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Primary Source Resources (Full list)

Links and descriptions for UMSL's online primary source materials

Primary Source Databases

  • 19th Century British Pamphlets (JSTOR) Best Bet

    Throughout the 19th century, pamphlets were an important means of public debate, covering the key political, social, technological, and environmental issues of their day. 19th Century British Pamphlets, created by Research Libraries UK (RLUK), contains the most significant British pamphlets from the 19th century held in research libraries in the United Kingdom.

  • AAS American Historical Periodicals (Gale), Parts 1-5
    American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society provides a history of the American people and a testament to the growth of the nation from the colonial period through to the twentieth century. The periodicals were predominantly published in the United States or Canada, though some were published overseas by Americans living abroad.
  • AAS Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1-5: 1691-1912 (EBSCO)
  • Archives of Sexuality and Gender: Parts I, II, and III
    Part I: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940
    Part II: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940
    Part III: Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century
  • Archives Unbound
    Archives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of scholars and students. For more information, see this list of Archives Unbound collections.
  • Black Freedom Struggle in the United States Best Bet
    Focused on the struggle for Black Freedom, this website features roughly 1,600 primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. ProQuest's intention is to support a wide range of students, researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S. – and the fights against it.
  • Black Life In America (Series 3: 1976-Today)
    The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media. Updated daily with new content, Series 3 is essential for navigating the arc of African American history from 1976 through the present day. Part of the Access World News package from NewsBank.
  • British Association for the Advancement of Science – Collections on the History of Science (1830s-1970s) Best Bet
    The Archive of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and connected collections from UK universities, covers astronomy, biology, technology, industrial design, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, agriculture, meteorology, physics, history of science and STEM, and government grants for scientific research. It contains administrative records, correspondence, illustrations, manuscripts, photographs, prototypes, clippings, personal papers, grey literature - all presented as fully searchable digital images that can be analyzed, downloaded, manipulated, and compared with content from other societies and universities in the Wiley Digital Archives programme.
  • Civil Rights and Social Justice Best Bet

    Part of HeinOnline Academic, this database covers civil rights in the United States. It includes hearings and committee prints, legislative histories on the landmark legislations, CRS and GAO reports, briefs from major Supreme Court cases, publications from the Commission on Civil Rights, a curated list of scholarly articles & books on many civil rights topics, and a list of prominent civil rights organizations.

  • eHRAF Archaeology
    HRAF Archaeology is a cross-cultural database that currently contains nearly 60,000 pages of information on the world's prehistory. This database is organized by archaeological traditions and the full-text sources are all subject-indexed to the paragraph level.
  • eHRAF World Cultures
    The eHRAF Collection of Ethnography is a cross-cultural database that contains over 350,000 pages of information on all aspects of cultural and social life. Information is organized into cultures and ethnic groups and the full-text sources are subject-indexed at the paragraph level.
  • Environmental Science and History (c. 1790s-2000s)
    The Environmental Science and History digital archive focuses on the critical aspects of environmental science, history and anthropogenic change, and includes unique and rare archival collections from multiple global sources such as the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), The National Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew), and the Commonwealth Forestry Archive at Bangor University. Topics covered include agriculture, biodiversity, botany, climate change, deforestation, fisheries, hydrology, irrigation, livestock, water sources, and wetlands. It enables researchers to trace the impacts of human activity on the natural world through documents, images, data, maps, and photographs - all presented as fully searchable digital images that can be analysed, downloaded, manipulated, and compared with content from other societies and universities in the Wiley Digital Archives programme.
  • Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters
    This digital collection of primary source documents helps us to understand existence on the edges of the anglophone world from 1650-1920. Discover the various European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia through documents that reveal the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in these areas.
    Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters is available to the UMSL community because the St. Louis Mercantile Library contributed material for the collection.
  • govinfo (formerly FDsys)
    govinfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO), which is a Federal agency in the legislative branch. govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
    (Formerly FDsys).
  • Gun Regulation and Legislation in America
    This HeinOnline collection brings together more than 500 titles dealing with the difficult and important topic of Gun Regulation and Legislation in America. Included are periodicals, key compiled federal legislative histories, relevant congressional hearings, CRS Reports, Supreme Court briefs, and more. Links to nearly 500 scholarly articles,* an extensive bibliography, and a balanced selection of external resources to further research this subject are also provided. Research the National Firearms Act, the Miller and Heller decisions, and other key aspects of this subject.
    * Most material is free. Scholarly law journals are not included in this specific database - search for them in other parts of HeinOnline or in the journal portal.
  • HeritageQuest Online
    HeritageQuest® Online is a comprehensive treasury of American genealogical and historical sources including unique primary sources, local and family histories, and finding aids.
  • Hispanic Life in America (Series 3: 2010-Today) Best Bet

    The experience and impact of Hispanic Americans as recorded by the news media. Updated daily with new content, Series 3 is essential for navigating the arc of Hispanic American history from 2010 through the present day. Part of the Access World News package from NewsBank.

  • Historic American Newspapers: Chronicling America
    A subset of the Library of Congress Digital Collections, Chronicling America (ISSN 2475-2703) is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
  • History Commons (African American Newspapers and other historical resources)
    A selection of nineteenth and twentieth century African American Newspapers plus several Freely Available/Open Access resources. See below for a list of titles included. (Previous product name: Accessible Archives.)
  • Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 Best Bet
    The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 covers a wide range of subject areas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries making it an invaluable resource for multi-disciplinary research. It was the world's first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, marking a revolution in journalism and news reporting. The publication presented a vivid picture of British and world events (including news of war, disaster, ceremonies, the arts, and science) with coverage in the first issue ranging from the Great Fire of Hamburg to Queen Victoria's fancy dress ball at Buckingham Palace.
  • Indigenous Peoples of North America
    Enabling exploration of the political, social, and cultural history of native peoples from the sixteenth century well into the twentieth century, Indigenous Peoples of North America illustrates the fabric of the North American story with unprecedented depth and breadth. Comprehensive yet personal, the collection covers the history of American Indian tribes and supporting organizations.
    Topics of interest include trade and communication, Arctic exploration and tribes, the Iroquois Confederation, Canadian Catholic Indian missions, Indian removal, Indian wars and the frontier army, establishment of the Canadian Indian and Aboriginal Department, Indian delegations and Indian-federal relations, Canadian Indian treaty policy, government boarding and missionary schools and curricula, Dawes Severalty and the allotment system, dances and festivals, Alaskan Indian policies, Indian languages and linguistics, assimilation and the Indian New Deal, relocation, termination, and the Indian Claims Commission, water and fishing rights, civil rights, radicalism, poverty, and the American Indian movement.
    Includes Parts 1 & 2.
  • JSTOR Best Bet

    JSTOR contains articles and books, usually at least 3-5 years old, from scholarly sources. They also have some primary resource collections. For more recent material, use Discover@UMSL or other individual databases.

  • Library of Congress Digital Collections
    The Library of Congress Digital Collections is a repository of digital images, historic newspapers, early audio recordings, manuscripts, motion pictures and books, as well as "born digital" materials, such as selected Web sites.
  • Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991 Best Bet
    The Listener was a weekly magazine established by the BBC in 1929 under its director-general, Lord Reith. It was developed as the medium for reproducing broadcast talks, initially on radio, but in later years television as well, and was the intellectual counterpart to the BBC listings magazine Radio Times. The Listener is one of the few records and means of accessing the content of many early broadcasts. In addition to commenting on the intellectual broadcasts of the week, the Listener also previewed major literary and musical shows and regularly reviewed new books.
  • Missouri Digital Heritage
    Through the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative, the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Library, and the State Historical Society of Missouri, are working with institutions across the state to digitize their records. Included are historic newspapers, documents, art, photographs, maps and other materials.
  • National Archives Catalog Best Bet
    The catalog for the National Archives and Records Administration. Some items have been digitized. Some of their digital collections include:
    • Presidential Libraries
    • Online Exhibits
    • Ancestry and Military records
    • Motion Picture Stock shots (search by keyword)
    • Photos, documents & other Federal agency records
    Try the Advanced Search to narrow down your results.
  • New York Academy of Sciences, 1803-2013, History of Science and Medicine in North America
    The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) focuses on environmental history, pollution, human rights, public health and ethics, and the history of science, STEM and medicine in North America from ~1803 to 2013. It contains manuscripts, correspondence, reports, conference papers, proceedings, maps, surveys, data and ephemera—all presented as fully searchable digital images that can be analyzed, downloaded, manipulated, and compared with content from other societies and universities in the Wiley Digital Archives program.
  • New York Times with Index‎, 1851 - 4 years ago (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) Best Bet

    Coverage: 1851 - four years ago. Full indexing: 1851-1993. Provided through the generosity of an anonymous Mercantile Library donor with deepest gratitude from the UMSL University Libraries.

  • Newspaper Source
    Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for certain U.S. & international newspapers as well as selective full text from another 389 regional U.S. newspapers. Some full text television & radio news transcripts are also provided.
  • Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature
    This collection presents unique insights into the age of cartography and the rise of leisure travel, spotlighting a distinguished array of historical atlases, gazetteers, travel narratives, and a variety of maps, The materials focus on travel and exploration during the nineteenth century, including myriad sketch maps created during colonial exploration and expansion. Maps, historic atlases, and gazetteers offer unique city, town, and country information first used by the nineteenth century traveler, providing a window into the Age of Imperialism and the burgeoning middle classes.
  • Open Community Collections (JSTOR)
    JSTOR’s continuously expanding Open Community Collections feature freely accessible primary source materials in a wide variety of subjects contributed by libraries, museums, and archives.
  • Polling the Nations Best Bet

    Polling the Nations is a comprehensive collection of public opinion, with 750,000 original poll questions and results from 18,000+ surveys Conducted in the U.S. and 100+ other countries from 1986 to the present. Search by topic, and filter by date and source to find polls relating to your subject. Charts and data can be downloaded, emailed, or printed. MLA and Chicago citation formats are also supplied.

  • Regional Business News
    Regional Business News provides comprehensive full text coverage of more than 80 regional business publications covering all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.
  • Royal Anthropological Institute, 1763-2016 Best Bet
    The Archive of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland covers the history of cultural, biological, medical and visual anthropology, colonialism, social sciences, and humanities across the globe from ~1763 to 2016. It contains ethnographic photographs, lantern slide images, manuscripts, correspondence, reports, conference papers, proceedings, maps, surveys, fieldnotes, drawings, data and ephemera - all presented as fully searchable digital images that can be analyzed, downloaded, manipulated, and compared with content from other societies and universities in the Wiley Digital Archives programme.
  • Royal College of Physicians, 1205-1980, History of Medicine from Folklore to Modern Public Health Policy
    The Royal College of Physicians of London (RCP) covers the history of medicine, medical humanities, medicine and culture, religion, and government, the establishment of public health systems, and the policies governing medical education and practice from 1205 to 1980. It contains monographs, rare books, manuscripts, correspondence, reports, conference papers, medical reports, medical education textbooks, proceedings, lectures, anatomical drawings, public health surveys, photographs, drawings, data and ephemera—all presented as fully searchable digital images that can be analyzed, downloaded, manipulated, and compared with content from other societies and universities in the Wiley Digital Archives program.
  • Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1478-2010 Best Bet
    The Archive of the Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers) covers the history of geography exploration, colonization and de-colonization, anthropology, law, climate science, gender studies, cartography, and environmental history throughout the British Empire from the early modern period to late twentieth century. It contains manuscripts, correspondence, reports, conference papers, proceedings, maps, charts, atlases, photographs, surveys, data and ephemera - all presented as fully searchable digital images that can be analyzed, downloaded, manipulated, and compared with content from other societies and universities in the Wiley Digital Archives programme.
  • Sabin Americana: History of the Americas 1500-1926 Best Bet
    Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926 is drawn from Joseph Sabin's famed nineteenth century bibliography Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Book relating to America from its Discovery to the Present Time. This digital collection offers a perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late fifteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth century. Covering more than 400 years and more than 65,000 volumes in North, Central, and South America and the West Indies, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions, and momentous events of the time through sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature, and more.
  • Salem Press
    Salem Press includes references, books, and primary sources in the areas of Literature, History, Science, Health, Education, Business, Economics, Counseling/Social Work, and more. You can search all of UMSL's titles at once, search only selected titles using the Advanced Search, or browse the Subject Index.
  • Sanborn Fire Insurance & Similar Maps
    The Sanborn and related fire insurance maps are used for historical, genealogical and other research. The main link takes one to the Library of Congress collection. Additional sources:
  • Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive
    The most ambitious project of its kind, the content of Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is carefully reviewed by a renowned board of scholars and thematically arranged. It covers a wide spectrum of interests related to the history of slavery: legal issues; the Caribbean; children and women under slavery; modes of resistance; and much more. The archive consists of more than five million cross-searchable pages sourced from books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, legal documents, court records, monographs, manuscripts, and maps from many different countries. It is divided into four parts: Debates over Slavery and Abolition, The Slave Trade in the Atlantic World, The Institution of Slavery, and the Age of Emancipation.
  • Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
    This HeinOnline collection brings together a multitude of essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery.
  • Social Explorer
    Quick and easy access to current and historical census data, demographic information, election data and marketing profile data. Create maps and reports to illustrate, analyze and understand demography and social change.
    User Guide
    Examples from Business, Criminal Justice, Education, Political Science, History, Health, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology & more.
  • St. Louis Globe-Democrat Collection
    Acquired by the St. Louis Mercantile Library in 1986 when the newspaper ceased publication, this vast collection covers the history, culture and life of the St. Louis region and the state of Missouri. The clips and photos cover a wide array of topics, from individuals, to events, to a multitude of other subjects.
    NOTE: This is a work in progress (Complete: St. Louis subject index, Names Index A-T) The material in the collection is in several different formats (indexes, clippings files, photos, microform, etc.), and most of the material is NOT online. The Thomas Jefferson Library, located in the same building as the Mercantile, has the microfilm version of the St. Louis Globe Democrat available. A few years of the Globe-Democrat (1975 (Nov.) - 1979) are included in the Index to St. Louis Newspapers.
  • St. Louis Post Dispatch (current, via Access World News)
    The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, available via the Access World News link above, has the full text of articles (starting in 1988) with full graphic access starting in January 2020.
  • St. Louis Post Dispatch‎, 1874 - 2003 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) Best Bet
    Searchable full page images and text. Provided through the generosity of an anonymous Mercantile Library donor with deepest gratitude from the UMSL University Libraries.
    SEARCHING TIP: Use Advanced Search. On the second line, enter your search term and select in "Document text - FT"
  • St. Louis Post Dispatch‎, 2004 - 2007 (microfilm)
    These years are available on microfilm. Please ask at the Public Service Desk if you need assistance with the microfilm reels and/or reader.
  • St. Louis Post Dispatch‎, 2008 - 3 months ago (ProQuest Recent Newspapers / Digital Microfilm)
    The St. Louis Post Dispatch presented in a searchable digital format. There is a 3 month processing delay - please see the "St. Louis Post Dispatch via Access World News" link for more recent issues.
  • State Historical Society of Missouri - Newspaper Collection
    Specializing in Missouri newspapers, the collection Includes print, microfilm, and some online newspapers. A limited number of titles have been indexed. Follow the link for a full list of titles, dates, and formats offered. If a paper is not available digitally, it is often possible to obtain microfilm via Interlibrary Loan.
  • State Historical Society of Missouri Digital Collections
    Primarily focused on Missouri history, biography, and genealogy, the reference collection includes books, oral histories, pamphlets, manuscript collections, maps, newspapers on microfilm, and official state publications. Only some of the material is available online.
  • Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa (JSTOR)
    The liberation of Southern Africa and the dismantling of the Apartheid regime was a major political development in the 20th century. This collection focuses on the complex and varied liberation struggles in the region, with an emphasis on Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
  • Sunday Times Historical Archive (1822-2016) Best Bet
    The Sunday Times newspaper (London), was for most of its life, separate from the Times. The paper is well known for its news analysis, investigative journalism, and coverage of political & cultural topics.
  • Times Digital Archive (1785-2019) Best Bet
    The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage. Also see the Sunday Times Historical Archive and the Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive.
  • University of Missouri - Institutional Research
    Contains various UM System reports and statistics concerning student, faculty & staff demographics, salaries, retention rates, financial aid, degrees awarded, and other measures. Some current and older salary reports are also available in the Thomas Jefferson Library.
  • Wiley Digital Archives Best Bet
    These collections are also listed separately:
    British Association for the Advancement of Science Collections, 1830s-1970s
    Environmental Science and History
    New York Academy of Sciences, 1803-2013
    Royal Anthropological Institute, 1763-2016
    Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), 1478-2010
    Royal College of Physicians, c1200-2000
  • Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600 - 2000 Best Bet
    Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600 - 2000: Scholar's Edition is a resource for students, scholars and teachers of U.S. and U.S. women's history.
  • Women's Studies Archive Best Bet
    Much of history is one-sided, focusing mainly on the male perspective and leaving women's voices unheard. Bringing women's stories to light, the Women's Studies Archive connects archival collections concerning women's history from across the globe and from a wide range of sources. Focusing on the evolution of feminism throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the archive provides materials on women's political activism, such as suffrage, birth control, pacifism, civil rights, and socialism, and on women's voices, from female-authored literature to women's periodicals. By providing the opportunity to witness female perspectives, Gale's Women's Studies Archive is an essential source for researchers working in Women's History, Gender Studies, and Social History.
    UMSL has access to parts 1 & 2 (Women’s Issues and Identities, and
    Voice and Vision)
  • World Heritage Sites: Africa (JSTOR)
    World Heritage Sites: Africa links visual, contextual, and spatial documentation of African heritage sites and African studies, including anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art history, Diaspora studies, folklore and literature, geography, and history, as well as those focused on geomatics, advanced visual and spatial technologies, historic preservation, and urban planning. Content is in multiple languages.
  • World's Fairs : A Global History of Expositions
    From the Eiffel Tower and the Space Needle to the invention of television, chewing gum and hot dogs, world’s fairs have shaped our world. Collating material from archives around the world, this resource offers a unique insight into the phenomenon of international expositions by presenting official records, monographs, personal accounts and ephemera for more than 200 fairs together for the first time. From the earliest plans to public reception and the legacy that remains, the impact of these global events can be examined in a comprehensive context.
    "World's Fairs : A Global History of Expositions" is available to the UMSL community because the St. Louis Mercantile Library contributed material for the collection.