Guides: PAID 111 Section 10: Caton (Fall 2024): Find Primary Sources

Getting Started with Primary Sources

Primary sources provide first-hand accounts of past events. They connect us to the views and perceptions of people who came before us.

Primary sources can come in several formats such as:

Newspaper articles
Personal journals and autobiographies
Interviews
Speeches
Photographs
Laws and statutes
Novels
Films and documentaries

Preus Library has access to several databases of different primary sources for your use. If you need assistance navigating these databases, contact your librarian for help.

Online Primary Sources

These are databases for historical newspapers and magazines.

Chicago Tribune, Historical
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time, from 1849 - 2014.
Life Magazine Archive (EBSCO)
Life Magazine Archive presents an extensive collection of the famed photojournalism magazine, spanning its very first issue in November, 1936 through December, 2000 in a comprehensive cover-to-cover format. Published by Time Inc., the magazine has featured story-telling through documentary photographs and informative captions.
Los Angeles Times, Historical
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time, from 1881 - 2015.
New York Times, Historical plus Index (ProQuest)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: the New York Times provides the full image of articles published in the New York Times from its first issue in 1851. It is searchable by keyword, author, article title, and first paragraph (abstract). You can browse issues by clicking Publications at the top of the screen. It includes illustrations and advertisements. The title changed from the New York Daily Times to the New York Times in 1857.
Time Magazine Archive (EBSCO)
The Time Magazine Archive presents an extensive collection of the prominent weekly news magazine dating back to its first issue in March 1923 through December 2000, presented in a comprehensive cover-to-cover format.

These databases are resources for statistics and government publications.

ProQuest Historical Statistical Abstracts of the U.S.
Includes millions of full-text reports and more than 1 million published tables on thousands of different topics, providing statistical information produced by U.S. federal agencies, states, private organizations, and major intergovernmental organizations.

These databases and sites are resources for images.

Newspaper Navigator (Library of Congress)
Primarily searches photographs and illustrations from American newspapers, 1900-1963.

These are collections of digitized primary sources put together by other universities and libraries. They have a variety of primary sources including pictures, pamphlets, speeches, and posters.

Immigration Since 1840 - Digital Public Library of America
This collection of digitized resources from the Digital Public Library of America is divided into several topics, including Discrimination and Reform and Immigration Quotas, 1920-1939. Resources include postcards, pamphlets, political cartoons, and photos.