LibGuides: History: Primary Sources

Sources of Historical Materials

Accessible Archives
Coverage varies by database (Restricted to ODU)
Includes the following full text databases: Godey's Lady's Book, The Pennsylvania Gazette, The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective, African American Newspapers, The Pennsylvania Genealogical Catalogue: Chester County and The Pennsylvania Newspaper Record: Delaware County.
ArchiveGrid
Coverage varies (Restricted to VIVA/ODU)
Helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
Provides full text historical documents by century. The project was created by Yale Law School's Avalon project in law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy, and government; original documents are also enhanced with links to supporting documentation.

British Periodicals Collection I & II
Late 1700's - 1800's (Restricted to ODU)
British Periodicals Collection I consists of more than 160 journals that comprise the UMI microfilm collection Early British Periodicals. Collection II consists of more than 300 journals from the UMI microfilm collections English Literary Periodicals and British Periodicals in the Creative Arts. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index
Coverage varies by index (Restricted to ODU)
Creates integrated bibliographic coverage of books, official publications, and articles published in journals, magazines, and newspapers, from indexes such as the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, Palmer's Index to the Times and Periodicals Index Online.

ODU Special Collections
The Special Collections department houses the University archives, manuscripts, books, and other printed material related to Virginia and Tidewater History.

Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500 - 1926
1500 -1926 (Restricted to VIVA/ODU)
Based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts ofexploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.
The Times Digital Archive
1785 - 2014 (Restricted to VIVA/ODU)
Contains full facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page from The Times of London, first published in 1785. All articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos are divided into categories to facilitate searching.