Primary Sources
A primary source is usually a record made at the time of an event by participants or by firsthand observers. This page has information on resources to help you find different types of primary source material for this class, including
Also see the full primary source guide for a more complete list of resources.
Books and More
- American West (1722-1939; Adam Matthew)Full text of manuscripts, maps, ephemeral material related to the American west.
- Environmental Science and History Digital Archive (Wiley)Focuses on critical aspects of environmental science, history, and anthropogenic change and includes unique and rare archival collections from multiple global sources. The archive includes manuscripts, images, maps, and photographs covering topics such as deforestation, agriculture, livestock, fisheries, ecology, botany, biodiversity, extinction, water sources, irrigation, wetlands, and hydrology.
- Exploring Race in Society (Ebsco)Cover important issues related to race, ethnicity, diversity, and inclusiveness in today's society. Resources include essays, journal articles, government agency reports, photographs, speeches, and other primary sources. A wide range of topics are covered, including affirmative action, food insecurity, environmental racism and environmental justice, the black lives matter movement, voting rights and voter suppression, police use of force, sports team branding changes, neighborhood gentrification, and much more.
- HathiTrust Digital LibraryShared digital repository of millions of library books and journals converted from print resources owned by research institutions around the world. HathiTrust Digital Library does not permit viewing or downloading of books that are still under copyright. NOTE: The individual titles in this database are only listed in Discover not the Local Catalog.
- Indian Claims Insight1789-Present Indian Claims Insight allows researchers to understand and analyze Native American migration and forced resettlement throughout U.S. history, U.S. Government Indian removal policies, and subsequent actions to address Native American claims against the U.S. Government. This collection includes congressional publications, treaties, maps, and docket materials for all Indian Claims Commission cases, as well as cases that preceded and followed the existence of the commission.
- Local CatalogMany books and other materials, such as government documents, may be primary sources. Try using these keywords with your topic to search for them: correspondence, diaries, interviews, papers, personal narratives.
- Oklahoma Digital Prairie (1800s-present; State of Oklahoma)Documents, photographs, newspapers, reports, pamphlets, posters, maps and audio/visual content.
- Sanborn Maps (From the Library of Congress)The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are a valuable resource for genealogists, historians, urban planners, teachers or anyone with a personal connection to a community, street or building. The maps depict more than 12,000 American towns and cities. They show the size, shape and construction materials of dwellings, commercial buildings, factories and other structures. They indicate both the names and width of streets, and show property boundaries and how individual buildings were used. House and block numbers are identified. They also show the location of water mains, fire alarm boxes and fire hydrants.
- Sanborn Maps, Oklahoma (Dates vary by city; Proquest)Access to detailed maps of Oklahoma cities from late 1800s to the mid 1900s. View street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use and physical features, house and block numbers, pipelines, railroads, wells and dumps. Special features include the ability to manipulate the maps, magnify and zoom in on specific sections, and layer maps from different years.
- UCLA Guide to Farmworkers/BracerosA list of websites with primary source documents on farmworkers/Braceros.
- Worldcat (Firstsearch/OCLC)Books and other materials held by libraries around the world. You may borrow (interlibrary loan) materials through the Worldcat database. Interlibrary loan is free! But give yourself time for a book to come through the mail.
Government and Legal Publications
The University of Oklahoma's Government Documents Collection is now in storage, but items may still be retrieved via Sooner Xpress. Contact the Government Documents Librarian, Jeffrey Wilhite, and see his research guides.
The Donald E. Pray Law Library is open to main campus students, and many (but not all) of its online resources are also available with a main campus OUNetID. See this page for all Law Library research guides, this one for resources related to the Supreme Court of the United States. Contact their Reference Desk at (405) 325-5268 or email them at Law-LibraryReference@ou.edu
Also see this guide on locating court records, briefs, and oral arguments from Yale University.
- American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara)Sources include nearly every document from Messages and Papers of the Presidents of the United States (1787-1902) and The Public Papers of the Presidents (1929-present). Updated regularly from the materials provided by the White House media office, the Government Printing Office, and the National Archives (NARA).
- Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century (ProQuest History Vault)Digital reproductions of organizational and personal papers and federal government records, including the papers of Mary McLeod Bethune and Claude A. Barnett, records of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, government records on African-Americans in the military, black workers in the era of the Great Migration, files on surveillance of African-Americans, and FBI Files.
- City of Oklahoma City RecordsAvailable for research by appointment only!
- Congressional (Proquest)Includes hearings (1824-present); CRS Reports (1916-present); House and Senate Documents/Reports (Serial Set; 1817-present); legislative histories (1969-present); bills and laws (1776-present); miscellaneous publications including GAO, CBO, the American State Papers, the House and Senate Journals (1789-present); vote reports (1987-present); maps (1789-2007); Congressional Record (1789-present); executive branch (1789-1932); and presidential materials such as executive orders (1789-present). Many of these are full text.
- EPA PublicationsNational service center for environmental publications. EPA technical, scientific, and educational materials.
- Hein OnlineIncludes EPA documents. Legal periodicals, code of federal regulations, legal classics, treaties and agreements, U.S. Attorney General opinions, U.S. Federal Legislative History, U.S. Presidential Library, U.S. statutes at large, the U.S. Supreme Court Library, and more.
- Legislative InsightA federal legislative history service containing full-text publications generated by Congress during the process leading up to the enactment of U.S. Public Laws. Texts available include the full text of the Public Law itself, Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, prints, and other congressional publications.
- LLMC DigitalDocuments related to the U.S. Federal Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches.
- National Security Archive (George Washington University)Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive includes a library and archive of declassified U.S. documents.
- Nexis UniProvides access to news, business and legal information. Legal information includes State and Federal case, law reviews and more.
- TRAIL (Technical Report Archive & Image Library)TRAIL identifies, acquires, catalogs, digitizes and provides unrestricted access to U.S. government agency technical reports.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital LibraryThe materials in this repository include information by and about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- U.S. Declassified Documents Online (ca. 1905-present; Gale)Full text of previously classified U.S. government documents. The majority of the documents are presidential records.
- Yucca Mountain Archival DocumentsPreviously posted on the website for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. Includes links to other sites.
Check Secondary Sources!
A great way to find primary sources is to check the bibliographies, footnotes, endnotes, etc. of the secondary sources that you find.
Articles and books written by historians should cite primary sources, many of which may be available at OU's library, another library through our interlibrary loan service, or even on the open internet.
Newspapers and Magazines
- Academic Search Complete (Ebsco)References to or full text of journal and magazine articles, major newspaper articles, book reviews, and more. Some PDF content going back as far as 1887. Includes popular periodicals like Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report. To search those publications click here and add your keywords and specific time period.
- America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922; Readex/Newsbank)Early American newspapers. (NOTE: library does not own all the series in this collection.)
- America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1999; Readex/Newsbank)A Metropolitan Library (OKC public) database. Sign up for a library card if you don't have one. Similar to the database above, but contains different newspapers than ours.
- American Indian Digital History Project (mostly 20th century; Univ. of Kansas)Digital History Cooperative founded to recover and preserve rare Indigenous newspapers, photographs, and archival materials from all across Native North America.
- American Indian Newspapers (1828-2016; Adam Matthew)Includes national, local, and student publications from Indigenous peoples of what is now the U.S. and Canada. In English and Indigenous languages.
- American Periodicals Series (1740-1940s; Proquest)Magazines and journals that began publishing between 1740 and 1940.
- Black American Series (JSTOR, Reveal Digital)Periodicals from the Black Power, Black Arts, Black Nationalism, Separatism, and Black Feminism movements.
- Economist Historical Archive (1843-2015; Gale)The Economist, a weekly publication providing timely reporting, concise commentary and comprehensive appraisal of global news, spanning centuries and continents.
- Ethnic Newswatch Complete (1959-present; Proquest)Newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press.
- Gateway to Oklahoma History (1850s-1920s+; Oklahoma Historical Society)Online repository of Oklahoma history. Originally covered newspapers up to the 1920s but later years are increasingly being added. Includes African American newspapers.
- Hispanic American Newspapers (1808-1980; Readex/Newsbank)Spanish and Spanish-English newspapers printed in the U.S.
- Historically Black Newspapers (ProQuest)Includes these historically Black papers:
-Atlanta Daily World, 1931-2010;
-Chicago Defender, 1909-2010;
-Los Angeles Sentinel, 1934-2010;
-New York Amsterdam News, 1922-2010;
-Norfolk Journal and Guide, 1916-2010;
-Pittsburgh Courier, 1911-2010. - Historical U.S. Newspapers (ProQuest)Includes these U.S. papers:
-Chicago Tribune, 1849-within days of the current issue;
-Los Angeles Times, 1881-within days of the current issue;
-New York Times, 1851-one month ago;
-Wall Street Journal, 1889-within days of the current issue;
-Washington Post, 1877-2006, 2008-within days of the current issue.
(The UK's Guardian and Observer, 1791-2003, is also included in this search as are papers from the Historically Black Newspapers collection.) - Independent Voices (late 20th C.; JSTOR, Reveal Digital)Alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines.
- MasterFILE Complete (1922-present; Ebsco)Includes popular periodicals like Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report. To search those publications click here and add your keywords and specific time period.
- National Geographic (1888-45 days ago; Gale)A Metropolitan Library (OKC public) database. Sign up for a library card if you don't have one. Complete archive of the magazine.
- Newspaper Archive (1607-2022)A Metropolitan Library (OKC public) database. Sign up for a library card if you don't have one. U.S. and international newspapers. NOTE: Sometimes if a paper is not in Newspapers.com, it will be in this database.
- Newspapers.com Library Edition (1700s-2000s; Ancestry.com via Proquest)A Metropolitan Library (OKC public) database. Sign up for a library card if you don't have one. Full runs and portions of runs of well-known, regional and state titles to small local newspapers in the United States and other countries. NOTE: The library edition does not have all newspapers that the personal subscription includes.
- Newspaper Source Plus (~1980s-present; Ebsco)More than 500 U.S. newspapers and 600 international newspapers, as well as newswires, and radio and television transcripts.
- Nexis Uni (~1970s-present; LexisNexis)News, business, and legal sources. Html text only. No images. NOTE: OU Libraries will cease subscribing to Nexis Uni, effective July 1, 2024. More information about this decision, as well as a list of databases covering the content in Nexis Uni, is available.
- Oklahoma City Times (1888-1984; Oklahoma Historical Society)In 1916, the Oklahoma City Times became an evening supplement to the Daily Oklahoman. In 1984, it was incorporated into the Oklahoman and ceased publication.
- Oklahoman Archive (1901-present; Newsbank)A Pioneer Library System (Norman) database. Sign up for a library card if you don't have one. The Oklahoman, formerly The Daily Oklahoman. Full text of images to 1991. Text only 1992-2019. NOTE: Scroll down and click on Oklahoman Archive - Newsbank. Click link for additional login options, type Pioneer for library name, and then enter your library card number. This database may not work on the OU campus.
- Oklahoman Archives (The Oklahoman, formerly The Daily Oklahoman, 1901-March 2022)—Update: as of 10-6-23, the database is still available. Due to the large size of the archive, searches may need to be limited with a date range in order to return results.
Because Gannett found this database unprofitable, beginning February 3rd, 2022, the full Oklahoman Archives will no longer be available. Access to 1981-present. For other ways to access online content see this blog post. - Oklahoman Collection (1901-present; Newsbank)A Metropolitan Library (OKC public) database. Sign up for a library card if you don't have one. The Oklahoman, formerly The Daily Oklahoman. Full text of images to 1991. Text only 1992-2019.
- Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890-1982; Ebsco)References to magazines and journals published in the U.S. Includes popular periodicals like Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report. To search those publications click here and add your keywords and specific time period. NOTE: Many the periodicals in this database will NOT be available full text. See this page for locations of popular periodicals or search the Local Catalog for the title of the periodical.
- Tulsa World (and title variants)1906-2018 on microfilm. 4th floor East, outside former Government Documents Department. Online: 1989-present.
- University of Oklahoma Student Newspapers (1905-2017; Oklahoma Historical Society)Includes the Oklahoma Daily. The University of Oklahoma Student Newspapers Collection comprises work produced across various publications that have chronicled the evolution of the University of Oklahoma since its earliest days.
- Women's Magazine Archive (dates below; Proquest)NOTE: full text PDF download is restricted to a single page or page spread for the titles indicated.
-Better Homes & Gardens (1922-2005)
-Chatelaine (1928-2005)
-Cosmopolitan (1886-2005) - One page only
-Essence (1970-2005)
-Good Housekeeping (1885-2005) - One page only
-Ladies’ Home Journal (1883-2005)
-Parents (1926-2005)
-Redbook (1903-2005) - One page only
-Seventeen (1944-2005) - One page only
-Town and Country (1846-2005) - One page only
-Woman’s Day (1937-2005) - One page only
-Women’s International Network News (1975-2003)