Research Guides: HY 449: Disasters in American History: Finding Primary Sources

Databases for Primary Research

AlabamaMosaic This link opens in a new window
A repository of digital materials on Alabama's history, culture, places, and people. Its purpose is to make unique historical treasures from Alabama's archives, libraries, museums, and other repositories electronically accessible to Alabama residents and to students, researchers, and the general public in other states and countries.
American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new window
Covers American Indian history including volumes, maps, atlases, photographs, drawings and paintings, as well as archaeology, voyages, exploration and accounts of early America, the development of cartography, Philippine and Hawaiian history, and Central and South American history.
American Periodicals, 1740 - 1940 This link opens in a new window
Contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals.
Archives Direct This link opens in a new window
Contains diplomatic correspondence, letters, reports, surveys, material from newspapers, maps and many other types of documents covering the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from the British state’s point of view.
Collections that are included are the following: Apartheid South Africa (1948 - 1980); Central Asia. Persia and Afghanistan (1834 - 1922); Confidential Print: Africa (1834 - 1966); Confidential Print: Latin America (1833 - 1969); Confidential Print: Middle East (1839 - 1969); Confidential Print: North America (1824 - 1961); Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan (1947 - 1980); Foreign Office Files for Japan (1919 - 1952); Foreign Office for the Middle East (1971 - 1981); Foreign Office Files for South East Asia (1963 - 1980); Macmillan Cabinet Papers (1957 - 1963); The Nixon Years (1969 - 1974); Women in the National Archives.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Four primary source collections on gender and sexuality, LGBTQ history and activism, cultural studies, psychology, health, political science, and policy studies.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Primary source collections covering topics: African American Studies; American Studies; Asian Studies; British & European History; Business & Economic History; Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies; International Relations; Latin American & Caribbean Studies; Native American Studies; and Religious Studies.
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window
Literary works of Black abolitionists documenting the impact of African American activism against slavery. Content from 1830 - 1865.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century This link opens in a new window
Contains Federal Government Records, including presidential records, military, and FBI Files, and Organizational Records and Personal Papers, including those of SCLC, SNCC, and CORE, offering unique documentation and a variety of perspectives on the 20th century fight for freedom. Content from 1898 - 1996.
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Contains non-fiction writings by major American black leaders covering 250 years of history, including letters, speeches, prefatory essays, political leaflets, interviews, periodicals, and trial transcripts.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Includes diaries, letters, biographies of and by women spanning more than 300 years.
Burney Newspapers This link opens in a new window
The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection represents the largest single collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century English news media available from the British Library and includes more than 1,000 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the period.
Civil War Era This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials, regional newspapers, pamphlets covering topics including the abolitionist movement, and the emancipation of slaves.
Digital Archives Collection This link opens in a new window
Over 70 primary source collections in areas including African American studies, American Indian studies, American/China trade, Colonial America, Gender studies, Women studies, etc.
Documenting the American South This link opens in a new window
A digital publishing initiative sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that provides access to digitized primary materials which offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture.
Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
25,000 fully searchable texts selected from Early English Books Online (EEBO). Content from 1473-1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
A vast eighteenth-century library—a fully text-searchable corpus of books, pamphlets and broadsides in all subjects printed between 1701 and 1800. It currently contains over 180,000 titles amounting to over 32 million fully-searchable pages. ECCO is a digitization of the eighteenth-century section of the works catalogued in the English Short-title Catalogue (ESTC).
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
Publications covering women studies, men's studies, evolution of the women's movement, transgendered community, (changes in) gender roles, femininity, gender differences, gender equity, gender identity, and gender studies. Content from 1970 - present.
Gilded Age, The This link opens in a new window
Primary documents covering race, labor, immigration, commerce, western expansion, and women’s suffrage in America during the decades between the end of the Civil War and the election of Theodore Roosevelt.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Includes law periodicals, the Congressional Record, U.S. Reports, trials, legal classics, the United Nations and League of Nations Treaty Series, all United States treaties, the Federal Register and more.
Legislative & Executive Publications This link opens in a new window
Congressional publications, legislative histories, bills and laws, Congressional members and committees, regulations, Congressional Record, and political news.
Making of America This link opens in a new window
Primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction; includes books, journals, and volumes focusing on New York City.
The Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers This link opens in a new window
Three primary collections focusing on civil rights, civil liberties, race, gender, and issues relating to the U.S. Supreme Court.
NAACP Papers This link opens in a new window
Contains internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. It charts the NAACP's work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues. Content from 1909 - 1972.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) This link opens in a new window
Documents the "national experience"; includes the Federal Register, public laws, presidential documents, and much more.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Books, monographs, newspapers, photographs and more, published during the nineteenth century. Includes Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; British Politics and Society; British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture; and European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Collection of women's diaries and correspondence, spanning over 300 years and covering the personal experiences of 1,500 North American women.
Political Extremism and Radicalism This link opens in a new window
Seventeen primary source collections documenting 20th century far-right and left political groups in the US, Europe and Australia.
Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
All collections that UAB Libraries has access to from the Primary Sources database are listed below the search bar on the Gale Primary Sources platform.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive compilation of declassified documents from the executive branch; includes intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports.
Vanderbilt Television News Archive This link opens in a new window
Abstracts of ABC, NBC, and CBS evening news broadcasts (August 1968-present); daily news programs from CNN (1995-present), FOX News (2004-present), and ABC Nightline (12 September 1988-present); and special event broadcasts. Streaming video of NBC nightly news broadcasts (August 1968-present) and CNN broadcasts (1995-present).

Primary Resources

Websites for Primary Research

The internet holds a burgeoning treasure trove of sites for primary research. When searching, keep a few key things in mind.

Evaluate the source - always evaluate the site for authority, accuracy, objectivity, and currency to make sure the information at the site can be validated. More information and a checklist for evaluation can be found here, http://uab.libguides.com/EIS

If searching in Google, be sure to narrow your search by domain (to weed out the commercial sites)
- Going to the "advanced" search option in Google gives you the opportunity to choose your domain, including .edu, .org, or .gov (universities, organizations and US government agency sites, respectively

Almost anything is always better than HTML. Meaning, finding the digitized original copy of the document, picture, etc is much better than finding an html document that someone merely typed in. While html is better than nothing, it's always best to try to find the original so that you can check for accuracy.

Historical Newspaper Sources

The following is merely a small sampling of the newspapers available to you either through library subscriptions or openly available through the Web. New digitized collections are popping up all the time, so please check back from time to time to see if any have been added. If you have any questions about particular newspapers, please don't hesitate to ask.

Access World News This link opens in a new window
Access to international, national and local newspapers from more than 12,000 sources spanning 200+ countries and territories; includes the Birmingham News.
American Periodicals, 1740 - 1940 This link opens in a new window
Contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals.
Birmingham News This link opens in a new window
Birmingham history through the current and archived issues with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online.
Boston Globe, The (1872-1991) This link opens in a new window
Historical full text newspaper with coverage of local, regional and national news.
Burney Newspapers This link opens in a new window
The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection represents the largest single collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century English news media available from the British Library and includes more than 1,000 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the period.

Chronicling America
Includes historic American newspapers from 1789-1922.
Cornell University 'Making of America' News Collection Includes the following: The American Missionary (1878 - 1901) The American Whig Review (1845 - 1852) The Atlantic Monthly (1857 - 1901) The Bay State Monthly (1884 - 1886) The Century (1881 - 1899) The Continental Monthly (1862 - 1864) The Galaxy (1866 - 1878) Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1850 - 1899) The International Monthly Magazine (1850 - 1852) The Living Age (1844 - 1900) Manufacturer and Builder (1869 - 1894) The New England Magazine (1886 - 1900) The New-England Magazine (1831 - 1835) New Englander (1843 - 1892) The North American Review (1815 - 1900) The Old Guard (1863 - 1867) Punchinello (1870) Putnam's Monthly (1853 - 1870) Scientific American (1846 - 1869) Scribner's Magazine (1887 - 1896) Scribner's Monthly (1870 - 1881) The United States Democratic Review (1837 - 1859)
Georgia Historic Newspapers
Digitized newspapers from the Digital Library of Georgia
Google News Archive
Large collection of historical newspapers, both US and International. Coverage years vary widely.
Hemeroteca Digital
Selection of Spanish language periodicals from Spain

Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Historical newspapers, including New York Times; Historical Chicago Tribune; Guardian & Observer, 1821-2003; Communist Historical Newspapers; and Black Historical Newspapers.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
U.S. and international newspapers. Content from 1988 - present.
New York Times This link opens in a new window
A daily newspaper published in New York City.

Individual login required using UAB email.

University of Michigan 'Making of America' Journal Collection
Includes the following:
American Jewess 1895-1899 (hosted on behalf of the Jewish Women's Archive)
Appleton's 1869-1881 (2 series)
Catholic World 1865-1901
DeBow's 1846-1869 + 1952 index (3 series)
Garden and Forest 1888-1897 (hosted on behalf of the Library of Congress)
Journal of the United States Association of Charcoal Iron Workers 1880-1891
Ladies Repository 1841-1876 (3 series)
The Old Guard 1864
Overland Monthly 1868-1900 (2 series)
Princeton Review 1831-1882 (3 series)
Southern Literary Messenger 1835-1864 + 1936 Contributor index
Southern Quarterly Review 1842-1857 (3 series)
Vanity Fair 1860-1862
The Valley of the Shadow
Civil War era newspapers from Virginia

Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window
Literary works of Black abolitionists documenting the impact of African American activism against slavery. Content from 1830 - 1865.