Clark Family Library: Identifying & Engaging with Sources: Finding Primary Sources

Primary Sources for Historical Study

Primary Source: First Hand, from the time the event took place

Eg. Notes, Letters, Photos, Interviews, Newspapers, Art, Film

Secondary Source: Second Hand, an analysis of events

Eg. Books, Editorials or Analysis in Newspapers, Web pages, Biographies, Dissertations, Documentary Films.

Please note, newspapers can contain both primary and secondary sources.

A newspaper article that documents events at the time they happened would be a primary source.

A newspaper article may be research-based, which makes it a secondary source, eg. an editorial or opinion piece.

Using newspapers alone can lead one to be misinformed about the time period being researched. Newspaper articles may include errors and discrepancies due to misreported events, unreliable sources, or political slants and biases.

Always check multiple source to get the full picture.

Source: University of Nebraska Kearney Lib Guide

Resources for finding W&J Alumni at a glance

Digitized Archive Material can be access online in our Clark Family Library Digital Archives

This includes:

Red & Black, Washington & Jefferson College's student-run newspaper. The digitized issues run from 1909 to 2016.

W&J Alumni Directory, 1802 - 1945, It includes a general catalogue of graduates and non-graduates of Jefferson College, Washington College, and Washington & Jefferson College.

The Observer-Reporter Archive contains articles from 1872 to the present - find an article of interest and request a copy from the W&J Archivist.

The Observer Reporter Online, three free articles

Google News Archive - incomplete sources but useful starting point.

New York Times (Website Subscription) This link opens in a new window
Contains full-text articles and images in the New York Times from 1851 to the present on the nytimes.com website.

Access to articles from 1923 to 1980 is limited to five per day, any other time frame provides unlimited article access.

The New York Times is a great resource for current events as well finding out how historical events were covered or received at the time they happened.

In order to access this resource you must create an account for the site, directions for doing so can be found on our FAQ page.
Access to the NY Times through the website is different from access through the Proquest database. It will not have the indexing and filters that you find in the database but it covers a larger period of time and gives you access to images.
New York Times (Proquest Database) This link opens in a new window
Contains searchable full-text articles from the New York Times newspaper from 1980-present. We also have access to the New York Times through their website which covers back to 1851. Since this content is in a database you may find that it's easier to search and filter than nytimes.com. Content discovered through this database will not have images included but articles through nytimes.com will.

Archive Resources Online

American Presidency Project
The American Presidency Project, non-profit and non-partisan, is the source of presidential documents on the internet. We are hosted at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
139,692 Presidential and Non-Presidential Records
Archives | NYPL
Archives are the records created by people and organizations as they lived and worked. Collections can range in size from a single letter or diary to thousands of boxes of institutional records. They can contain drafts of literary works, financial records, meeting minutes, reports, memorabilia, as well as sound recordings, videos, film, databases, and software.
On this site, you can search The New York Public Library's vast holdings, initiate a research visit, submit a query to an archivist, and access digitized material.
Collections | Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives holds more than one million volumes and over six thousand archival collections documenting war, revolution, and peace in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Counterculture | UMass Amherst
UMass Amherst Special Collections and Archives listings of digitized counterculture materials and photographs.
Digital Collections | NYPL
Explore 901,680 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections.
This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
For Researchers | Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian has wealth of information to support researchers and learners of all types. Whatever the discipline may be, we have online resources and experts who are eager to share knowledge and collaborate. Our investigations unfold at research centers, field sites, and museums in the United States and around the globe.
Hathi Trust Digital Library
A partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
The Public Domain Review
Founded in 2011, The Public Domain Review is an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas.
In particular, as our name suggests, the focus is on works which have now fallen into the public domain, that vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restriction. Our aim is to promote and celebrate the public domain in all its abundance and variety, and help our readers explore its rich terrain – like a small exhibition gallery at the entrance to an immense network of archives and storage rooms that lie beyond.
Research Our Records | National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.
Wilson Centre Archive

Congressional Record | U.S. Congress
National Archives Census Records
Census records can provide the building blocks of your research. The first Federal Population Census was taken in 1790, and has been taken every ten years since. Because of a 72-year restriction on access to the Census, the most recent year available is 1950. The 1950 Census was released on April 1, 2022.

The National Archives has the census schedules available from 1790 to 1950, and most have now been digitized by our digitization partners. Family researchers generally find it most helpful to begin with the most current census and work backwards as a strategy for locating people in earlier generations.
CRS Reports | U.S. Congress
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) serves as shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. CRS experts assist at every stage of the legislative process — from the early considerations that precede bill drafting, through committee hearings and floor debate, to the oversight of enacted laws and various agency activities.
Defense Technical Information Center
The Defense Technical Information Center has served the information needs of the Defense community for more than 70 years. DTIC reports to the Under Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering).
Federal Register
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) jointly administer the FederalRegister.gov website. We developed this website to make it easier for citizens and communities to understand the regulatory process and to participate in Government decision-making.
Foreign Relations of the United States
The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Search within the volumes, or browse volume titles by administration.
GovInfo
GovInfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO), which is a Federal agency in the legislative branch. GovInfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
National Security Archive
Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents ("the world's largest nongovernmental collection" according to the Los Angeles Times), leading non-profit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, public interest law firm defending and expanding public access to government information, global advocate of open government, and indexer and publisher of former secrets.
Presidential Libraries | National Archives
Presidential Libraries and Museums promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire.
Records & Research | U.S. House of Representatives
The people and activities of the U.S. House of Representatives have inspired numerous publications and millions of pages of records that tell their stories. Browse resources to help conduct research on congressional records, the institution of the House, its committees, and its Speakers. Access bibliographies, lists of standard reference volumes, and finding aids for official House records to discover the history behind the House.
Reference Desk | U.S. Senate
The Vault | Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Vault is our new FOIA Library, containing 6,700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies so you can read them in the comfort of your home or office.

Adam Matthew Explorer This link opens in a new window
Eight-eight primary source collections spanning the social sciences and humanities. This digital portfolio is arranged by theme and focuses on important topics such as: Borders and Migrations, Gender and Sexuality, Ethnic Studies, History, and War and Politics.
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Catalog of archival collections, holding nearly a million collection descriptions and online archival finding aids of archival material from more than 2,500 libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives around the world.
Freedom Riders in the South This link opens in a new window
Database documents the civil rights group's mission with over 4,000 digitized images of surveillance reports, chronologies, from the FBI Investigation Library. Offers a great collection of primary source documents on civil rights, desegregation, and African American studies. Gale.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive search of the Gale primary source databases: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Pennsylvania Digital Archive, Freedom Riders in the South, Mountain People: Life and Culture in Appalachia, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Punch Historical Archive, The Economist Historical Archive, The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, and Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive.

The Clark Family Library Digital Archives This link opens in a new window
The Clark Family Library Digital Archives is a multimedia exhibition of materials from the Learned T. Bulman '48 Historic Archives & Museum at Washington & Jefferson College. The Archives & Special Collections Library houses items related to the College and its history as well as a large collection of manuscripts and other material related to 18th and 19th century history of the United States, with an emphasis on Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Washington County Public Libraries
The Washington County Library System is a federated library system made up of the 14 independent libraries in Washington County. Many provide access to collections relevant for genealogical and historical study.
Washington's Citizens Library
Excellent resource for social history of the city and county of Washington PA, including "Family Search", "Find a Grave" and library access to ancestry.com
Washington County Historical Society
Excellent resource on Early American History, Black History and Social History of the county. The Washington County Historical Society administers several sites—the Francis J. LeMoyne House, the LeMoyne Crematory, the Norma K. Grimes Research Library and the Washington County Frontier History Center.
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The Historical Society utilizes these sites to educate the public through offering tours, special events, outreach programs and research services. As the repository for Washington County heritage, the Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of documents and artifacts.

Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Ireland
British Museum - Welcome to the British Museum
Explore or search one of the finest collections in existence, spanning two million years of human history. You will find art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures.
The British Library
Early Modern Manuscripts Online
National Museum of Ireland
National Archives of the United Kingdom
National Army Museum UK
Forces War Records UK
Russian State Archives
Trinity College Dublin

Identifying & Engaging with Sources

Washington and Jefferson College Archive

Sinead Bligh

Email Address

Primary Sources for Historical Study

Resources for finding W&J Alumni at a glance

Archive Resources Online