LibGuides: Atlantic World History: Finding Primary Sources

Finding Primary Sources

You can find primary sources (first-hand historical accounts from people who experienced it) using these databases. Each database will contain different primary sources, so be sure to search multiple databases to find what you need!

Adam Matthew Digital Explorer This link opens in a new window
Millions of pages of primary source content from the 15th-21st centuries.
American Antiquarian Society Historial Periodicals Collection, 1691 - 1877 ( Series 1 - 5, all parts ) This link opens in a new window
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), the premier library documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Digitized images of American magazines and journals from 7,600+ periodicals with 7 million images.
American Journeys This link opens in a new window
Eyewitness accounts of North American exploration from 1000 AD to 1800 AD
Avalon Project This link opens in a new window
Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy (ancient through 21st century).
British History Online This link opens in a new window
Digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it aims to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.
Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600-1925 This link opens in a new window
First-person narratives, early histories, historical biographies, and more about the Chesapeake Bay region.
Digital Library of the Caribbean This link opens in a new window
Primary sources related to the Caribbean, coming from hundreds of collections across the world.
Digital Public Library of America ( DPLA ) This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 40 million images, texts, sounds, and multimedia objects form libraries, archives and museums in the United States. Copyright status of items vary; however, many items are public domain or available for re-use. Check the "rights" field for each item.
Early American Imprints, Series I : Evans, 1639 - 1800 This link opens in a new window
Full text of books, pamphlets, broadsides and other imprints. With subjects ranging from captivity narratives to playbills to atlases to sermons to juvenile literature, this collection provides information about all aspects of American life and culture in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Early Caribbean Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from before 1900 about the Caribbean, including texts, maps, and images. Includes information about enslaved African and Indigenous peoples as well as settler colonialism.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Manuscript and rare printed sources documenting cultural contacts and literature of empire. Section I: Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969; Section II: Literature and Empire; Section III: The Visible Empire; Section IV: Religion and Empire; Section V: Race, Class, Imperialism and Colonialism, c1607-2007.
Founders Online : Correspondence and other writings of seven major shapers of the United States This link opens in a new window
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Over 185,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from the authoritative Founding Fathers Papers projects.
Gallica French National Library Portal This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of materials from the BnF French National Library. Materials are in multiple languages, and major elements of the website are only available in French.
Haiti and the Atlantic World This link opens in a new window
Primary sources, and links to other databases, about Haiti and the Atlantic World.
Hathi Trust This link opens in a new window
Millions of digitized items from libraries around the world.
JCB Archive of Early American Images ( John Carter Brown Library ) This link opens in a new window
Contains graphic representations of the colonial Americas, from Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego, drawn entirely from primary sources printed or created between 1492 and ca. 1825.
Library of Congress Digital Collections This link opens in a new window
Provides free and open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
PARES Spanish State Archives Portal This link opens in a new window
Digital archives for the Spanish State Archives, including full-text as well as descriptions. Documents and descriptions are all in Spanish language, and you should conduct your searches using Spanish terms.
Plymouth Colony Archive Project This link opens in a new window
Full-text documents including legal records, maps, material culture and archeological studies, journals, and more about the Plymouth Colony.
Slave Biographies This link opens in a new window
Information about enslaved individuals in the Atlantic World, including datasets and an extensive list of primary sources
Slavery Images This link opens in a new window
Images of the African slave trade and slave life in the early African diaspora before 1900.
Slave Societies Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
In collaboration with partners around the globe, the Slave Societies Digital Archive is dedicated to the preservation and free dissemination of endangered records documenting the history of Africans and their descendants across the Atlantic World.
SlaveVoyages This link opens in a new window
Information on more than 35,000 slave voyages embarking over 12 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Umbra Search This link opens in a new window
Brings together hundreds of thousands digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the United States. Celebrates the vital efforts of the individuals and institutions that have helped to preserve and make accessible online hundreds of thousands of pieces of African American history and culture. The Umbra Society of the early 1960s was a renegade group of Black writers and poets who helped create the Black Arts Movement.
Virtual Jamestown This link opens in a new window
Full-text primary sources about the Jamestown colony, including court records, newspapers, first-hand accounts, labor contracts, and more.