Research, Citation, & Class Guides: Guide to Primary Source Research: Web Sites

Websites

The Web can be an excellent resource for primary historical information. Photographs, maps, scanned images of original documents, reprints of diaries and letters . . . these materials and much more may be found on library, university, and government web sites. Some sites are specific to a certain event or era, while others provide more wide-ranging historical documents. Not all materials on these sites are primary, so evaluate them carefully. Information taken from the Web must be credited when used for research purposes, even if the material is considered to be in the public domain. Examples of such websites are:

EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
(Brigham Young University)
This wiki contains links to "European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated." Links are briefly annotated. Categories provided are: Prehistoric and Ancient Europe, Medieval and Renaissance Europe, and Europe as a Supranational Region. Links are also divided by country.
Historical Census Browser
(University of Virginia)
Using data from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing volumes, this site provides statistics for each decade from 1790-1960. The amount and type of information varies. Information is available at the state and county levels.
Making of America
(Cornell University)
The Making of America is a collaborative effort between the University of Michigan and Cornell University. The two MOA sites are "a thematically-related digital library documenting American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction." Full text of thousands of books and journal articles from the 19th century are included.
Old Bailey Online: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
(University of Sheffield)
Fully searchable, this site contains accounts of almost 200,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court between 1674 and 1913.
University of Wisconsin Digital Collection
The UWDC includes digital collections from University of Wisconsin libraries on a wide variety of subject areas.
Turning Points in Wisconsin History
Learn about the most important historic events in Wisconsin through hundreds of eyewitness accounts, pictures, archaeological sites, rare books, museum objects, early engravings, handwritten manuscripts, essays, lesson plans and reference tools. From early native peoples, geography, Indian Mounds, Aztalan, and Iroquois Wars through response to 20th century change, Turning Points in Wisconsin History covers more than 12,000 years of Wisconsin History
History
(UW-Whitewater)
This Library guide contains links to history web sites and online Library databases that are useful for historical research. Not all of the resources in this guide are useful for primary research; evaluate each resource carefully before use.
Resources for Research
(UW-Whitewater)
History web sites recommended by the history faculty at UW-Whitewater. Not all of the resources on these pages are useful for primary research; evaluate each resource carefully before use.
American Memory
(Library of Congress). Photographs, maps, manuscripts, sheet music, and more are provided on this site. A broad range of American history is covered. Search specific collections or across all collections, or browse collections by topic.
World Digital Library
(Library of Congress and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Contains images of primary materials from around the world. Browse by topic or search by keyword. All materials appear in their original languages, but descriptive text can be translated into 7 languages, including English. Includes books, journals, manuscripts, prints and photographs, and more. Eras covered include 8000 BC to the present.
Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles
(Wisconsin Historical Society). This site contains images of 16,000 articles from Wisconsin local newspapers, and a small number from other states, "preserved in scrapbooks at the Wisconsin Historical Society in the late 19th and 20th centuries." Most articles were published between 1860 and 1940.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
The Library of Congress's Digital Collections that includes newspapers, photographs, letters, and other parts of American History.
Making of America (University of Michigan)
The Making of America is a collaborative effort between the University of Michigan and Cornell University. The two MOA sites are "a thematically-related digital library documenting American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction." Full text of thousands of books and journal articles from the 19th century are included. See also the Making of America (Cornell University) site.