THIST 375 British Empire - Sundermann: Primary Sources
UW Libraries Search for primary sources
In addition to using UW Libraries Search to locate published secondary sources written by scholars and researchers about historical topics, you may also use it to locate both published compilations of primary sources -- documents, letters, journals, etc. and archival or manuscript collections held by UW Libraries in both print and digital forms. Additionally, during your searches in UW Libraries Search you may find books that can be primary sources if they were written in the time period that your project is examining. See the search boxes below for suggestions for terms to locate primary resources via the catalog.
Featured databases
- Empire Online This link opens in a new window
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Full text database covering the rise and fall of empires and colonialism around the world. Includes primary source materials. - India, Raj & Empire This link opens in a new window
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18th and 19th century colonial papers & records
News and Magazines
To find freely available digitized historic newspapers, see ICON International Coalition on Newspapers. For contemporary newspaper coverage (roughly since 1990) see the News Research Guide.
- 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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Search through a variety of 17th and 18 century British newspapers.
- British Newspaper ArchiveSearchable collection of 18th-20th centuries; searching is free, but payment is required for full text.
- British PatheMore than 3000 news features from 1896 to 1970.
- British Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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This database provides access to the searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
- Economist Historical Archive 1843-2006Search for articles within this digitized version of this magazine for the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window
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Search within this index to 20th century British, American, French, and German journals.
- Internet Library of Early JournalsSelected years of six 18th century British Journals.
- Manchester GuardianSearch content of newspaper to identify articles available on microfilm (A597) or download for a fee.
- Nineteenth-Century Serials EditionThe NCSE is a free, online edition of six nineteenth-century magazines and newspapers.
- Times (of London), 1785-1985Provides searchable full-text coverage of this newspaper from 1785-1985.
- Times of India, 1838-2003Newspaper page images, 1838-2003.
What are primary sources?
Primary sources include documents or artifacts created by a witness to or participant in an event. They can be firsthand testimony or evidence created during the time period that you are studying.
Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music. The collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.
Terms useful for locating primary sources in the UW Libraries Search:
- sources
- personal narratives
- correspondence
- letters
- diaries
- journals
- interviews
- sermons
- documents
- papers
Online Collections of Images, Documents, etc
- British History OnlineContains some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.
- British Library Images OnlineThousands of high quality images from the British Library's extensive collections.
- British Library Online GalleryAn collection of tens of thousands of digital images from the British Library.
- Charts and MapsA collection of charts and maps from the National Maritime Museum.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
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Over 136,000 books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides and more works published in English during the eighteenth century.
- Empire OnlineDocuments and other primary sources dealing primarily with the British Empire including Canada.
- Images of EmpireImages of Empire from the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum is the largest dedicated online resource of still and moving images on the British colonial period.
- Imperial War Museum Online CollectionA searchable collection of wide range of artifacts and documents from the Imperial War Museum. Almost 90,000 of them have digitized images, sound or video.
- Moving Here: 200 Years of Migration to EnglandThis database includes numerous records related to migration history from local, regional and national archives, libraries and museums and illustrates why people came to England over the last 200 years and what their experiences were and continue to be.