Subject Research, Course Guides, Documentation: HST 120 Emergence of Modern America: Primary Source Databases

Primary Source Databases

Music Online: American Music
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
A collection of biographies, auto-biographies, personal narratives, speeches, diaries, letters, and oral histories from native and First people. 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
The collection includes material from women's diaries and letters from the 18th century through the 20th. 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.
Social and Cultural History: Letters and Diaries Online
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.
HarpWeek
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 Civil War Era, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1924 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

Selected Newspaper Databases

Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
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: The New York Times with Index
Collection of archival records of the newspaper covering from 1851 to 2020. Can be searched using subject terms and topics, and covers the politics, society, and events of the time.

For all Archival Newspapers

Research at Schaffer Library

HST 120 Emergence of Modern America

Instruction Librarian

Primary Source Databases

Selected Newspaper Databases