History Primary Resources
Working with primary documents is an important part of research. By examining the first-hand accounts and reports, we can better understand how people at the time experienced, thought, or felt about what was happening.
Students are not always able to travel to work with primary documents in-person. This collection started in 2015 to fill that gap. Below you will find links to over a hundred collections of historical materials that you can use for research assignments in a variety of courses.
Research Help
Grammar, Citations, and Other Writing Resources
A Brief Guide to Analyzing Historical Sources
William Cronon's Guide Learning Historical Research
Primary Source Collection Topic Categories
General History Collections (covers large period of time or variety of topics for a nation or state)
Government Documents (access to official documents, correspondence, etc.)
African American and Black History
Hispanic and Latino/Latina American
Colonial and Revolutionary America (through 1800)
Thank you to folks who have contributed links via email and Twitter: Carol Heming, Ted McCormick, Jeremy Neely, Joshua Nygren, Natalie Mendoza, Stephanie Richmond, Betsy Pingree, Leighton Quarles, Ryan Abt, Renee Kahre, Diana Marsh, Sandi MacCallum, Julie Hardwick, Nathan Ellstrand, Jolie Braun, and Brian Franklin.