What is a Primary Source?
In history, a primary source is usually a record made at the time of an event by participants or by firsthand observers. Examples include books and other materials from the time period, newspaper or magazine accounts from the time period, government materials from the time period. Because historians cite their primary sources, look at their bibliographies to locate sources for your own research.
For a more complete listing of primary sources available at OU see this guide.
Newspapers
Also see this page for more links to international news sources.
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African NewspapersIncludes 40 nineteenth and twentieth century African papers.
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Asahi Shimbun AJWEnglish language digital version of the newspaper.
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BBC Monitoring (via Factiva and Proquest)NOTE: Link goes to catalog. Choose region of interest.
Provides news and information based on round-the-clock monitoring of radio, TV, press, internet and news agency sources around the world. Reports are translated into English from more than 100 languages. -
British Library Newspapers (1800-1900)Sixty-nine regional and local newspapers.
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British Periodicals (1681-1930s)Full text of British magazines and journals.
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Current Digest of the Russian Press (In English; 1949- )Each week the Current Digest presents a selection of Russian-language press materials, carefully translated into English.
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East African NewspapersIncludes Daily Nation (Kenya, 1958-2002), The Ethiopian Herald (Ethiopia, 1943-1989), and The Monitor (Uganda, 1992-2003)
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Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2015Full text access to The Economist, a premier weekly publication providing timely reporting, concise commentary and comprehensive appraisal of global news, spanning centuries and continents.
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El Caribe (1956- )Spanish-language daily newspaper published in the Dominican Republic. A chronicle of national and international news, both for the Dominican Republic and the broader Caribbean region.
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Ethnic Newswatch Complete (1960- )Newspapers, magazines, and periodicals of the ethnic, minority and native press.
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Factiva (academic edition)University of Oklahoma Libraries has licensed this database for 5 simultaneous users. Full text of articles from U.S. and world newspapers and business and company information. Please note that many newspapers are NOT available in this academic version of Factiva.
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Factiva (academic edition)University of Oklahoma Libraries has licensed this database for 5 simultaneous users. Full text of articles from U.S. and world newspapers and business and company information. Please note that many newspapers are NOT available in this academic version of Factiva.
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Google NewspapersA wide variety of newspapers published in parts of Canada and the United States, including papers published in English and French.
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Guardian and Observer Historical Newspapers (1700/1800s-2003)The British newspapers, Guardian, 1821-2003, and Observer, 1791-2003.
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Hispanic American Newspapers (1808-1980)Provides access to Spanish-language and bilingual Spanish - English newspapers printed in the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Historical Jewish Press (newspapers; National Library of Israel)English language Jewish newspapers from the US and other areas.
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Historical US NewspapersSearch and view the full text of US papers: Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post. Link also searches historically black newspapers: Atlanta Daily World, Chicago Defender, Los Angeles Sentinel, New York Amsterdam News, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Pittsburgh Courier, and the UK's Guardian and Observer.
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Independent and Revolutionary Mexican Newspapers (1807-1929)Over 1,000 titles from Mexico’s pre-independence, independence and revolutionary periods .
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Jewish ExponentA Metropolitan Library (OKC public) database. Sign up for a library card if you don't have one. Provides full-text access to the archives of The Jewish Exponent (1887-1990).
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Late Qing and Republican-Era Chinese Newspapers (1911-1949)The press of over twenty cities is represented, spanning the Chinese mainland.
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Latin American Newspapers (19th-20th c.)Access to more than 35 nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American newspapers. Featuring titles from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and elsewhere.
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Middle Eastern and North African NewspapersIncludes access to over 80 publications, including Jumhuriyah (الجمهورية, Egypt), Filastin (فلسطين, Palestine), Al Akhbar (الاخبار, Lebanon), Al Riadh (الرياض, Saudi Arabia), and Ad Dustour (الدستور, Jordan). Content is primarily in Arabic, but includes key titles in English and French.
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Mideast and Islamic NewspapersA list of open access historical newspapers and periodicals. Dates vary.
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Nexis Uni, ~1980s-presentCurrent news sources.
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Nineteenth Century UK PeriodicalsFull text of British periodicals.
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NYTimes.com (Current)An account is required to access NYTimes.com Click here to set up your NYTimes.com account. The account must be set up while on campus.
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Pravda Archive (English)Articles published by Pravda during the Cold War and the years immediately following, from 1959 to 1996, collected and translated into English by the CIA.
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Pravda Digital Archive (In Russian; 1912-2021)Pravda was the official voice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Russia) between 1918 and 1991.
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Propaganda and the Chinese Press (1946-1996)Articles published by major communist Chinese newspapers, collected and translated into English by the CIA.
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Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers CollectionMore than 1000 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the period.
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South Asian Newspapers (1864-1922)Newspapers from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
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Times Digital Archive (London, 1785-2014)Does NOT include the Sunday edition.
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Wall Street Journal (current)Users must create an account using their OU credentials in order to use this resource and will need to refresh their access on an annual basis.
Finding Digital Sources Not Listed Here
Books
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African History and Culture, 1540-1921More than 1,300 books, pamphlets, almanacs, broadsides and ephemera.
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ARTFLFull text of classic works of French literature, non-fiction prose, and technical writing from the 12th through the 20th century.
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Caribbean History and Culture, 1535-1920Covers the diverse history of Caribbean islands over nearly 400 years. Includes books, pamphlets, almanacs, broadsides and ephemera.
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Discover Local (Catalog)Many books and other materials in the catalog may be primary sources. Trying using these keywords with your topic to search for them: correspondence, diaries, interviews, papers, personal narratives. For example, click here to see results of a search on those keywords and the work Japan. (Please note that the catalog also contains secondary sources.)
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Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the EnvironmentFull text of letters, diaries, memoirs, and accounts of early encounters with Native Americans; dates vary.
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HathiTrust Digital LibraryShared digital repository of library books and journals converted from print owned by research institutions. HathiTrust Digital Library does not permit download or viewing the full text of books that are still under copyright (typically published since 1923).
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Making of the Modern World: The Goldsmiths'-Kress Collection of Economic Literature (1450-1850)Full text of more than 59,500 titles including books, serials, pamphlets, and more.
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Nineteenth Century Collections OnlineFull text of books, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, photographs, statistics, and other kinds of documents in both Western and non-Western languages. Includes a unit: Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
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Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926Full text of works about the Americas published in America and Europe.
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WorldcatBooks 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 Documents
See this page for a more complete list.
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Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports (1941-1996)Full text of U.S. government translations of foreign broadcasts, publications, and government statements. FBIS was followed by the Open Source Center (OSC) in 2005 and was included in the database World News Connection, which the library does not have. The CIA discontinued public access to the OSC in 2013.
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Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) Reports (1957-1994)Full text of English translations of foreign language materials from regions throughout the world. Includes monographs, reports, serials, journal and newspaper articles, and radio and television broadcasts.
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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.
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U.S. Declassified DocumentsFull text of previously classified U.S. government documents; ca. 1905-present.
Other Sources
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Apartheid: Global Perspectives, 1946-1996International survey of the effects of apartheid on South Africa and the world with a digitized collection of primary source documents related to apartheid.
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Colonial State PapersFull text of "CO 1" from the British National Archives: Privy Council and Related Bodies: America and West Indies and bibliographic information with extracts from Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies 1574-1739. 16th-18th centuries.
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European History Primary Sources (EHPS)Searchable index of scholarly digital repositories that contain primary sources for the history of Europe.
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Latin America: Digital Resource GatewaysCollection of resources linking to freely available primary sources on Latin America.
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Latin American and Caribbean Digital Primary ResourcesFrom SALALM (Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials)
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Modern Latin America, 8th Edition Companion WebsiteIncludes a timeline, lists of heads of state, essays, and primary sources.
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Primary Source Sets (DPLA)From the Digital Public Library of America, primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators — complete with teaching guides for class use
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South Asia Open ArchivesGrowing open access collection of historical and contemporary primary sources in the arts, humanities and social sciences from and about South Asia; built through a collaborative initiative involving US research libraries and partners from South Asia.
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Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade DatabaseInformation on almost 35,000 slaving voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries.
OU Microforms
There is a significant collection of primary source material reproduced on microfilm or microfiche. See this guide. Most microforms are in off-site storage, and must be requested via Sooner Xpress.