Start by using your preferred online search engine to conduct a search for your topic. If you are using a phrase, surround with quotation marks. Follow your topic with "primary sources" or "archives".
Search results will come from Digital Repository websites or websites with Finding Aids. Finding aids are a narrative overview of the collection. Finding aids are a list of materials by box, folder, or item. Finding aids assist the researcher in determining whether or not the collection meets his or her research needs. Researchers of archival materials will encounter findings aids when looking for unpublished papers and archival collections. For the beginning researcher, repositories are the most user friendly as they link directly to the artifact/item. Below are links to online archives and collections useful for research in the sciences and humanities. Below are examples of electronic finding aids.
This database indexes United Nations documents and publications from the six main bodies of the United Nations. Of particular interest to researchers are treaties in the UN Treaty Series, citations to UN resolutions, Masthead documents (formerly referred to as mimeographed documents), Official Records, limited and restricted documents, and documents emanating from sessional and standing committees, functional commissions, conferences, and regional bodies.
Digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economic, politics, diplomacy, and government from ancient times to the 21st century. In addition to categories that address specific historical periods, the Avalon Project includes links to human rights documents as part of Project Diana.
California Revealed is a State Library initiative to help California’s public libraries, in partnership with other local heritage groups, digitize, preserve, and provide online access to archival materials - books, newspapers, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and more - that tell the incredible stories of the Golden State. Explore Sacramento States' digital collections.
A free public gateway to California's remarkable digital collections and digitized primary sources - including photographs, documents, newspaper clippings, works of art - from UC museums and libraries and other cultural heritage institutions across California. Calisphere's California Cultures pages include Chicano and Latino topics. Many CEMA image contributions are in the Politics, Culture, and Art (1960s-Present) section. Click to learn more about Calisphere.
Records, indexes, and archives all C-SPAN programming aired since 1987, now totaling over 160,000 hours. All C-SPAN programs since 1993 are digital and can be viewed online for free.
Elsevier Open Archive: Science and Math Academic Journals
Free access to archived material in 130 Elsevier journals. Articles featured in the archives are open access and available to read online, print, or download.
One of the best places to start for all time periods of European history. Extensive collection of primary sources and links to other sites. Browse by broad era (prehistory/ancient, medieval/renaissance, modern) or by country.
Harry Ransom Center Digital Collections
A robust collection of diverse holdings in literature, photography, film, art, and the performing arts from the University of Texas, Austin.
Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries preserving 17+ million digitized items. HathiTrust offers reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S. copyright law, computational access to the entire corpus for scholarly research, and other emerging services based on the combined collection. HathiTrust members steward the collection — the largest set of digitized books managed by academic and research libraries — under the aims of scholarly, not corporate, interests.
The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge. Explore California State University Sacramento's collection
Library of Congress Bibliographies, Research Guides, and Finding Aids
These guides provide comprehensive overviews of unique Library resources. Handwritten poems by Walt Whitman ... Leonard Bernstein's scrapbooks ... Thomas Edison's patents ... photographs and memoranda from the NAACP ... Margaret Mead's field notes ... The collections of the Library of Congress offer researchers rich and deep access to primary source material of unparalleled interest and significance. Finding aids provide a gateway to this wealth of Library treasures, helping you discover and navigate through the thousands of boxes and folders that house each collection.
Library of Congress Presidential Papers
Papers of 23 presidents from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, all of which have been digitized and are now available online. The collections include some of the nation’s most treasured documents, including George Washington’s commission as commander in chief of the American army and his first inaugural address; Thomas Jefferson’s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence; and Abraham Lincoln’s first and second inaugural addresses, along with many others.
Google and Life Magazine have a wonderful search engine that lets users search millions of images from the Life Magazine Photo Archive. Not only can you type in key terms to guide your searches, but you can also look through images organized by decade (1860s through 1970s) or significant people, places, events or sports topics.
The National Archives is a fantastic resource. Their website is easy to navigate and includes lots of teacher resources. They feature a daily historical document relating to an event from that day in history. The online catalog can be searched using keywords, and 100 "milestone" documents are identified as significant to American history.
Archive of declassified documents that were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Provides access to hundreds of thousands of digital images, including manuscripts, maps, posters, prints, photographs, ephemera, and more.
A portal to resources from three New York City art museum research libraries: The Brooklyn Museum, the Frick Collection, and the Museum of Modern Art. Search their combined library collection catalog, Arcade, and digital collections such as the Frick Digital Image Archive.
As America's preeminent public broadcasting producer, the source of fully one-third of PBS' prime-time lineup, WGBH has been on the front lines of history for nearly seven decades. WGBH productions - from local radio and television to nationally distributed programming - have documented our collective cultural heritage in moving images and sound.
Online Archive of California (OAC)
The OAC provides access to photographic images, documents, letters, oral histories and finding aids to archival collections in library, museum, archival and other institutional collections throughout California. Explore our Sacramento State collections.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and world.
ProQuest Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
Website focused on Black Freedom, featuring select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history and centered on the experiences and perspectives of African Americans. Designed for researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S.-- and the fights against it.
Sacramento Public Library's Sacramento Room Digital Collections
This site features digital images of photographs, periodicals, ephemera, yearbooks and directories from the Sacramento Public Library’s Special Collections. Here, full and open access is provided to materials documenting the rich history of the Sacramento area.
San Diego State University Special Collections & University Archives
The Department of Special Collections & University Archives houses rare, fine, unique, and valuable books, periodicals, manuscripts, and documents which require preservation, security and care in handling. Other valuable historical items such as photographs, prints, postcards, memorabilia, scrapbooks, and oral histories are also held in Special Collections. University Archives holds materials which document the history of San Diego State since its founding as a Normal School in 1897.
Science is an outlet for scientific news, commentary, and cutting-edge research. Science has been at the center of important scientific discovery since its founding in 1880—with seed money from Thomas Edison. Click on the link above to explore their archival material. Read online, email, print, or download a PDF.
