HIST&147: United States History II - Spiegler: Primary Sources: 19th c.

What's a primary source?

Primary sources are the evidence of history, original records or objects created by participants or observers at the time historical events occurred or even well after events, as in memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include but are not limited to: letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, maps, speeches, interviews, documents produced by government agencies, photographs, audio or video recordings, born-digital items (e.g. emails, tweets), research data, and objects or artifacts (such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons). These sources serve as the raw materials historians use to interpret and analyze the past (from ALA: Primary Sources on the Web: Finding, Evaluating, Using. Site includes strategies for reading and evaluating primary sources)."

19th Century

African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907

American Indians and the American West This link opens in a new window
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History of Disabilities: Disabilities in Society; Seventeenth to Twentieth Century This link opens in a new window
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All Centuries

American Antiquarian Society Digital Resources

Ancestry This link opens in a new window
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North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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Women and Social Movements in the United States This link opens in a new window
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Topic: Slavery and Abolition

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
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Primary sources on the transatlantic slave trade, abolitionist movements, institution of slavery in the US and Latin America, and emancipation.

Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
Collection of all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world, as well as materials on free African-Americans in the colonies and the U.S. before 1870. Included are every statute passed by every state and colony, all federal statutes, all reported state and federal cases on slavery, and hundreds of books and pamphlets on the subject.
Slave Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database
Data on almost 35,000 slaving voyages supplemented with images, a names database and other material.

19th Century: Newspapers & Magazines

African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
Full text of Seven African American newspapers from the 19th century including Freedom's Journal and The National Era

American Antiquarian Society Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive collection of North American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912, covering a wide variety of subject areas including agriculture, fine arts, business, education, history, literature, religion and womens studies.
American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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American magazines of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries,

Atlanta Constitution 1868-1984
Newspaper from 1868-1984
Boston Globe 1872-1986
Broadsides & Ephemera
"Thousands of broadsides, pamphlets, form letters, posters, newspapers, tickets, and other printed items on a wide range of topics from across the United States"

Chronicling America This link opens in a new window
Newspaper page images, 1836-1922. Also includes a searchable directory of publication information for U.S. newspapers.
Early American Newspapers Series II This link opens in a new window
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Collection of 50+ newspapers dating from 1736-1900 with most covering the period 1820-1860

New York Times 1851-2020