Primary source research often strikes fear into students, who may not understand what primary sources are or how to find them. This guide concentrates on the "how to find them" part of the equation, linking to hundreds of free primary source collections on the web as well as collections to which UCSD subscribes.
Other primary source assistance at the UCSD Library includes: a short YouTube video that explains what primary sources are UC Library Search for finding primary documents (or other materials) in the library; search tips on the "Need More?" tab of this guide; and, you can always ask a librarian for help.
Browse or search across 13 collections of primary source material. Subject areas include Native Americans, colonial America, women & gender, Jewish life, immigration, and more.
American Memory
Decommissioned. Content migrated to the Library of Congress Digital Collections site below.
With 72 collections of archival primary sources spanning American social and diplomatic history, plus China, Mexico, Germany, Spain, and Japan..
American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism
Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League
Bush Presidency and Development and Debate Over Civil Rights Policy and Legislation
Chinese Maritime Customs Service: The Customs’ Gazette, 1869-1913
Colección Revolución, 1910-1921
Correspondence from German Concentration Camps and Prisons
Country Intelligence Reports/State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Reports China (1941-1961)
Country Intelligence Reports/State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Reports Japan (1941-1961)
Country Intelligence Reports/State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Reports Korea (1941-1961)
County and Regional Histories & Atlases: California
Cuartel General del Sur, 1910-1925
Emiliano Zapata, 1901-1919
European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: German Colonies in Asia and the Pacific: From Colonialism to Japanese Mandates, 1910-1929
Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman
Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984
Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights
Final Accountability Rosters of Japanese-American Relocation Centers, 1944-1946
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Race Relations, 1933-1945
General George C. Marshall's Mission to China, 1945-1947
German Foreign Relations and Military Activities in China, 1919-1935
Global Missions and Theology
Holocaust and the Concentration Camp Trials: Prosecution of Nazi War Crimes
Integration of Alabama Schools and the U.S. Military, 1963
James Meredith, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Integration of the University of Mississippi
Japan and Korea: Summation of Nonmilitary Activities, 1945-1948
Japan at War and Peace, 1930-1949: U.S. State Department Records on the Internal Affairs of Japan
Japan-U.S. Economic Relations Group Records, 1979-1981
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Commercial Relations, 1910-1949
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Commercial Relations, 1950-1963
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, 1950-1954
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, 1955-1959
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Political Relations, 1930-1939
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Political Relations, 1940-1944
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Political Relations, 1945-1949
Japan: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1950-1959
Japan: U.S. Naval Technical Mission, 1945-1946
Japanese American Internment: Records of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life
Korea: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1930-1963
La Guerra Civil Española
Laos: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1963-1966
Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918
Nazi Bank and Financial Institutions: U.S. Military Government Investigation Reports and Interrogations of Nazi Financiers, 1945-1949
Overland Journeys: Travels in the West, 1800-1880
Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement
Personal Justice Denied: Public Hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment, 1981
Policing the Shanghai International Settlement, 1894-1945
Political Relations Between China, the U.S. and Other Countries, 1910-1929
Political Relations and Conflict between Republican China and Imperial Japan, 1930-1939: Records of the U.S. State Department
Political, Economic, and Military Conditions in China: Reports and Correspondence of the U.S. Military Intelligence Division, 1918-1941
Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950
Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement
Rastafari Ephemeral Publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project
Records of US State Department's Division of Chinese Affairs
Records of the Far Eastern Commission, 1945–1952
Records of the National Council for United States-China Trade 1973-1983
Records of the U.S. Information Service in China: Chinese Press Reviews and Summaries, 1944-1950
SAFEHAVEN Reports on Nazi Looting of Occupied Countries and Assets in Neutral Countries
Shanghai Municipal Council: The Municipal Gazette, 1908-1940
Subject Files of US State Department's Office of the Republic of China Affairs (1951-1978)
Testaments to the Holocaust. Documents and Rare Printed Materials from the Wiener Library, London
Thailand: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, 1945-1954
Thailand: Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, 1955-1963
The Chinese Civil War and U.S.-China Relations: Records of the U.S. State Department's Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955
The Chinese Recorder and the Protestant Missionary Community in China, 1867-1941
The Minutemen, 1963-1969: Evolution of the Militia Movement in America, Part I
The Minutes of the Shanghai Municipal Council
The Quest for Labor Equality in Household Work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979
Tiananmen Square and U.S.-China relations, 1989-1993
U.S. Relations with the Vatican and the Holocaust, 1940-1950
We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death: Freedom Riders in the South, 1961
“Through the Camera Lens:” The Moving Picture World and the Silent Cinema Era, 1907-1927
Nearly 100 primary source sets from the Library of Congress, intended for grades K-12 teachers. Allows focusing results by topic, time period, and grade level.
Cross-disciplinary resource providing background and context for daily life in all historical eras, from ancient times to the present. Includes primary documents, images, maps, web links, folktales, recipes, much more. Tip: use the "filter" option under the search box to limit to types of documents, time periods, and/or regions.
A major collection of scanned texts relating to empire studies, divided into 5 sections: Cultural Contacts 1492-1969; Empire Writing/the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire; Religion; and Race, class, imperialism and colonialism 1607-2007.
One of the best places to start for all time periods of European history. Extensive collection of primary sources and links to other sites. Browse by broad era (prehistory/ancient, medieval/renaissance, modern) or by country.
Presents texts from ancient to modern times. Material touches on the Crusaders, Italian Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, French Revolution, and many other topics.
Digital primary sources drawn mostly from U.S. archival collections. Collections are arranged into subject modules: Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle; Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War; American Indians and the American West; American Politics & Society; International Relations & Military Conflicts; Revolutionary War & Early America; Women's Studies; Workers, Labor Unions, & Radical Politics.
The Internet History Sourcebooks are collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts. Topics include Ancient, Medieval and Modern histories. Also presents material grouped by subject: Africa, East Asia, Global, Indian, Islamic, Jewish, Lesbian/Gay, Science and Women's history.
Provides full-text and full-page-image access to books from the 1460-1850 period, and pre-1906 serials. It focuses on economics interpreted in the widest sense, including political science, history, sociology, and special collections on banking, finance, transportation and manufacturing.
Full texts of almost 1500 classic works on art, economics, history, law, literature, music, philosophy, political theory, religion, science, sociology, war and peace.
Allows searching across 22 databases, including African American Periodicals, America's Historical Imprints, America's Historical Newspapers, American State Papers, FBIS Daily Reports, U.S. Congressional Serial Set, and World Newspaper Archive.
Large, well-organized collection of print and visual primary sources from ancient to current times. Material may be browsed by place, time, topic, type of resource, or contributing institution.
Need help?
Use the Ask-Us reference service or visit/call the Research Assistance Desk (858-822-0450) from 10am-4pm Monday through Friday.
Remote Access
Remote access to resources marked with a blue lock symbol is limited to UCSD students, faculty and staff.
