British History Librarian
Rutgers University
169 College Ave.
New Brunswick, NJ
(848) 932-6105
Using QuickSearch to find primary sources
For more general information on using QuickSearch, see the Getting Started and the Find Books tab.
Terms to search for:
There are a number of subject terms used in library catalogs that tell you that a title is a primary source. The most important and widely used is sources. For example: england history civil war, 1642-1649 sources.
Here's a reasonably complete list of these special subject terms:
sources OR archives OR diaries OR correspondence OR speeches OR interviews OR personal narratives OR oral history OR newspapers OR pictorial (make sure to use OR in caps)
- Go into Advanced Search in QuickSearch. Search sources OR any of the other subject terms that might be relevant to your research in the first search box; select the Subject field and contains in the two drop-down menus to the left. This limits the results of your search just to primary sources.
- Add terms to search in the second search box. Instead of searching by subject, you may want to search simply by keyword; a keyword search searches all fields, so don't select a field in that drop-down menu.
Some additional search tips:
- In Advanced Search, on the right, you can also search for primary sources by limiting the time period during which your search results were published, Start Date and End Date.
- Your search results are arranged in relevance order. You can use Sort by on the left to resort, arrange them chronologically: Date-Oldest.
Primary Sources in WorldCat
You can use WorldCat, a worldwide library catalog, to search for primary sources beyond Rutgers. Equivalent search strategies to those described above can be used in Advanced Search in WorldCat. An additional, very useful feature here is the option to limit to "Archival Material" under "Limit Type to." This will limit your search to unique primary sources, to material found in libraries' archives.
For more on WorldCat, see Other Library Catalogs under the Find Books tab.
Primary Source Databases: A-Z and by type of Resource
17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers: Newspapers and "newsbooks," pamphlets, broadsides, etc. from the English Civil War and the following century.
1980s Culture and Society: Sources illustrating 1980s social, cultural, and political concerns in the US, UK Australia, and Canada.
Age of Exploration: Primary sources depicting key events in European maritime exploration from 1410-1920.
AM Explorer: Search across more than 100 primary source collections from Adam Matthew. Many relate to British history. Individual collections are included in this list and in the lists below.
Apartheid South Africa: 1948-1980: British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices dating from 1948 to 1980.
ARTstor: Art and architecture images from all periods and regions.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries: Approximately 500 diaries and collections of letters, circa 1500-1950.
British Newspapers, Part I: 1800-1900: Newspapers of national, regional, and local interest, as well as papers that catered to various political parties. Searchable full text, all articles, short stories, poetry, illustrations, and advertisements.
British Newsreels, 1911-130: Culture and Society on Film: Silent newsreels covering British and international news.
British Periodicals: Roughly five hundred magazines and journals, from the seventeenth through the early twentieth century, mostly the nineteenth century.
Business, Economic and Labour History: Britain and America, 19th and 20th century topics; papers of major economists, Keynes in Britain.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index: Variety of sources, including the Nineteenth-Century Short Title Catalog and an index to Parliamentary Papers.
Church Missionary Society Archive: Includes sources from related missionary organization active active across the globe; 1619-1981.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals: Primary sources originally published by the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the South American Missionary Society, and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) between 1804 and 2009.
Central Asia, Persia & Afghanistan, 1834-1922: Files from the British Foreign Office regarding Central Asia, Persia, and Afghanistan.
Colonial Caribbean: Files from the British Colonial Office regarding the Caribbean.
Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1834-1966.
Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1833-1969.
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1839-1969.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1824-1961.
Conflict in Indochina: Foreign Office Files for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, 1959-1979.
Defining Gender, 1450-1910: Primary documents on: Conduct and Politeness; Domesticity and the Family; Consumption & Leisure; Education & Sensibility; and The Body.
Dictionary of National Biography: Over 60,000 biographical sketches of men and women important in British history.
Early English Books Online (EEBO): Books, periodicals, tracts, etc. printed in English before 1700; records in the Rutgers Libraries catalog link to fulltext in the database.
Early Modern England: Primary sources illustrating everyday life in 16th and 17th-century England.
East India Company: India Office Records held by the British Library in London.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online: All books printed in English, 1701-1800; records in the Rutgers Libraries catalog with link to fulltext in the database.
Eighteenth Century Drama: Nearly every play manuscript submitted for license in the United Kingdom from 1737-1824.
Eighteenth Century Journals: Unique and rare periodicals representing the wide range of English language print culture in the long 18th century.
Electronic Enlightenment: Over 58,000 letters written by British, American, French, German, and other Enlightenment figures.
Empire Online: Primary sources related to modern imperialism, including the British Empire.
Empire Studies: British empire and colonialism, 1734-1968.
The First World War: Primary sources produced by soldiers, civilians, and governments on both sides of the conflict and in multiple theaters of war.
Food and Drink in History: Primary sources documenting food and drink in global history.
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980: Files from the British Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) regarding China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980: Files from the British Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) regarding India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Foreign Office Files for Japan: Files from the British Foreign Office regarding Japan.
Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981: Files from the British Foreign Office regarding the Middle East.
Foreign Office Files for Southeast Asia, 1963-1980: Files from the National Archives of the United Kingdom regarding Southeast Asia.
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters: Primary sources documenting European migration to and colonization of Africa, Australasia and North America.
Gender: Identity and Social Change: Primary sources depicting gender history, women’s suffrage, the feminist movement, and the men’s movement.
Gerritsen Collection (1543-1945): History of feminism, 1543-1945; over 4,000 fulltext monographs and 300 periodicals; mostly English, German and French.
Global Commodities: Documents the global history of fifteen commodities, including cotton, coffee, oil, and opium.
The Grand Tour: Primary sources documenting British travel to the European continent from the 16th through the 19th centuries.
HathiTrust Digital Library: Bigger than Google Books, better search options. Login as a RU user in the upper right to take advantage of all features, including creating personal, shareable collections.
HeinOnline: Mostly American, but includes English Reports, Full Reprint, 1220-1865 (court opinions) and Statutes of the Realm, through 1714.
India, Raj, and Empire: Primary and secondary sources from the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 to the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947.
Interwar Culture: Periodicals published in the United States and Britain between the World Wars.
JSTOR: Extensive collection of scholarly journals across the disciplines, back to the first issue. For most titles, does not include current issues.
Leisure, Travel and Mass Culture: The History of Mass Tourism: Primary sources documenting the development of mass tourism from the mid-19th through the 20th century.
Life at Sea: Primary sources documenting Anglo-American sea travel from 1600-1900.
Literary Manuscripts: Victorian Manuscripts from the Berg Collection: Victorian manuscripts from the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of the New York Public Library.
Literary Manuscripts: 17th and 18th Century Poetry from University of Leeds: Manuscripts from the Brotherton Library Collection at the University of Leeds. The collection’s primary focus is poetry, but the manuscripts also include songs, riddles, recipes, musical scores, plays, miscellanies, commonplace books, political works, and religious texts.
Literary Print Culture: The Stationers' Company Archive: Primary sources from the archives of the Stationers’ Company, which controlled the early British publishing industry.
Literature Online (LION): Major literary works in English from all periods.
London Low Life: Documents popular culture in 19th century London, a wide variety of material types, such as fast literature, street ephemera (posters, advertising, playbills, ballads, and broadsides), penny fiction, cartoons, chapbooks, street cries, tourist guides and topographies, and swells’ guides to London prostitution, gambling, and drinking dens.
Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963: Complete Cabinet conclusions (minutes) and memoranda of the government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926: British and American.
Mass Observation Online: Archive of the organization Mass-Observation, a United Kingdom social research organization founded in 1937 to document the actions of ordinary Britons in everyday life.
Mass Observation Project: Archive of the Mass Observation Project, a public opinion survey program conducted by the University of Sussex, dating from 1981-2009.
Medical Services and Warfare: Primary sources documenting medical history during times of armed conflict dating from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
Migration to New Worlds: Primary sources documenting migration from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe, and Asia to North America and Australasia.
New York Times: 1851 to three years prior to the current year.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online- Eight topical "archives," including British Politics and Society.
Nineteenth Century Literary Society: The John Murray Publishing Archive: Primary source materials from the John Murray publishing company, a major British publishing house.
The Nixon Years, 1969-1974: Complete files of the United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office regarding Richard Nixon’s presidency of the United States.
Oral History Online: English-speaking men and women, all walks of life, mid-nineteenth century to the present.
PAIS: Public policy, Foreign affairs in journals and magazines, 1914 to the present.
Parker Library on the Web: Handwritten books from the 6th though the 16th century, mostly in Latin, Anglo-Saxon or English.
Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 1275-1504: Surviving records of the sessions of Parliament.
Perdita Manuscripts: Writings by Early Modern women. A variety of genres are represented, including poetry, religious writing, autobiographical material, diaries, drama, cookery and medical recipes, and account books.
Periodicals Index Online: Mostly humanities, social science journals; mostly in English; predominately twentieth century, but begins with 1665 and has some coverage of the twenty-first century; some full text.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975: Primary sources representing mass culture. Material types include photographs, posters, manuscripts, pamphlets, typescripts, and ephemera.
Poverty, Philanthropy & Social Conditions in Victorian Britain: Primary sources documenting poverty and efforts to alleviate it in 19th-century Britain.
Romanticism: Life, Literature and Landscape: Original verse manuscripts, working notebooks, and correspondence of William Wordsworth, as well as materials from other Romantic poets and artists.
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: Archive of the institute, 1763-2013.
Service Newspapers of World War II: Newspapers originally produced by members of various service branches on both sides of the conflict.
Sex & Sexuality: Primary sources, including materials from the Kinsey Institute, documenting attitudes toward sexuality, gender, and sexual behavior in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia from the 19th-21st centuries.
Shakespeare's Globe Archive: Production and architectural archives of the reconstructed Shakespeare’s Globe theater in London.
Shakespeare in Performance: The Folger Shakespeare Library Prompt Books: Collection of over 1,000 rare and unique prompt books from the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Slavery, Abolition, & Social Justice, 1490-2007: Primary documents on the history of slavery worldwide, with maps, thematic essays, etc.
State Papers Online, Part III: The Stuarts: Domestic state papers, 1603-1714.
Times Digital Archive: London Times from the first issue in 1785, coverage through 2014.
Transformation of Shopping: the department store in popular culture and society, US, Britain, and other countries, primary sources from over 300 stores, 1830-1994.
Travel Writing, Spectacle, and World History: Women's Travel Writing and Correspondence: Also includes maps, photographs, ephemera; early nineteenth to late twentieth centuries.
Victorian Popular Culture: Primary sources depicting popular entertainment in Britain, the United States, and Europe in the long 19th century.
Victorians on Film: Films produced during the Victorian era, primarily in Great Britain.
Virginia Company Archives: Primary sources from the archives of the Virginia Company of London, an English joint-stock company chartered to establish colonial settlements in North America.
Washington Post: 1877-1993
Women and Social Movements International (1840-present): Letters, diaries, memoirs of activists; publications of women's organizations, etc.
Women in the National Archives: Primary documents on women's suffrage in Britain and the colonies; plus a finding aid to women’s studies resources in the National Archives.
WorldCat: Search library catalogs from around the globe. Advanced search allows you to limit to archival material.
World War Two Studies: The war and its aftermath in Europe and the Pacific.
World’s Fairs: A Global History of Expositions: Primary sources documenting over 200 fairs and global expositions, ranging chronologically from the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851 to the Milan Expo 2015.
ArchiveGrid: Full-text finding aids from US archives.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index: Variety of sources, including the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue and ArchiveFinder.
WorldCat: Search library catalogs across the world. In Advanced Search, under Limit Type to, check off Archival Materials.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index: Variety of sources, including the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue. No full text.
Early English Books Online (EEBO): Books, periodicals, tracts, etc. printed in English before 1700. Titles also searchable in QuickSearch.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online: All books printed in English, 1701-1800. Titles also searchable in QuickSearch.
HathiTrust Digital Library: Bigger than Google Books, better search options. Login as an RU user in the upper right to take advantage of all features, including creating personal, shareable collections.
Literature Online (LION): Major literary works in English from all periods.
WorldCat: Search library catalogs across the world.
17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers: Newspapers and "newsbooks," pamphlets, broadsides, etc. from the English Civil War and the following century.
British Newspapers, Par t I: 1800-1900: Newspapers of national, regional, and local interest, as well as papers that catered to various political parties. Searchable full text, all articles, short stories, poetry, illustrations, and advertisements.
New York Times: 1851 to three years prior to the current year, coverage of worldwide, including British, current events.
Times Digital Archive: London Times from the first issue in 1785 through 2014.
Washington Post: 1877-1993, coverage of worldwide, including British, current events.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index: Variety of sources, including Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900.
British Periodicals: Roughly five hundred magazines and journals, from the seventeenth through the early twentieth century, mostly the nineteenth century.
Eighteenth Century Journals: A collection of unique and rare periodicals representing the wide range of English language print culture in the long 18th century.
Gerritsen Women's History Collection (1543-1945): History of feminism, 1543-1945; includes approximately 300 periodicals; mostly English, German, and French.
JSTOR: Extensive collection of scholarly journals across the disciplines, back to the first issue. For most titles, does not include current issues.
Periodicals Index Online: Mostly humanities, social science journals; mostly in English; predominately twentieth century, but begins with 1665 and has some coverage of the twenty-first century; some full text (see Periodicals Index Online, below).
Periodicals Archive Online: A subset of the journals in Periodicals Index Online that are available in full text.
Apartheid South Africa: 1948-1980: British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices dating from 1948 to 1980.
Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1834-1966.
Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1833-1969.
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1839-1969.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1824-1961.
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980: Files from the British Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) regarding China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980: Files from the British Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) regarding India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Foreign Office Files for Japan: Files from the British Foreign Office regarding Japan.
Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981: Files from the British Foreign Office regarding the Middle East.
Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963: Complete Cabinet conclusions (minutes) and memoranda of the government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
The Nixon Years, 1969-1974: Complete files of the United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office regarding Richard Nixon’s presidency of the United States.
Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 1275-1504: Surviving records of the sessions of Parliament.
State Papers Online, Part III: The Stuarts: Domestic state papers, 1603-1714.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries: Approximately 500 diaries and collections of letters, circa 1500-1950.
British Newsreels, 1911-130: Culture and Society on Film: Silent newsreels covering British and international news.
Oral History Online: English-speaking men and women, all walks of life, mid-nineteenth century to the present. In most cases search results will link to an oral history project, rather than a transcript or audio of a particular oral history.
Primary Source Databases by Subject (see the box below for databases on specific topics)
ARTstor: Art and architecture images from all periods and regions.
Dictionary of National Biography: Over 60,000 biographical sketches of men and women important in British history.
Empire Online: Primary sources related to modern imperialism, including the British Empire.
Empire Studies: British empire and colonialism, 1734-1968.
East India Company: India Office Records held by the British Library in London.
India, Raj, and Empire: Primary and secondary sources from the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 to the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947.
Business, Economic and Labour History: Britain and America, 19th and 20th century topics; papers of major economists, Keynes in Britain.
Eighteenth Century Drama: Nearly every play manuscript submitted for license in the United Kingdom from 1737-1824.
Royal Shakespeare Company Archives: Including prompt books and selected production materials, 1889-2013.
Shakespeare in Performance: The Folger Shakespeare Library Prompt Books: Collection of over 1,000 rare and unique prompt books from the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Apartheid South Africa: 1948-1980: British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices dating from 1948 to 1980.
Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1834-1966.
Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1833-1969.
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1839-1969.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1824-1961.
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980:
A collection of files from the British Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) regarding China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980: Files from the British Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) regarding India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Foreign Office Files for Japan: Files from the British Foreign Office regarding Japan.
Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981: Files from the British Foreign Office regarding the Middle East.
The Nixon Years, 1969-1974: Complete files of the United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office regarding Richard Nixon’s presidency of the United States.
PAIS: Public policy, foreign affairs in journals and magazines, 1914 to the present.
HeinOnline: Mostly American, but includes English Reports, Full Reprint, 1220-1865 (court opinions) and Statutes of the Realm, through 1714.
Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926: British and American.
Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 1275-1504: Surviving records of the sessions of Parliament.
Literary Manuscripts: Victorian Manuscripts from the Berg Collection: Victorian manuscripts from the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of the New York Public Library.
Literary Manuscripts: 17th and 18th Century Poetry from University of Leeds: Manuscripts from the Brotherton Library Collection at the University of Leeds. The collection’s primary focus is poetry, but the manuscripts also include songs, riddles, recipes, musical scores, plays, miscellanies, commonplace books, political works, and religious texts.
Literary Print Culture: The Stationers' Company Archive: Primary sources from the archives of the Stationers’ Company, which controlled the early British publishing industry.
Literature Online (LION): Major literary works in English from all periods.
Romanticism: Life, Literature and Landscape: Original verse manuscripts, working notebooks, and correspondence of William Wordsworth, as well as materials from other Romantic poets and artists.
Medical Services and Warfare: Primary sources documenting medical history during times of armed conflict dating from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
Medline: Medical literature, beginning in 1946 (focus on U.S. publications).
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Includes an "archive" of Science, Technology, and Medicine, 1780-1925.
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters: Primary sources documenting European migration to and colonization of Africa, Australasia and North America.
Migration to New Worlds: Primary sources documenting migration from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe, and Asia to North America and Australasia.
Virginia Company Archives: Primary sources from the archives of the Virginia Company of London, an English joint-stock company chartered to establish colonial settlements in North America.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975: Primary sources representing mass culture. Material types include photographs, posters, manuscripts, pamphlets, typescripts, and ephemera.
Transformation of Shopping: the department store in popular culture and society, US, Britain, and other countries, primary sources from over 300 stores, 1830-1994.
Victorian Popular Culture: Primary sources depicting popular entertainment in Britain, the United States, and Europe in the long 19th century.
Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963: Complete Cabinet conclusions (minutes) and memoranda of the government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
PAIS: Public policy articles and essays from 1914 to present (focus on US publications).
Church Missionary Society Archive: Includes sources from related missionary organization active active across the globe; 1619-1981.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals: Primary sources originally produced by the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the South American Missionary Society, and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) between 1804 and 2009.
Missionary Studies: primary sources from a range of European Christian missions, churches, and denominations produced throughout the 19th and 20th centuries
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries: Approximately 500 diaries and collections of letters, circa 1500-1950.
London Low Life: Documents popular culture in 19th century London, a wide variety of material types, such as fast literature, street ephemera (posters, advertising, playbills, ballads, and broadsides), penny fiction, cartoons, chapbooks, street cries, tourist guides and topographies, and swells’ guides to London prostitution, gambling, and drinking dens.
Mass Observation Online: Archive of the organization Mass-Observation, a United Kingdom social research organization founded in 1937 to document the actions of ordinary Britons in everyday life.
Oral History Online: English-speaking men and women, all walks of life, mid-nineteenth century to the present.
Slavery, Abolition, & Social Justice, 1490-2007: Primary documents on the history of slavery worldwide, with maps, thematic essays, etc.
The Grand Tour: Primary sources documenting British travel to the European continent from the 16th through the 19th centuries.
Travel Writing, Spectacle, and World History: Women's Travel Writing and Correspondence: Also includes maps, photographs, ephemera; early nineteenth to late twentieth centuries.
Conflict in Indochina: Foreign Office Files for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, 1959-1979.
The First World War: Primary sources produced by soldiers, civilians, and governments on both sides of the conflict and in multiple theaters of war.
Medical Services and Warfare: Primary sources documenting medical history during times of armed conflict dating from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
Service Newspapers of World War II: Newspapers originally produced by members of various service branches on both sides of the conflict.
World War Two Studies: The war and its aftermath in Europe and the Pacific.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries: Approximately 500 diaries and collections of letters, circa 1500-1950.
Defining Gender, 1450-1910: Collection of primary documents on: Conduct and Politeness; Domesticity and the Family; Consumption & Leisure; Education & Sensibility; and The Body.
Gerritsen Women's History Collection (1543-1945): History of feminism, 1543-1945; over 4,000 full-text monographs and 300 periodicals; mostly English, German and French.
Gender: Identity and Social Change: Primary sources depicting gender history, women’s suffrage, the feminist movement, and the men’s movement.
Perdita Manuscripts: Writings by Early Modern women. A variety of genres are represented, including poetry, religious writing, autobiographical material, diaries, drama, cookery and medical recipes, and account books.
Women and Social Movements International (1840-present): Letters, diaries, memoirs of activists; publications of women's organizations, etc.
Women in the National Archives: Primary documents on women's suffrage in Britain and the colonies; plus a finding aid to women’s studies resources in the National Archives.
Primary Source Databases by Topic
Church Missionary Society Periodicals: Primary sources originally produced by the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the South American Missionary Society, and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) between 1804 and 2009.
Global Commodities: Documents the global history of fifteen commodities, including cotton, coffee, oil, and opium.
East India Company: India Office Records held by the British Library in London.
Electronic Enlightenment: Over 58,000 letters written by British, American, French, German, and other Enlightenment figures.
Age of Exploration: Primary sources depicting key events in European maritime exploration from 1410-1920.
London Low Life: Documents popular culture in 19th century London, a wide variety of material types, such as fast literature, street ephemera (posters, advertising, playbills, ballads, and broadsides), penny fiction, cartoons, chapbooks, street cries, tourist guides and topographies, and swells’ guides to London prostitution, gambling, and drinking dens.
Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963: Complete Cabinet conclusions (minutes) and memoranda of the government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 1275-1504: Surviving records of the sessions of Parliament.
Romanticism: Life, Literature and Landscape: Original verse manuscripts, working notebooks, and correspondence of William Wordsworth, as well as materials from other Romantic poets and artists.
Royal Shakespeare Company Archives: Including prompt books and selected production materials, 1889-2013.
Shakespeare in Performance: The Folger Shakespeare Library Prompt Books: Collection of over 1,000 rare and unique prompt books from the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Transformation of Shopping: the department store in popular culture and society, US, Britain, and other countries, primary sources from over 300 stores, 1830-1994.
State Papers Online, Part III: The Stuarts: Domestic state papers, 1603-1714.
Virginia Company Archives: Primary sources from the archives of the Virginia Company of London, an English joint-stock company chartered to establish colonial settlements in North America.
World’s Fairs: A Global History of Expositions: Primary sources documenting over 200 fairs and global expositions, ranging chronologically from the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851 to the Milan Expo 2015.
Major Microfilm Sets
Microfilm is an older, preservation format. Primary sources are miniaturized on what looks like old camera film. You need to use a microfilm machine to magnify the text and create copies. Many of these sets have been relocated to the Annex storage facility on Busch Campus. There are microfilm readers in the undergraduate reading room in Alexander Library. If you have any questions about microfilm, see my contact info below the Related Guides tab.
Church Missionary Society, Section V: Missions to the Americas
Alexander Microfilm 2841; 20 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference BV2500.A2C48
Campaign for Women's Suffrage, 1895-1920: Papers of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, The National Union of Woman's Suffrage Societies, The Parliamentary Committee for Woman's Suffrage, and the Manchester Men's League for Woman's Suffrage
Douglass Microfilm 25; 31 reels
Guide: Douglass Reference JN976.C36 1990
Chronicles and Documents of Medieval England: c. 1150-c. 1500 from Cambridge University Library
Alexander Microfilm 2810; 39 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference DA170.C47
Church Authority and Power in Medieval and Early Modern Britain: The Episcopal Registers, 1215-1650
Alexander Microfilm 2893; 111 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference CD1068.A2C498
Colonial Discourses, Series One: Women, Travel, & Empire, 1660-1914
Douglass Microfilm 72; 76 reels
Guide: Douglass Reference G463.C6925 1998
The Complete State Papers Domestic: Series One, 1547-1625
Alexander Microfilm 2198; 227 reels
The Complete State Papers Domestic: Series Two, 1625-1702
Alexander Microfilm 2329; 298 reels
Diaries of Constance Maynard
Douglass Microfilm 74; 14 reels
Guide: Douglass Reference LA2375.G72M39 1987
Maynard was a leading feminist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and a pioneer in education for women.
Methodist Missionary Society Archives
Alexander Microfiche 524; 24,281 microfiche
Guide: Alexander Reference BV2550.A427W4 1981
Property and Privilege in Medieval and Early Modern England and Wales: Cartularies and other Registers
Alexander Microfilm 2838; 70 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference Z2029.P76 1990
Sex and Gender: Manuscript Sources from the Public Record Office
Douglass Microfilm 79; 57 reels
Guide: Douglass Reference HQ1587.S489
Social and Political Status of Women in Britain
Alexander Microfilm 2628; 125 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference HQ1593.S63
Political, popular, and professional periodicals for and by women; nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Star Chamber and English Society in the Reign of James I: Selected from PRO Class STAC 8
Alexander Microfilm 2766; 28 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference KD8253.G74 1980
Unpublished State Papers of the English Civil War and Interregnum
Alexander Microfilm 2246; 114 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference DA400.U55
Women Advising Women
Douglass Microfilm 80; 91 reels
Guide: Douglass Reference PN5124.W6W6
Magazines, advice manuals, etc. from seventeenth through the nineteenth century.