Research, Citation, & Class Guides: National History Day: Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Primary Sources can be many things as the list above suggests. Many websites called digital collections or digital archives contain primary sources.

Research Before You Come to the Library:

The resources listed below are available either through Badgerlink or for free, and are good places to begin your research before your library visit. Additional primary and secondary resources will be available to you when you visit Andersen Library.

NHD Archives: Using Primary Sources

Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
A collection of primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history.

Digital Public Library of America: Primary Source Sets
DPLA connects people to America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. Includes photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and more
Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library
Collections include: Military History 1900-1939, obsolete military manuals, Frontier Army Museum archives, and more
more...less...
Frontier Army (1804-1917) and Fort Leavenworth (1827- present) including its role in the development of education and technology. The original collection began in 1939 when the wagon shop at Fort Leavenworth closed and the horse-drawn vehicles were relocated and called the Old Rolling Wheels Museum". In 1960, the museum was officially recognized as an Army museum and has continued to preserve one of the finest collections of nineteenth century military artifacts in the country. The museum highlights the efforts of the Frontier Army in exploration, expansion and protection of the Trans-Mississippi West from the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804) to the Punitive Expedition involving General John Pershing (1916), and the importance of Fort Leavenworth's role in the exploration and expansion of the nation throughout the nineteenth century and its continuing role in soldier education.

Library of Congress Digital Collections
New platform. Please see American Memory: Remaining Collections for those that have not migrated.

Women's Suffrage Collection
Primary sources from the Library of Congress about the fight for the women's right to vote in the United States.

Primary Sources in Databases

History Reference Center may include a search limiter for primary source materials or other publication types that may be primary sources. Look carefully in the advanced search features of databases to take advantage of these features.

You still need to be the final judge! Is the document you select truly a primary source? If you aren't sure, review the information in the What Are Primary Sources? information box on the left side of this page, or ask a teacher or librarian for assistance.

History Reference Center
Full text for more than 2,500 reference books, encyclopedias, books, and articles from nearly 170 history periodicals. Can also use their browseable interface here .
Access provided by Wisconsin DPI via Badgerlink.

National History Day

What are Primary Sources?

Research Before You Come to the Library:

Primary Sources in Databases

Other Databases for Your Topics

These are a few of the databases that are recommended to you on your Search Starters slips. For databases not listed here, go to the A-Z Database List.