Guides: PAID 112 Sections 14 & 22: Whitsitt (Spring 2025): Primary Sources

Books of Note

The New York Times the Times of the Sixties by John Rockwell (Editor)
Call Number: CB425 .T56 2014
More than 400 articles culled from the archives of The New York Times newspaper.
This book captures the history, culture, and personalities of the decade through hundreds of articles and original commentary.
Boom! by Tom Brokaw
Call Number: E841 .B738 2007 and e-book
Published as the fortieth anniversary of 1968 approaches, Boom! gives us what Brokaw sees as a virtual reunion of some members of “the class of ’68,” offering wise and moving reflections and frank personal remembrances about people’s lives during a time of high ideals and profound social, political, and individual change. What were the gains, what were the losses? Who were the winners, who were the losers? As they look back decades later, what do members of the Sixties generation think really mattered in that tumultuous time, and what will have meaning going forward?
American Decades: Primary Documents (1960-1969) by Cynthia Rose (Editor)
Publication Date: 2003-12-05
Collection of primary source documents and excerpts from key events in the 1960s. Arranged thematically and chronologically.

Examples of Primary Sources:

New York Times, Historical plus Index (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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.
Chicago Defender (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A Chicago-based weekly newspaper, serving a primarily African-American audience. This collection covers issues published from 1910-1975.

Time Magazine Archive (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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.
Life Magazine Archive (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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.
Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
This collection chronicles the transformative decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s through the lens of an independent alternative press. Independent Voices provides access to over 1,000 titles of publications from feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, gays, lesbians and more.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive Collection 2 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Includes essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. The core US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting and theater are included, together with film fan magazines and music press titles.

Civil Rights History Project (Library of Congress)
The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material related to civil rights, including photographs, documents, and sound recordings.
FBI -- The Vault
Digitized FBI documents made public through FOIA requests. Organized by subject and searchable.

The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974: Video (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Includes diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
Archives Unbound: African American Studies This link opens in a new window
Contains small, specialized collections of primary sources. Emphasis on civil rights in the 1960s, including school integration and freedom riders.

The Sixties Video Titles (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Contains fifty hours of primary footage and secondary documentaries that explore the key events of the sixties and early seventies, including the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement and the sexual revolution.