Many of the resources in the massive A-Z List of databases contain primary source content of interest to historians, but the size of the list makes it difficult to navigate. This section is divided into three sections to help you find what you're looking for.
Note that a separate page lists historical newspapers, periodicals, and newsmedia.
Note also that this section is all about digitized primary sources. IU is home to many physical collections, including those at the Lilly Library and University Archives. To find other physical collections, try ArchiveGrid.
For more detailed information about Adam Matthew Collections, see the following guide:
If you are new to primary source research, you may want to look at the following instructional toolkit.
Online tool designed to support students of the humanities and social sciences. Introduces the key approaches to working with source materials and historical evidence, as well as the methodologies and practicalities of visiting archives, evaluating sources and writing up research. Includes access to module 1: Research Skills Foundations, and module 2: Interrogating Colonial Documents and Narratives.
Includes nearly 200 hundred essays, videos, "How to" guides and case studies by subject specialists which answer questions about working with primary sources. Materials provide guidance on where to find historical documents, and how to best to approach analyzing the content they hold.
Several of the links below are portals to dozens of other primary source databases.
For a list of non-IU websites with digitized primary sources, see the following guide and link:
For additional help, please contact me
Allows users to search all Adam Matthew digital collections.
Portal for accessing descriptions of archival and special collections held by libraries, archives and other cultural heritage units at Indiana University or affiliated with Indiana University.
Archives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents. Collections cover a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history. Particular strengths include U.S. foreign policy; U.S. civil rights; global affairs and colonial studies; and modern history. Collections are chosen based on requests from scholars, archivists, and students.
Archives Unbound is a suite of collections, each devoted to a particular topic. The collections include primary, unpublished historical documents and draw from institutional and governmental sources (Africa and African America; Source Library: Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters Library) and private collections (Women in Cuba; Library: Personal collection Dr. K. Lynn Stoner).
Archival collections documenting topics in eighteenth- through twentieth-century American history. Provides access to digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and many more primary source materials taken from the University Publications of America (UPA) Collections.