InfoGuides: HIST 326 Digital History (Rankine): Primary Sources

Last Updated: May 7, 2025 1:31 PM

Primary Sources

A primary source offers direct, first-hand evidence about an event or topic. It is usually created at the time it occured. Primary sources can include, historical document, text of a speech, newspaper article with first hand information, letters, photographs, etc.

Artstor on JSTOR
Artstor includes over 2 million images covering art, architecture, archaeology, and photography; all available for use in research and teaching. Images come with high-quality metadata from collection catalogers, curators, institutions, and artists themselves. Please note: As of August 1, 2024, Artstor's content, key resources, and functionality are available exclusively on JSTOR. The stand-alone Artstor website is retired. Please update your bookmarks. DONATED: From the C. B. Neblette Collection on Photography and Reprography and a gift from Harold R. and Marian Condit.

Cary Graphic Arts Collection
Housed at the RIT Libraries, the Cary Graphic Arts Collection is one of the world’s premier libraries on graphic communication history and practices.
Digital Public Library of America
HathiTrust Digital Library
From site: The HathiTrust Digital Library is home to millions of digitized books and publications. Our team works diligently alongside research institutions to preserve and grow this collection while providing lawful access to visitors around the world.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Primary sources and digital collections available through the Library of Congress.

MAS Ultra - School Edition
Contains full text for popular magazines and reference books, and includes biographies, primary source documents, and an image collection.

National Archives
RIT Archives
Collection of non-circulating zines housed in the RIT Archives.
Rochester Images
Database including thousands of historical and contemporary images from Rochester and Monroe County. Scroll to select "Search Rochester Images."
Rochester Public Library Local History Collection
United States Census Data
University of Rochester Special Collections

Newspapers

New York Times (1851-present)
Full-text coverage of the US newspaper of record. Offers superb coverage of national and international news, plus coverage of important speeches and documents, Supreme Court decisions, and presidential press conference transcripts.
NYS Historic Newspapers
The NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers -- Black Newspapers
Provides cultural perspective and insight to the events that shaped the United States. Covering everything from major events to everyday life, these titles are invaluable research tools for studying American history and African-American culture, history, politics, and art. For a list of newspapers click here.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers -- U.S. Northeast Collection
This collection covers 19 northeast regional newspapers including the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle from 1871 - 2011, the newspaper of record for the Rochester region.