Portals to Digital Archives
Don't know where to start? Try one of the following database portals. They allow researchers to search across multiple databases produced by the same publisher or archives.
- DP.LAPublisher: Archives and Libraries across the US
- Archive ExplorerPublisher: Adam Matthew
- ArtemisPublisher: Gale
- Archive of AmericanaPublisher: Readex
Research Guides by Discipline
What are primary sources?
What constitutes a primary source varies by field. This guide will point you to some commonly used primary source databases, but primary sources take many forms! For more subject-specific examples, consult a research guide in your discipline.
| Discipline | Primary Source Examples | |
| History | Artifact, Diary, Government Report, Interview, Letter, Map, News Report, Oral History, Organizational Records, Photograph, Speech | |
| Art | Painting, Photograph, Print, Sculpture, Film or other Work of Art, Sketch Book, Architectural Model or Drawing | |
| Literature | Interview, Letter, Manuscript, Personal Account by Writer, Poem, Work of Fiction or Drama, Contemporary Review | |
| Anthropology | Artifact, Field Notes, Fossil, Photograph | |
| Sociology | Cultural Artifact, Interview, Oral History, Organizational Records, Statistical Data, Survey | |
| Psychology | Case Study, Clinical Case Report, Experimental Replication, Follow-up Study, Longitudinal Study, Treatment Outcome Study | |
| Natural Sciences | Research or Lab Notes, Genetic Evidence, Plant Specimens, Technical Reports, and other Reports of Original Research or Discoveries (e.g., Conference Papers and Proceedings, Dissertations, Scholarly Articles). |
Newspapers
Below are a curated list of newspaper databases. For a more comprehensive list, see the Woodruff Library Newspapers Guide.
- ProQuest News & Newspapers This link opens in a new windowContemporary and historical mainstream US newspapers. Also contains major African American newspapers, Jewish newspapers and regional newspapers from the South.
- Chronicling America This link opens in a new windowLibrary of Congress's collection of digitized newspapers.
Government and Legal Documents
- ProQuest Congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional Universe) This link opens in a new windowContains congressional publications, including congressional hearings.
- Hein Online This link opens in a new windowContains over 100 million pages of legal history available in an online, fully-searchable, image-based format. The most popular HeinOnline libraries include the Law Journal Library, the Session Laws Library, and the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, with exact page images of the documents in PDF format just as they appear in the original print.
Archives and Manuscripts
- Anthropological Fieldwork Online This link opens in a new windowContains primary source material on the historical development of anthropology from a global perspective.
- History Vault This link opens in a new windowAccess historical documents and digitized microfilm collections.
Data Sources
- Guide to Data SourcesEmory's guide to finding data.
- ICPSRData sets searchable by keyword.