LibGuides: The Forgotten Hero: Step 3: Primary Sources

Boston Public Library

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Archives Unbound | Gale Primary Sources
Historical newspapers and periodicals, primarily from Britain and the United States, covering the 17th -21st centuries.
Newsvault | Gale Primary Sources
Historical newspapers and periodicals, primarily from Britain and the United States, covering the 17th -21st centuries.
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times | ProQuest
Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the first issue on Sept 18, 1851.
ArchiveGrid
Detailed descriptions of archival collections, including historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and other materials at thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives worldwide.
Indigenous Newspapers in North America
From historic pressings to contemporary periodicals, explore nearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism from the US and Canada. With newspapers representing a huge variety in publisher, audience and era, discover how events were reported by and for Indigenous communities.
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States | ProQuest
This resource features select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. It is designed to support a wide range of students, as well independent researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S.—and the fights against it.
Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926 | Gale Primary Sources
Searchable reproductions of 29,000 books, pamphlets, periodicals, and other documents about the Americas, providing original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, westward expansion, Native Americans, military actions, and much more.

Primary Sources | Open Access

Chronicling America
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress
Digital Collections | Library of Congress
Access digital versions of some of the Library of Congress collections. This includes primary and secondary sources.
Primary Source Sets | Library of Congress
Each set collects primary sources on a specific frequently-taught topic, along with historical background information.

Database Tips

Important Tips to Remember:

If doing a Basic Search, only search by one keyword, phrase, name, etc.
Try to narrow or broaden your results with an Advanced Search.
Use the boolean operators (and, or, not) to broaden or narrow your results
If searching for a name or specific phrase, use quotes so the database knows to look for the complete name or phrase (i.e. "Rosalind Franklin").
Remember to limit your results to Full Text.
Save your articles by copying the shareable links (not the URL in the address bar) that the database provides!

If you find an article that you would like for your research but it is not full text, please contact a librarian.

More BPL Resources

All History and Political Science Databases | BPL
See all of the historical resources provided by tge Boston Public Library here.
Primary Sources Guide | BPL
This guide was created by the Boston Public Library and explains what primary sources are and demonstrates how to find them. The guide also recommends places to look fro primary sources.