Research Guides: United States Civil War: Finding other Primary Sources

Primary Resources

What is a primary source?

Primary sources are documents, web pages, videos, etc., created by people or organizations directly involved in an issue or event. Primary sources are information before it has been analyzed by scholars, students, and others.

Some examples of primary sources:

diaries and letters
academic articles presenting original scientific research
news reports from the time of the event
literature (poems, novels, plays, etc.)
fine art (photographs, paintings, sculpture, pottery, music etc.)
official records from a government, judicial court, or company
oral histories
speeches
autobiographies

Primary Resources Databases

African American Newspapers This link opens in a new window This enormous collection of African American newspapers contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s and is rich with first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day, including the Mexican War, Presidential and Congressional addresses, Congressional abstracts, business and commodity markets, the humanities, world travel and religion. The collection also provides a great number of early biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements all of which embody the African-American experience.
African Newspapers, Series 1 This link opens in a new window Provides access to almost 70 newspapers published between 1800 and 1922 in Sub-Saharan Africa. Content features English- and foreign-language titles from countries including Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
American Periodicals This link opens in a new window Special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and historically significant periodicals, covering 1740-1900.
American West This link opens in a new window Online access to the Graff Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library. Contains books, manuscripts, maps, engravings, and many other primary sources related to the U.S. West, covering topics such as Native Americans, the Gold Rush, fiction, outlaws, and conservation.
Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Catalog This link opens in a new window CRL acquires and preserves newspapers, journals, documents, archives and other traditional and digital resources for research and teaching.
These resources are then made available to member institutions cooperatively, through interlibrary loan and electronic delivery. The UO Libraries is a member of the Center for Research Libraries.
Gale in Context. U.S. history This link opens in a new window If searches in this database retrieve incorrect results, clear cache/cookies to resolve the problem. Coverage - scholarly articles, primary sources, encyclopedia entries, audio, video, - of topics in U.S. History, from the arrival of Vikings to Vietnam, Watergate and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Gale primary sources This link opens in a new window If searches in this database retrieve incorrect results, clear cache/cookies to resolve the problem.Artemis Primary Sources allows researchers to search Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) and Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) simultaneously.
New York times (digital reproduction, 1851-2015) This link opens in a new window Digital reproduction of the NY Times, with full page and article images as well as searchable full text back to the first issue.
Nineteenth century U.S. newspapers This link opens in a new window If searches in this database retrieve incorrect results, clear cache/cookies to resolve the problem. Includes major newspapers as well as those published by African Americans, Native Americans, women's rights groups, labor groups, the Confederacy, and other groups and interests.
Sabin Americana: history of the Americas, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new window If searches in this database retrieve incorrect results, clear cache/cookies to resolve the problem. Based on Joseph Sabin's bibliography. Contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Includes books, pamphlets, serials, etc. providing original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and more.
Women and social movements in the United States 1600-2000 This link opens in a new window Primary sources dealing with U.S. women's history from 1600 to 2000

Selected Web Sites

Finding Primary Sources in LibrarySearch

To find primary sources in LibrarySearch use key words such as

Archives
Caricatures and cartoons
Correspondence
Diaries
Early works to 1800
Facsimilies
Interviews
Newspapers [e.g., African Americans -- Newspapers]
Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
Pamphlets
Personal narratives (used in relation to specific events only)
Photographs
Pictorial works
Songs and music
Sources
Speeches, addresses, etc.*
Treaties

Example Search: Civil War diaries