Clark Family Library: United States History: Find Primary Sources

Why Use Primary Sources?

Primary sources:

provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence of a topic
are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events and conditions being documented
are often created during the time of the event, but some are created after the fact, such as oral histories or autobiographies

Image from of page six and seven of Diary of Joseph Cecil Thompson in April 1915, taken by Ellen Thompson.

Where to Look for Primary Sources

The Find Reliable Websites page contains links to many websites that include primary source material.

To find primary sources online for your topic, use these tips:

Type your keywords into a search engine
Add terms such as "primary source" or specific types of primary sources such as "diary" or "letter"

Discovery and many of our databases will also allow you to filter your results by source type (often in a side panel on the left hand side of the screen). Select options such as newspapers, primary sources, letters, archives, etc.

Find Primary Sources in Databases

19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Covers 1800 to 1900. This link opens in a new window
19th Century database offers a full-text searchable collection of 500 U.S. newspapers published between 1800 and 1900. The collection features publications of all kinds, from the political party newspapers at the beginning of the nineteenth century to the mammoth dailies that shaped the nation at the century's end. Major newspapers stand alongside those published by African Americans, Native Americans, women’s rights groups, labor groups, and the Confederacy.
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
A union catalog of archival collections, provides access to 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. Good destination for searching through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories.
County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Pennsylvania Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Searchable collection of 350 digitized Pennsylvania county and regional histories and atlases published during the last quarter of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. It includes biographies, street maps, vital statistics, and views of urban and rural life. Gale.
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.
Mountain People: Life and Culture in Appalachia This link opens in a new window
Mountain People describes the social, political, economic, religious and agricultural characteristics of the historic Appalachian region of the United States.
New York Times (Proquest Database) This link opens in a new window
Contains full-text articles from the New York Times from 1980. (We also have the NYT on microfilm from 1851 at the library.)

Find Primary Sources in Websites

The "find reliable websites" page contains links to many websites that include primary source material.

Use the two links below to search some of the largest freely available digital collections for U.S. history primary sources.

American Memory from the Library of Congress - Browse Collections
These collections include maps, manuscripts, motion pictures, photos, sheet music, sound recordings and more.
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
DPLA brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. Search for specific material or browse the collections
Gov Info
govinfo provides free public access to more than a million official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

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
A union catalog of archival collections, provides access to 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. Good destination for searching through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories.
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.