Art History Subject Guide

Following is a SELECT list of databases that illustrate the breadth of primary resources available via library research databases.  Find other primary source databases relevant for your research via:

 

Databases@Emory

Use the "All Database Types" pull-down menu and select Archives and Primary Sources.  Primary source databases are also listed in relevant Subject categories.

 

AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS & NEWS SOURCES

 

ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Historical full text coverage of 16 major and African American newspapers - coverage dates vary widely. To search the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Daily World and other ProQuest historical papers:

• Click on one of the above newspaper links
• Click on the "Select Multiple Databases" link on the search page
• Scroll down to the Historical Databases option and check titles you want to include in your search
• Click on CONTINUE
• Proceed with your search

America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922)

Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers (1800's)

Accessible Archives (1800's) - major African American newspapers and more

Ethnic NewsWatch (1960-present)

Ethnic American Newspapers from the Balch Collection, 1799-1971

Lexis Nexis Academic Universe (1980's-present)

ProQuest Civil War Era (1840-1865)

Television News Archive at Vanderbilt University (1968-present)

 

BRITISH NEWSPAPERS

Civil War in America from the Illustrated London News (1861-1865)

17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers (1601-1800)

19th Century British Library Newspapers Digital Archive (19th century)

Historical Times of India (1838-2001)

Times Digital Archive (1785-1985)

 

HISTORICAL MAGAZINES

American Periodical Series Online (1690-mid-1900's)

British Periodicals I (1691-1937)

HarpWeek (1857-1912)  Digital version of Harper's Weekly

Opinion Archives (coverage dates vary)  Digital versions of major U.S. public opinion magazines

Nation Digital Archive (1865-2002)  Digital version of The Nation

Eighteenth Century Journals (1685-1815)

 

ORAL HISTORIES & OTHER PERSONAL NARRATIVES

North American Women's Letters & Diaries (Colonial era-1950)

North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries & Oral Histories (1840-present)

Oral History Online (1930-present) 

 

U.S. GOVERNMENT SOURCES

American State Papers (1789-1838) - Federal legislative and executive documents

U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1817-1975) - reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House

Proquest Congressional (1789-present) - hearings, reports, Congressional Record, bills, laws, Statutes at Large, legislative histories

Lexis Nexis Digital Hearings Collection (1824-2003)

 

BRITISH GOVERNMENT SOURCES

British Parliamentary Papers - Emory has online access to parliamentary papers for the 18th and 19th Centuries as well as state papers for the 16th, 17th and a small portion of the 18th century. In addition, we have Parliamentary Papers and many other British government publications - as well as indexes to them - in print or microformat. 

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) (1688-2014)

State Papers Online (1509-1782)

British History Online
A variety of British primary sources including an extensive collection of the Calendars of State Papers.

Useful resources for British Parliamentary research:

 

BOOKS & OTHER PUBLISHED SOURCES:

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800)

Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)

Early English Books Online (1400's-1600's)

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (18th century)

Nineteenth Century Collections Online (19th Century)

 

 

Thanks to a number of major digitization initiatives, MANY published sources (books, journals, etc.) are now freely available via digital web repositories. Most of these materials are in the public domain - i.e. not copyright-protected.  For the U.S. this means titles published prior to 1922; copyright "cutoff" dates vary for other countries.  Googling by title or author will likely retrieve materials in these digital repositories, but you can also search their contents individually.  Notable examples:

 

There are a gazillion good websites containing digital primary sources, but evaluate carefully what you find (see box to the left). If you know of a library, archival repository or other institution that holds resources relevant for your research, check their website to see if they've digitized anything.  There are also some good "all-purpose" sites, for example:

Use Library Search to find published primary sources in Emory's libraries, including:

•  Published books that contain primary source documents
•  Manuscript and archival collections and rare books held by the Manuscript, Archives & Rare Book Library 
•  U.S. government documents
•  Primary source collections in microfilm or microfiche format (see more about microforms in the box below)

 

Try adding one or more of the following search terms to your search:

autobiographies	diaries
autobiography	personal narratives
biography	sources
captivity narratives	speeches
correspondence	pamphlets

 

Examples: 

sioux and biography

japanese internment and (sources or personal narratives)  

TIP:  You can also ask the library reference staff for help in refining your search strategy.