Primary Source Searching

Remember, primary source materials are literally artifacts from the past that have been preserved and are available to us now. Primary sources include:

• Journals
• Letters
• Diaries
• Photographs
• Original works of art
• Newspapers & magazines from the time period
• Documents (e.g., speech, ticket, license, warrant, poster, legislation, etc.)
• Maps, Data sets, Charts and Graphs
• Physical Objects from the time period
• Film, Video, Audio Recordings

• Pictures of the Civil War
• Two Communities During the Civil War-The Valley of the Shadow
• Mathew Brady Collection via Flikr and National Archives

Use the following key search terms: immigrants, immigration, anti-immigration, dates 1830-1900, and specific nationalities (e.g., Irish, Jewish, German, Chinese)

• American History Online
• Student Resource Center Jr.
• LOC Prints & Photographs Reading Room
• LOC Port of Entry Presentation (follow subject links)
• LOC Immigration by Nationality
• LOC Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
• National Archives Digital Vault
• New York Public Library Digital Collection
• Immigration to the United States 1851-1900
• America in Class-National Humanities Center
• TPS-Barat Primary Source Nexus
• Immigration: Challenges for New Americans
• California Digital Newspaper Collection
• Immigrant Voices
• Statistical atlas of the United States, based upon the results of the eleventh census
• Doc Teach
• Scholastic Immigration Stories of Yesterday and Today
• Irish Immigrant Letters Home

• Awesome Stories
• National Archives

• Creating an Images Folder on Google Drive
• Locating & Collecting Primary Source Images to Google Drive