Primary Source Materials - HIS 496 - History Seminar

About this page

Now is a great time to be researching history! Every day, more and more content that was previously accessible only in special collections and archives is now being scanned, digitized, and posted on the web.

Search for primary source documents both online and in the library catalog.

Finding primary source documents in books

Search the online library catalog for your topic, then try adding one of the following words to your search to find collections of primary sources:

"documents," "sources," "letters," or "diaries"

e.g., "Korean War AND Sources" or "Civil War AND Diaries"

Don't forget to change the "Held By" selection to Libraries Worldwide to find books you might be able to obtain through interlibrary loan.

Newspaper articles online

The Doane Library has a few databases that give you access to newspaper articles.

New York Times -- You must register for an account to have generally unlimited reading, though our subscription limits you to only 5 articles per day if published 1923-1980. Issues of the NY Times from these dates also may be using the TimesMachine
America's News -- This includes many newspapers and news transcripts for each state, regional and national news, as well as English-language international news sources.
- Nebraska Newspapers -- Search 38 Nebraska city, town and college newspapers for stories published in the last 30+ years.
Newspapers.com - Nebraska Collection -- Search 48 Nebraska newspapers, dating from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s
WestlawNext Campus Research -- Select "News" from the Content list, then navigate through articles by Reuters, or by state or international region.
ProQuest -- This large database includes two news databases -- US Newsstream and International Newsstream -- providing more recent news stories from the past 30-40 years approximately.
MyHeritage -- This database provides access to many newspapers in the US and some other countries. It includes some of the newspapers in the Chronicling America project.

Free-to-the-public sites you might search for historical newspapers include:

Chronicling America -- The Library of Congress provides free access to digitized newspapers from 1836-1922 and a newspaper directory for papers published in the U.S. from 1690-present.
Google's Advanced News Archive Search in order to find scanned images from historical newspapers
Historical Worldwide Newspapers Online -- This Libguide from Bowling Green State University library lists many free online newspaper sites. NOTE: The guide is no longer maintained, therefore, some links may be broken.
Europeana Newspapers -- This is a very large collection of historical European newspapers. In their original language, no translations.

Special Digitized Collections in the Doane Library

The library has purchased the following collections of primary source documents for your use:

Gateway to North America: People, Places and Organizations of 19th-century New York This link opens in a new window
Search this collection for resources concerning New York City's social and economic history from the late 1700s through the early 1900s.
Civil War Primary Source Documents This link opens in a new window
Research perspectives of the Civil War (1861 to 1865) from both the North and South, in this collection of primary materials.
Revolutionary War Era Orderly Books This link opens in a new window
Find information from official military orders for British and American troops -- called orderly books -- dating from the French and Indian War through the War of 1812, with the bulk coming from the American forces during the Revolutionary War.
MyHeritage This link opens in a new window
Research genealogy from the census data of several countries, vital statistics records, military and immigration records and much more.
European Views of the Americas: 1493-1750 This link opens in a new window
Search for information about the Americas written by European authors before 1750.

Doane University Archives

If you are doing research on a Doane topic, refer to the Doane University Archives research guide to access the directory of the archives.

Digitized Collections - Nebraska

Here are websites specific to Nebraska:

Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska
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First published in 1882 by The Western Historical Company, A. T. Andreas, Proprietor, Chicago, IL, this is a valuable resource on the very early years of the territory and state.
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities University of Nebraska Lincoln
Homestead Records Broken Bow Nebraska Land Office
Nebraska Memories
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This is a cooperative project with the Nebraska Library Commission to digitize all Nebraska-related historical and cultural materials, and to make them available via the internet for all ages of researchers.
[Nebraska] Online State Documents Program
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The Nebraska Library Commission provides public access to and preservation of government information at the federal and state level. This page provides links to public documents on state agency websites, and a searchable database providing free access to digitized historic annual reports of Nebraska state agencies 1956 to the present (with plans to extend access to documents back to 1891).
History Nebraska Collections
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Search collections, History Nebraska publications, virtual collections and more.

Other Digitized Collections

This is a representative list of history websites that might be helpful in your research. Ask at the Circulation Desk to consult the following books, which are in Course Reserves (under Dr. Jarvis' name), for more websites:

The American history highway : a guide to Internet resources on U.S., Canadian, and Latin American history, by Dennis Trinkle
U.S. history matters : a student guide to U.S. history online, by Kelly Schrum

Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide
America's National Game
The Albert G. Spalding Collection of Early Baseball Photographs
American Family Immigration History Center Passenger Search
Chronicling America
Digitized newspapers from across the nation
Civil Rights Digital Library
Some information on this site may be difficult to read or view.
David Rumsey Map Collection
Rare 18th & 19th century maps
Digital Library on American Slavery
Discovering American Women's History Online
Early America's Digital Archive
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Making the History of 1989
Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute
Milestone Documents in American History
National Anthropological Archives and Human Studies Film Archives
National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. About 1-3% of all federal documents are preserved here to search for information about your family histories, veterans' military service, or other topics of historical interest.
Digital Vaults on DocsTeach
Old Maps Online
Search Old Maps Online for a location, and it will provide you with free archival maps for the same location. This service utilizes Google Maps, and it includes maps from the USGS Topographic Maps collection.
Pop History Dig
Exploring the history and power of popular culture
REESWeb
Russian & Eastern European Studies
Slavery and Abolition in the US
Travelers in the Middle East Archive
Western interactions with the Middle East in the 19th and early 20th centuries
USGenWeb
Presents actual transcriptions of public domain records on the Internet: census records, marriage bonds, wills, and other public documents.
Vietnam Center and Archive

Interlibrary loan requests

Use our interlibrary loan (ILL) form to request resources from other libraries around the nation:

Perkins Library ILL Request