Selected Primary Sources
A Sourcebook of Early Modern European History: Life, Death, and Everything in Between by "Not only provides instructors with primary sources of a manageable length and translated into English, it also offers students a concise explanation of their context and meaning... Spanning the period from c. 1450 to c. 1750 and including primary sources from across early modern Europe, from Spain to Transylvania, Italy to Iceland, and the European colonies, this book provides an excellent sense of the diversity and complexity of human experience during this time whilst drawing attention to key themes and events of the period. It is ideal for students of early modern history, and of early modern Europe in particular."
- 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new windowFull text searchable newspapers, pamphlets, and books gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) that form a comprehensive collection of early English news media.
- British History OnlineBritish History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust. Parts of the collection are only available to subscribers.
- British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new windowPrimary source database offering women's diaries and letters.
- Connected Histories 1500-1900This website provides a unified search interface for over 20 digital collections covering Britain from 1500 to 1900. Researchers may also link to individual collections. Most of the resources are free; some require a subscription. Examples of collections pertinent to Britain between 1500 and 1700 include:
* Cause Papers in Diocesan Courts of Abp. of York, 1300-1858
* London Lives 1690-1800
* Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
* Witches in Early Modern England
- The Early Modern WorldA website with links to primary source documents, most in English translation. Compiled by Paul Halsall at Fordham. If the link is broken, try searching for access online.
- Empire Online (1492-1962) This link opens in a new windowFull text primary source documents, including original manuscripts and printed material covering colonial history, politics, culture and society from 1492 to 1962.
- English Poetry, 600-1900 This link opens in a new windowFull-text English and British poems from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of 19th century.
- English Verse Drama This link opens in a new windowFull-text of works by named and anonymous authors from the Shrewsbury Fragments of the late 13th century, through the Elizabethan and Jacobean period, to British poets of the 19th century.
- e-rara"Portal for digitised printed works from Swiss libraries. These works range from books and maps to illustrated materials – from the earliest days of book printing to the 20th century."
- EuroDocs: Online Sources for European HistoryRich website linking to primary sources for all periods of European history. Organized first by country, and then loosely chronologically. Includes transcriptions, facsimiles, and, sometimes, translations. Maintained at Brigham Young University.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowCross-search Gale's primary sources Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) and NewsVault.
- Heilbrunn Timeline of Art HistoryThis multifaceted tool places art works from the Metropolitan Museum's collection within geographical and chronological context. It has excellent thematic essays (background information) that cover the historical eras and cultures that produced the works of art (the primary sources), along with maps and key events from each place and time period.
- JSTOR Image Search This link opens in a new windowArtstor is now on JSTOR. Digital image library offering searchable collections of images and descriptive information including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, and more, encompassing many time periods and world cultures.
- Latin American Travelogues This link opens in a new windowDigital collection of Latin American travel accounts written in the 16th-19th centuries.
- Library of Congress MapsAccess to digitized maps from the Library of Congress.
- Old Maps OnlineAccess to maps from research libraries around the world. You may search a place and a time period to find high-resolution maps.
- Past Masters: Philosophy and Theology This link opens in a new windowSearchable full-text collections, in English and/or Latin, of the writings of philosophers and theologians from antiquity into the 20th century.
- Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new windowFull text of every book about the Americas published anywhere between 1500 and 1926.
- State Papers Online This link opens in a new windowCorrespondence, reports, parliamentary drafts from ambassadors, civil servants, etc. from British governments spanning 1509-1714.
- Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database This link opens in a new windowRecords from more than 35,000 individual slaving expeditions between 1514 and 1866 from archives and libraries throughout the Atlantic world, providing information about vessels, enslaved peoples, slave traders and owners, and trading routes.
Indexes to Primary Sources
Use these tools to help locate more primary sources. You may need to use Interlibrary Loan to acquire the actual documents.
- English Short Title CatalogueIndexes over 460,000 books that were published between 1473 and 1800 primarily in Britain and North America. Works are predominantly in English and are from the collections of the British Library and over 2,000 other libraries.
- Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450–1700 (CELM)"Provides a complete catalogue of literary manuscripts by 237 British authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."