Research Guides: Africana Studies: Primary Resources

Identifying a Primary Resource

Primary sources are the raw material upon which critical, analytic, and historic studies are based. These sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers. Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to the truth of what actually happened during an historical event or time period. They present original thinking, report a discovery, or share new information. (Note that the definition of a primary source may vary depending upon the discipline or context.)

Examples include:

Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under study)
Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)
Diaries
Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail)
Letters
Newspaper articles written at the time
Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript)
Patents
Photographs
Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia
Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government document)
Speeches
Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls)
Video recordings (e.g. television programs)
Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems)

Primary Source Databases

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
Over 270 U.S. newspapers from more than 35 states chronicling the African American experience. Includes many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.
Afro-Americana Imprints, 1535-1922
This collection of books, broadsides, and pamphlets spans the nearly 400-year arc of the fight for freedom and equality, an unparalleled record of African American history, literature, and culture. The content in this database is based on the Library Company of Philadelphia’s Afro-American Collection.
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1900
Full text articles from early American newspapers; searchable by presidential era, place of publication, language, and type of article, such as editorial, advertisements, birth and death notices, and cartoons.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
This collection contains 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs.
Baltimore Afro-American Historical This link opens in a new window
Archive of the Afro-American and Afro-American Ledger newspapers from 1893 to 1988.
Black Drama: 1850 to present This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text of more than 1,700 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.
Black Thought and Culture
A collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history.
Documenting the American South
Digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture. Sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Early American Imprints, Series I and II
Full-text of virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America from 1639 to 1819. Includes almanacs, cookbooks, diaries, textbooks, advertisements, contracts, charters, legislation, treaties, poems, songs, plays, the Bible, sermons, eulogies, and much more.
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries
This collection will bring together 105,000 pages of the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
This collection includes 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information, so providing a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950. Composed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
This collection includes the immediate experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters. The collection also includes biographical sketeches of people represented in this database.
Social and Cultural History: Letters and Diaries
Primary source database of letters, diaries, and oral histories dating from 1675 to the present. Includes these subject collections, which may be searched individually using these links:
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
Black Thought and Culture
British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries
Manuscript Women’s Letters and Diaries
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
North American Women’s Letters and Diaries

Archival Collections Online

Archive Grid
ArchiveGrid connects you with primary source material held in archives, special collections, and manuscript collections around the world. You will find historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. ArchiveGrid also helps researchers contact archives to request information, arrange a visit, and order copies.

Archive Finder
Archive Finder is a current directory which describes over 220,000 collections of primary source material housed in thousands of repositories across the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

DPLA
The DPLA brings different viewpoints, experiences, and collections together in a single platform and portal, providing open and coherent access to our society’s digitized cultural heritage.