

questions, ask us

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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
1816-1922
Newspapers and magazines published by African American churches, educational and service institutions.
African American Newspapers: The 19th Century This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
1860-1865
Published memoirs, letters and diaries written about and during the Civil War.
Archives Unbound: African American Studies This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
17 collections of primary source documents, including government, FBI and organizational records, and oral histories, on topics in African American Studies.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
1901-2000
Records from the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations detailing the interaction between civil rights leaders and the federal government; includes FBI files on Martin Luther King Jr.
Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Scholarship and historical sources for Black Studies.
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
1860-1865
Newspaper reports of major events of the Civil War covered by both Union and Confederate sources.
Historical Black Newspapers from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
1909-2010
African American newspaper from Chicago, Illinois.
NAACP Papers This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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; The NAACP's Major Campaigns--Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces. Parts 1, 2, 14, 16, 17, 21; parts 3, 4, 5, 9, 13 from micro set.
Race Relations in America This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
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

Last Updated: Apr 10, 2024 12:47 PM
URL: https://guides.library.unlv.edu/c.php?g=941805
Print Page

© University of Nevada Las Vegas