Subject Research, Course Guides, Documentation: U.S. Civil War Experiences: Primary Sources

Key Primary Source Databases

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window Diverse primary source materials reflecting broad views across American history and culture have been assembled into comprehensive databases. Includes African American Newspapers, American County Histories, Civil War Newspapers, Godeys Ladys Book, The Pennsylvania Gazette, History of Woman Suffrage, Frank Leslies Weekly, The Liberator, Twelve Years a Slave, and more.
American Civil War Letters & Diaries This link opens in a new window
The collection also includes biographies, an extensive bibliography of the sources in the database, and material licensed from The Civil War Day-by-Day by E.B. Long.

Chronicling America American newspapers 1789-1963.

Early American Newspapers - Series I - VII (1690-1922) This link opens in a new window Search or browse early American newspapers including titles from all 50 present states published between 1690 and 1922. Created by Readex through partnerships with the American Antiquarian Society, Library of Congress, Wisconsin Historical Society and others, this resource enables researchers to explore virtually every aspect of America during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
Includes: Early American Newspapers, Series 1 (1690 - 1876), Early American Newspapers, Series 2 (1758 - 1900), Early American Newspapers, Series 3 (1829 - 1922), Early American Newspapers, Series 4 (1756 - 1922), Early American Newspapers, Series 5 (1777
HarpWeek This link opens in a new window Web-based version of Harper's Weekly. Browse the literature in Harper's Weekly by genre, or the pages by date, or search the Index to Harper's Weekly. HarpWeek provides the searchable full-text of Harper's Weekly as an enhancement to the existing Thesaurus-based database. This searchable full-text database is an accurately typed facsimile of all of the text found within the pages of Harper's Weekly. The 56 years of Harpers Weekly provide a continuous record of what happened on a weekly basis from 1857 through 1912, conceptually broken into the following eras: The Civil War Era: 1857-1865Reconstruction: 1866-1877 The Gilded Age: 1878-1912
Hathi Trust Digital Library This link opens in a new window HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Login to use the enhanced features: Search the HathiTrust Digital Library Catalogvar ht_url = 'https://www.hathitrust.org/widgets/searchbox_fulltext.html?referrer=' + window.location.hostname;document.getElementById('iframe_htFullTextSearch01').contentWindow.document.location.href = ht_url;
ProQuest Civil War Era This link opens in a new window ProQuest Civil War Era is the resource American history scholars have been waiting for--comprehensive primary source materials that were previously unavailable digitally, cover a vast range of topics including the formative economic factors and other forces that led to the abolitionist movement, the 600,000 casualties, and the emancipation of nearly 4 million slaves. ProQuest Civil War Era was developed in conjunction with librarians and expert Civil War scholars to meet research needs as no other resource can. It combines complete runs of regional newspapers and pamphlets that cover a wide range of topics. Together, these primary source documents, all in original article and page image, span the entire era—from Manifest Destiny through the end of the Civil War—enabling researchers to investigate not just the battles, but also the rising tensions that led the country to war.

Selected Schaffer-Owned Primary Source Databases

Adam Matthew Explorer This link opens in a new window ...Digitized primary sources spanning the humanities and social sciences, from medieval manuscripts to 20th century global politics. For a listing of over seventy-five individual subject collections from this vendor click here.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 4 This link opens in a new window The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection - Series 4 presents over 1,100 titles dating from 1853 through 1865. Series 4 is the fourth of five series created from serials holdings of one of the premier repositories in the United States, the American Antiquarian Society. While the Civil War is a focal point of the collection, we also find a diverse record of the continuance of daily life for many Americansboth leading up to and during the war. News from the battlefront can be found, in addition to the usual breadth of subject matter found in previous collections that include science, literature, medicine, agriculture, womens fashion, family life, and religion.
American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new window Sources from the Edward E. Ayer Collection at the Newberry Library, Chicago. From early contacts between European settlers and American Indians and the subsequent political, social and cultural effects of those encounters on American Indian life, these materials tell both the historical and the personal stories of the colonization of the Americas. Continuing through to the modern era, and told against the backdrop of the nineteenth-century expansion of the United States, right through to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window ...comprehensively details the extensive work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the massive, international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings and publications of the activists themselves. The approximately 15,000 articles, documents, correspondence, proceedings, manuscripts, and literary works of almost 300 Black abolitionists show the full range of their activities.
Everyday Life and Women in America, c1800-1920 This link opens in a new window American social, cultural, and popular history during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It comprises thousands of fully searchable images (alongside transcriptions) of monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides addressing political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes.
History Vault: Slavery and the Law This link opens in a new window Features petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867. Includes Judicial Cases Concerning American Slavery and the Negro; Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States; Race, Slavery, and Free Blacks, Series I & II; and State Slavery Statutes.
Music Online: American Music This link opens in a new window American Song includes songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers and cowboys. Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests and more. It's keyword searchable or browsable by title, genre, instruments, performers or ensembles, events or publishers
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window ...biographies, auto-biographies, personal narratives, speeches, diaries, letters, and oral histories. The database represents the largest compilation ever created of biographical information on indigenous peoples from all areas of North America.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries - Colonial to 1950 This link opens in a new window North American Women's Letters and Diaries includes the immediate experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters, more than 7,000 pages of previously unpublished material. The collection also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database. Materials were chosen that illustrated the role and status of women, personal attitudes and reactions to specific historical or personal events or individuals, and descriptions that conveyed the life and times of the past. They provide a detailed record of what women wore, the conditions under which they worked, what they ate, what they read, and how they amused themselves. We can see how frequently they attended church, how they viewed their connection to God, and how they prayed. We can explore their relationships with lovers and family and friends.
The collection also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database. Materials were chosen that illustrated the role and status of women, personal attitudes and reactions to specific historical or personal events or individuals, and descriptions that conveyed the life and times of the past. They provide a detailed record of what women wore, the conditions under which they worked, what they ate, what they read, and how they amused themselves. We can see how frequently they attended church, how they viewed their connection to God, and how they prayed. We can explore their relationships with lovers and family and friends.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new window This resource brings together documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world covering an extensive time period from 1490. Close attention has been given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.
Social and Cultural History: Letters and Diaries Online This link opens in a new window Includes thousands of private writings and personal narratives. With Black Thought & Culture; British & Irish Women's Letters and Diaries; American Civil War: Letters and Diaries; North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories; North American Women's Letters and Diaries; and Oral History Online.

Selected Schaffer-Owned Historical Newspaper Databases

American Indian Newspapers This link opens in a new window Discover North American Indigenous journalism spanning two centuries with this major digital resource. Featuring publications from a range of communities, with an extensive list of periodicals produced in the United States and Canada, including Alaska, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Nevada and Oklahoma, from 1828 to 2016.
Nineteenth Century US Newspapers This link opens in a new window The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life, among other subjects.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune (1849 - 2012) This link opens in a new window ...offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times 1851-2018 This link opens in a new window ...news as primary source material dating back to the period before the Civil War.

For all Archival Newspapers

Open Access Primary Source Databases

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA): digital library of mainly images of the American Civil War
DocSouth -- The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865: Digital primary sources on southern civil war history
Library of Congress: research library with a large amount of relevant digital primary sources
Library of Congress Civil War Prints and Photographs
Library of Congress: American Civil War Sesquicentennial Web Archive: 200+ websites presenting various projects and events in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War
Making of America Collection
- DeBow’s (1846-1869) - Southern-oriented publication
- Ladies Repository (1841-1876)
- Southern Literary Messenger (1835-1864)
- Vanity Fair (1860-1862)

National Archives - documents, photographs, letters, etc. published by the U.S. Government
U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates - search or browse Statutes and Documents, Debates of Congress, and Special Presentations

Primo: Genres / Subjects

Searching Primo for primary and / or secondary sources can be difficult because search results invariably return both; unfortunately, there is no button or easy way to search for only primary or secondary sources.

To remedy this, try using in your searches the following non-exhaustive list of genres / subjects, as either search terms (keywords or subjects) or facets ("Type of Resource" or "Subject"):

Sources.
Personal narratives.
Diaries
Correspondence.
- also try Letters
Newspapers.
Memoir
- also try Memoirs
Pictorial works.
Caricatures and cartoons.
Humor.
Songs and music.
Maps
Biography.
- also try Autobiography.
Poetry.
Fiction.
Sermons.
Regimental histories
And any others that you think of!

Schaffer Library LibGuides

U.S. Civil War Experiences: Primary Sources

Key Primary Source Databases

Selected Schaffer-Owned Primary Source Databases

Selected Schaffer-Owned Historical Newspaper Databases

Open Access Primary Source Databases

Primo: Genres / Subjects