American History Librarian- New Brunswick
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 Home and the Find Books tab.
There are a number of subject terms used in library catalogs that indicate a title is a primary source. The most important and widely used is sources. For example: united states history civil war, 1861-1865 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 terms that might be relevant to your research in the first search box, then select the Subject field and contains in the drop-down menus to the right. 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 simply search keywords; 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
African American Communities: Wide range of sources primarily from Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina.
African American Newspapers, Accessible Archives (1827-1902): Nine titles in total.
African American Newspapers, Readex (1827-1998): Series 1 of 2 series, 280 titles.
African American Newspapers in the South, Accessible Archives (1870-1926): Sixteen titles in total.
AM Explorer: Search across the approximately 100 primary source collections from Adam Matthew. Many relate to American history. Individual collections are included in this list and in the lists below.
America in World War Two: Primary sources illustrating United States military and civilian involvement in WWII.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection (1684-1912): Over 6,000 titles, mostly popular American magazines, mostly eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries: Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
American History, 1493-1945: Primary sources depicting the history of the United States of America from the earliest settlers to World War II.
American History in Video: Mostly films from PBS, etc., but includes early newsreels and other primary sources.
American Periodicals Series (1740-1900): Popular US magazines.
American Prison Newspapers, 1800-presnt: Voices from the Inside- Newspapers across across a range of penal institutions and time periods.
American State Papers (1789-1838): US government documents.
American West: Primary sources depicting the history of westward expansion in the United States from the early 18th to the mid-20th centuries.
America's Historical Newspapers, 1741-1922: Fulltext of over 1,500 titles.
ArchiveGrid: Full-text finding aids from US archives.
Archives Unbound: Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s-: FBI Files. Fulltext. Cross searchable with Federal Surveillance of African Americans below.
Archives Unbound: Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984: FBI Files. Fulltext. Cross searchable with Federal Response to Radicalism above.
ARTstor: Art and architecture images from all periods and regions.
Black Thought and Culture: Books, newspapers, speeches, correspondence, etc. Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index: Variety of sources, including the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue and Poole's Index to Periodical Literature.
CamdenBase: Sources relating to Camden, NJ back to 1946. Includes select fulltext of the Courier-Post from 1945 to 2003.
Chicago Defender (1909-1975): Most widely circulated, influential African-American newspaper of the twentieth century. Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See below ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
China, America and the Pacific: Trade & Cultural Exchange: Primary sources depicting, from a primarily Western perspective, the history of North American trade and cultural interactions with China from the 18th through the early 20th century.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers: 1777-1922.
Colonial America: All 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series of Colonial Office files held at The National Archives of the United Kingdom in London, plus all extracted documents associated with them.
Communication & Mass Media Complete (1900-present): Communication, media, journalism periodicals.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices.
Courier Post: (1950-present): Covers Camden and the broader South Jersey region.
Declassified Documents Reference System: Declassified federal government documents, mostly post WWII to the 1990s.
Digital Sanborn Maps: New Jersey: Original maps of NJ communities, 1884-1950.
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800: All books, pamphlets, broadsides published the US; records in the catalog with links to fulltext.
Early English Books Online (EEBO): Books, periodicals, tracts, etc. printed in English before 1700; records in the catalog with links to fulltext.
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 American and especially British imperialism.
Ethnic NewsWatch: Ethnic newspapers, 1959 to present.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online: All books printed in English, 1701-1800; records in the catalog with links to fulltext.
Eighteenth Century Journals: Periodicals representing the wide range of English language print culture in the long 18th century.
Everyday Life of Women in America, c. 1800-1920: Books, magazines, pamphlets, broadsides.
Exploring Race in Society: resources on race, ethnicity, diversity in U.S. society in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as broader historical context.
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.
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.
GenderWatch (1970-present): Articles relating to gender across the disciplines. From scholarly was well as advocacy and community publications. Mostly fulltext.
Gerritsen Women's History Collection (1543-1945): History of feminism, 1543-1945; over 4,000 fulltext monographs and 300 periodicals; mostly in English, German and French.
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: Primary sources documenting United States culture, industry, and politics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration, and Cultural Exchange- 1223-1890. Primary and secondary sources relating to fifteen commodities, including coffee, cotton, opium, and oil.
HathiTrust Digital Library: A large, full-text 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.
HeinOnline: North American law journals from as early as 1852, plus a range of other historical legal material: state laws and state constitutions, slave statutes, etc. Go to Browse Databases by Name.
HistoryMakers: Video oral history collection of prominent African Americans. Each interview divided into "stories," brief clips that describe a particular life event. Will eventually comprise 5,000 interviews.
Independent Voices: Alternative press newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the U.S. in the later twentieth century, mostly the 1960s and 1970s.
Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America: Primary sources from the 17th to mid-20th century depicting Native American history in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from Native American and European perspectives.
Indigenous Newspapers in North America: Newspapers from the United States and Canada dating from 1828 to 2016, mostly 1970 to 2016.
Interwar Culture: Periodicals published in the United States and Britain between the World Wars.
iPoll Databank: Public opinion polls, 1935 to present.
J. Walter Thompson: Advertising in America: Reports, research, memoranda, correspondence, meeting minutes, creative briefs, scripts, speeches, newsletters, artwork, and advertisements produced by J. Walter Thompson, a major American advertising agency.
Jewish Life in America, c.1654-1954: Primary sources from the American Jewish Historical Society in New York.
JSTOR: Major scholarly journals back to the first issue.
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.
Literature Online (LION): Major literary works in English from all periods.
Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926: British and American.
Making of the Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries: From the American Antiquarian Society, approximately 1750-1950. Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
Market Research and American Business Reports, 1935-1965: Complete digitized reports of midcentury marketing expert Ernest Dichter. Material types include primarily reports, but proposals, pilot studies, memorandums, letters, supporting material, and advertising images are also included.
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.
Migration to New Worlds: Primary sources documenting migration from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe, and Asia to North America and Australasia.
Music Magazine Archive: Twenty-three popular music magazines from 1946 to 2016.
New York Times: (1851-3 years prior to current year): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See below: ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online- Eight topical "archives," mostly European, but includes some US material.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
The Nixon Years, 1969-1974: Complete files of the United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office regarding Richard Nixon’s presidency of the United States.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories: 1800-2000. Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial Times to 1950: Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
Oral History Online: English-speaking men and women, all walks of life, mid-nineteenth century to the present. Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
PAIS: Public policy articles and essays from 1914 to present.
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.
Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-2001): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See below ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
Pittsburgh Gazette (1786-2003): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See below ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975: Primary sources representing mass culture. Material types include photographs, posters, manuscripts, pamphlets, typescripts, and ephemera.
Popular Medicine in America, 1800-1900: Primary sources documenting the advertising and use of health treatments marketed directly to the American public.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search: Cross search the Chicago Defender (1909-1975), New York Times (1851+), the Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-2001), the Pittsburgh Gazette (1786-2003), the Wall Street Journal (1889-1993), and the Washington Post (1877-1993).
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New Jersey Collection: Asbury Park Press, Bergen Record, Courier News, Courier-Post, Daily Journal, Daily Record, Home News Tribune, North Jersey Herald News; coverage from 1877 to one week ago.
Race Relations in America: Primary sources originally produced by the Race Relations Department at Fisk University, including over 100 hours of audio recordings of speeches given by prominent members of the Civil Rights movement, surveys, case studies, photographs, and scrapbooks.
Reader' Guide Retrospective: Popular US magazines, 1890-1984; little fulltext.
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.
Slavery, Abolition, & Social Justice, 1490-2007: Primary documents on the history of slavery worldwide, with maps, thematic essays, etc.
Smithsonian Global Sound: Over 3000 albums of folk, blues, bluegrass, jazz, and protest songs.
Social & Cultural History: Suite of cross searchable databases. Included: American Civil War: Letters and Diaries; Black Thought and Culture; British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries (1500-1950); North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories; North American Women's Letters and Diaries to 1950; Oral History Online.
Social Explorer (1790 to present): Lets you browse or produce maps and reports from Census Bureau data and religious data from the Religious Congregations and Membership Study.
Sociological Abstracts: the standard database for sociology, 1952 to present.
Trade Catalogues and the American Home: Collection from major department stores of catalogues, pamphlets, trade cards, and other marketing materials originally directed toward the American consumer.
Travel Writing, Spectacle, and World History: Women's Travel Writing and Correspondence: Primary sources worldwide from the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard; also maps, photographs, ephemera.
TV-NewsSearch: Vanderbilt Television News Archive: Network news, 1968 to present; clips of some programs available; others can be requested.
Understanding Hate in America: Six pro-Klan and two anti-Klan newspapers published between 1920 and 1932.
US Congressional Publications: fulltext of House and Senate hearings, 1824-2003; reports and documents, 1970-present; Federal Register and Congressional Record, 1985-present; and lots more.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980: All types of Congressional documents except hearings; executive branch documents if reported to or printed by the Congress.
Victorian Popular Culture: Primary sources depicting popular entertainment in Britain, the United States, and Europe in the long 19th century.
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.
Wall Street Journal (1889-12 years prior to current year): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See above ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
Washington Post (1877-1993): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See above ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
Women and Social Movements International (1840-present): Letters, diaries, memoirs of activists; publications of women's organizations, etc.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000: Books, articles, pamphlets, posters, interviews, etc.
WorldCat: Search library catalogs from around the globe. Advanced search allows you to limit to archival material.
World’s Fairs: A Global History of Expositions
A collection of 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 and Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. No full text.
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800: All books, pamphlets, broadsides published in the US. Titles also searchable in QuickSearch.
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.
African American Newspapers, Accessible Archives (1827-1902): nine titles in total.
African American Newspapers, Readex (1827-1998): Series 1 of 2 series, 280 titles.
African American Newspapers in the South, Accessible Archives (1870-1926): Sixteen titles in total.
American Prison Newspapers, 1800-present: Voices from the Inside- Newspapers across across a range of penal institutions and time periods.
America's Historical Newspapers, 1741-1922: Full text of over 1,500 titles.
Chicago Defender (1909-1975): Most widely circulated, influential African-American newspaper of the twentieth century. Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search below.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (1777-1922): Free resource from the Library of Congress.
Courier Post: (1950-present): Covers Camden and the broader South Jersey region.
Ethnic NewsWatch: Ethnic newspapers, 1959 to present.
Independent Voices: Alternative press newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the U.S. in the later twentieth century, mostly the 1960s and 1970s.
New York Times: (1851-three years prior to current year): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search below.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-2001): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search below.
Pittsburgh Gazette (1786-2003): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search below.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search: Cross search the Chicago Defender (1909-1975), New York Times (1851+), the Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-2001), the Pittsburgh Gazette (1786-2003), the Wall Street Journal (1889-1993), and the Washington Post (1877-1993).
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New Jersey Collection: Asbury Park Press, Bergen Record, Courier News, Courier-Post, Daily Journal, Daily Record, Home News Tribune, North Jersey Herald News; coverage from 1877 to one week ago.
Service Newspapers of World War II: By members of various service branches on both sides of the conflict.
Wall Street Journal (1889-12 years prior to current year): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See above, ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
Washington Post (1877-1993): Cross searchable with five other ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See above, ProQuest Historical Newspapers Combined Search.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection (1684-1912): Over 6,000 titles, mostly popular American magazines, mostly eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
American Periodicals (1740-1900): Popular US magazines.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index: Variety of sources, including the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue and Poole's Index to Periodical Literature.
Eighteenth Century Journals: 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.
Independent Voices: Alternative press newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the U.S. in the later twentieth century, mostly the 1960s and 1970s.
JSTOR: Major scholarly journals back to the first issue.
Periodicals Index Online: Mostly humanities, social science journals, international; 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.
Reader' Guide Retrospective: Popular US magazines, 1890-1984; mostly not full text.
American State Papers (1789-1838): US government documents.
Archives Unbound: Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s-: FBI Files. Fulltext. Cross searchable with Federal Surveillance of African Americans below.
Archives Unbound: Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984: FBI Files. Fulltext. Cross searchable with Federal Response to Radicalism above.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1824-1961.
Declassified Documents Reference System: Declassified federal government documents, mostly post WWII to the 1990s.
US Congressional Publications: full text of House and Senate hearings, 1824-2003; reports and documents, 1970-present; Federal Register and Congressional Record, 1985-present; and lots more.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980: All types of Congressional documents except hearings; executive branch documents if reported to or printed by the Congress.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries- Over 1,000s memoirs, letters, diaries.
Electronic Enlightenment: Over 58,000 letters written by British, American, French, German, and other Enlightenment figures.
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries: Approximately 1750-1950.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories: 1800-2000.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial Times to 1950
HistoryMakers: Video oral history collection of prominent African Americans. Each interview divided into "stories," brief clips that describe a particular life event. Will eventually comprise 5,000 interviews.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories: 1800-2000.
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.
American History in Video: Mostly films from PBS, etc., but includes early newsreels and other primary sources.
HistoryMakers: Video oral history collection of prominent African Americans. Each interview divided into "stories," brief clips that describe a particular life event. Will eventually comprise 5,000 interviews.
Social Explorer (1790 to present): Create tables, maps, etc. from Census Bureau data and religious data from the Religious Congregations and Membership Study.
iPoll Databank: Public opinion polls, 1935 to present.
TV-NewsSearch: Vanderbilt Television News Archive: Network news, 1968 to present; clips of some programs are available; others can be requested.
Primary Source Databases by Subject (see the box below for databases on specific topics)
AM Explorer: Search across the approximately 100 primary source collections from Adam Matthew. Many relate to American history. Individual collections can be found in the A - Z, subject, and topic lists.
American History, 1493-1945: Primary sources depicting the history of the United States of America from the earliest settlers to World War II.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961: British government documents produced by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1824-1961.
Social & Cultural History: Suite of cross searchable databases. Included: American Civil War: Letters and Diaries; Black Thought and Culture; British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries (1500-1950); North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories; North American Women's Letters and Diaries to 1950; Oral History Online.
African American Communities: Wide range of sources primarily from Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina.
African American Newspapers, Accessible Archives (1827-1902): Nine titles in total.
African American Newspapers, Readex (1827-1998): Series 1 of 2 series, 280 titles.
African American Newspapers in the South, Accessible Archives (1870-1926): Sixteen titles in total.
Archives Unbound: Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s-: FBI Files. Full text. Cross searchable with Federal Surveillance of African Americans below.
Archives Unbound: Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984: FBI Files. Full text. Cross searchable with Federal Response to Radicalism above.
Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement: Histories of civil rights activism by the everyday citizens of Black, Latine, Indigenous, and Asian American/Pacific Islander communities.
Black Thought and Culture: Books, newspapers, speeches, correspondence, etc.
Chicago Defender (1909-1975): Most widely circulated, influential African-American newspaper of the twentieth century.
Ethnic NewsWatch: Including from African American Communities, 1959 to present.
Exploring Race in Society: resources on race, ethnicity, diversity in U.S. society in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as broader historical context.
HeinOnline: Suite of databases with a wide range of historical legal material. Go to Browse Databases by Name, then - Civil Rights and Social Justice - Slavery in America and the World.
HistoryMakers: Video oral history collection of prominent African Americans. Each interview divided into "stories," brief clips that describe a particular life event. Will eventually comprise 5,000 interviews.
Race Relations in America: Sources originally produced by the Race Relations Department at Fisk University, including over 100 hours of audio recordings of speeches given by prominent members of the Civil Rights movement, surveys, case studies, photographs, and scrapbooks.
Understanding Hate in America: Six pro-Klan and two anti-Klan newspapers published between 1920 and 1932.
ARTstor: Art and architecture images from all periods and regions.
Colonial America: All 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series of Colonial Office files held at The National Archives of the United Kingdom in London, plus all extracted documents associated with them.
Empire Online: Primary sources related to modern imperialism, especially British imperialism.
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters: Primary sources documenting European migration to and colonization of Africa, Australasia and North America.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration, and Cultural Exchange: Primary and secondary sources relating to fifteen commodities, including coffee, cotton, opium, and oil, 1223-1890.
J. Walter Thompson: Advertising in America: Publications, reports, research, memoranda, correspondence, advertisements produced by J. Walter Thompson, a major American advertising agency.
Market Research and American Business Reports, 1935-1965: Complete digitized reports of midcentury marketing expert Ernest Dichter, also proposals, pilot studies, memorandums, letters, and advertising images.
Trade Catalogues and the American Home: Collection from major department stores of catalogues, pamphlets, trade cards, and other marketing materials.
Migration to New Worlds: Sources documenting migration from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe, and Asia to North America and Australasia.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories: 1800-2000. Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial Times to 1950: Cross searchable with Social & Cultural History below.
Communication & Mass Media Complete: Communication, media, journalism periodicals, 1900 to present.
HeinOnline: North American law journals from as early as 1852; eclectic range of other legal material, including US Congressional Record and earlier titles.
Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926: British and American.
Making of the Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978
US Congressional Publications: full text of House and Senate hearings, 1824-2003; reports and documents, 1970-present; Federal Register and Congressional Record, 1985-present; and lots more.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980: All types of Congressional documents except hearings; executive branch documents if reported to or printed by the Congress.
Medical Services and Warfare: Documenting medical history during times of armed conflict from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
Medline: Medical literature, beginning in 1946.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Mostly European, but some US material. The "archive" of Science, Technology, and Medicine, 1780-1925 includes a collection of American medical periodicals from 1797-1900.
Popular Medicine in America, 1800-1900: Documenting the advertising and use of health treatments marketed directly to the American public.
Music Magazine Archive: Twenty-three popular music magazines from 1946 to 2016.
Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America: Primary sources from the 17th to mid-20th century depicting Native American history in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from Native American and European perspectives.
Indigenous Newspapers in North America: Newspapers from the United States and Canada dating from 1828 to 2016, mostly 1970 to 2016.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975: Material types include photographs, posters, manuscripts, pamphlets, typescripts, and ephemera.
Victorian Popular Culture: Sources depicting popular entertainment in Britain, the United States, and Europe in the long 19th century.
Archives Unbound: Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s-: FBI Files. Fulltext. Cross searchable with Federal Surveillance of African Americans below.
Archives Unbound: Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984: FBI Files. Fulltext. Cross searchable with Federal Response to Radicalism above.
PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service, public policy articles from 1914 to the present.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Mostly European, but some US material; includes an "archive" of Science, Technology, and Medicine, 1780-1925.
Slavery, Abolition, & Social Justice, 1490-2007: History of slavery worldwide, with maps, thematic essays, etc.
Sociological Abstracts: the standard database for sociology, 1952 to present.
Sociology Collection: a suite of databases- Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA), Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, and Sociology Database, 1952 to present.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries- Over 1,000s memoirs, letters, diaries.
The First World War: Primary sources from soldiers, civilians, and governments on both sides of the conflict, multiple theatres of war.
Medical Services and Warfare: Documenting medical history during times of armed conflict from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
Everyday Life of Women in America, c. 1800-1920: Books, magazines, pamphlets, broadsides.
Gender: Identity and Social Change: Sources depicting gender history, women’s suffrage, the feminist movement, and the men’s movement.
GenderWatch (1970-present): From scholarly was well as advocacy and community publications. Mostly fulltext.
Gerritsen Women's History Collection (1543-1945): History of feminism, 1543-1945; over 4,000 fulltext monographs and 300 periodicals; mostly English, German and French.
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries: From the American Antiquarian Society, approximately 1750-1950.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial Times to 1950
Travel Writing, Spectacle, and World History: Women's Travel Writing and Correspondence: International, sources worldwide from the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard; also maps, photographs, ephemera.
Women and Social Movements International (1840-present): Letters, diaries, memoirs of activists; publications of women's organizations, etc.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000: Books, articles, pamphlets, posters, interviews, etc.
Primary Source Databases by Topic
Archives Unbound: Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s-: FBI Files.
Independent Voices: Alternative press newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the U.S. in the later twentieth century, mostly the 1960s and 1970s.
J. Walter Thompson: Advertising in America
A collection of publications, reports, research, memoranda, correspondence, meeting minutes, creative briefs, scripts, speeches, newsletters, artwork, and advertisements produced by J. Walter Thompson, a major American advertising agency.
American West: Sources depicting the history of westward expansion in the United States from the early 18th to the mid-20th centuries.
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters: Documenting European migration to and colonization of Africa, Australasia and North America.
CamdenBase: Primary sources relating to Camden, NJ back to 1946. Includes select full text of the Courier-Post from 1945 to 2003.
China, America and the Pacific: Trade & Cultural Exchange: A collection of digitized primary sources depicting, from a primarily Western perspective, the history of North American trade and cultural interactions with China from the 18th through the early 20th century.
Electronic Enlightenment: Over 58,000 letters written by British, American, French, German, and other Enlightenment figures.
Jewish Life in America, c.1654-1954: Sources from the American Jewish Historical Society in New York.
Understanding Hate in America: Six pro-Klan and two anti-Klan newspapers published between 1920 and 1932.
Digital Sanborn Maps: New Jersey: Original maps of NJ communities, 1884-1950.
The Nixon Years, 1969-1974: Files of the United Kingdom's Foreign & Commonwealth Office on Nixon’s presidency.
American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020: Voices from the Inside- Newspapers across across a range of penal institutions and time periods.
Leisure, Travel and Mass Culture: The History of Mass Tourism: Sources documenting the development of mass tourism from the mid-19th through the 20th century.
Virginia Company Archives: Sources from the archives of the Virginia Company of London, an English joint-stock company chartered to establish settlements in North America.
World’s Fairs: A Global History of Expositions: Sources documenting over 200 fairs and global expositions, 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.
Papers of Jane Addams, 1860-1960
Alexander Microfilm 2431; 90 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference HV28.A33 1996
American Culture Series: Titles in the Field of Economics
Alexander Microfilm 2180; 37 reels
Guides: Alexander Reference E156 .A583 and Z1215 .U55
This is a valuable collection of early texts in economics, mostly from the nineteenth century. Navigating through the guides to a particular title can be difficult. To search by title or subject, start with the first guide, E156 .A583, and identify an author or an author and title. Then go to the second guide, Z1215 .U55, which lists the titles on each reel. This guide is arranged into eight topical sections and within each section the titles are arranged alphabetically by author.
American Culture Series: Titles in the Field of History
Alexander Microfilm 2181; 167 reelsGuides: Alexander Reference E156 .A583 and Z1215 .U56 For the use of the guides, see American Culture Series: Titles in the Field of Economics, above.
American Culture Series: Titles in the Field of Sciences
Alexander Microfilm 2639; 63 reels
Guides: E156 .A583 and Q158 .E37 1978
For the use of the guides, see American Culture Series: Titles in the Field of Economics, above.
American Labor Unions' Constitutions and Proceedings, 1836-1982
Alexander Microfilm 2243; 491 reels Guide: Alexander Reference Z7164 .L1 N22
This set is supplemented by American Labor Unions, Update; microfiche 383.
American Women’s Diaries: New England Women
Alexander Microfilm 2445; 21 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference HQ1412 .G84 1984
American Women’s Diaries: Western, Southern Women, New England WomenDouglass Library Microfilm 21, 22, and 102; 35, 34, and 21 reels, respectivelyDouglass Reference HQ1412 .G85 1991Also include autobiographies, biographies, and oral histories.
Archives of the Settlement Movement
Alexander Microfilm 2837; 74 reels
Guide: HV4194.A73 1990
Black Abolitionist Papers, 1830-1865
Alexander Microfilm 2708; 17 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference E449.B625 1981
Alexander stacks has a five volume set of about ten percent of the titles on microfilm set at E449.B624 1985.
Black Literature, 1827-1940
Alexander Microfiche 406Guide: Alexander Reference PS508 .N3 B25
There is a CD-ROM index to this set installed on a PC to the left of the reference desk in Alexander Library.
Civil Rights During the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969
Alexander Microfilm 2598; 69 reelsGuide: Alexander Reference E185.61.C58
Cointelpro: the Counterintelligence Program of the FBI
Alexander Microfilm 2830; 30 reels
Files relating to surveillance the Communist Party, the Black Panthers, white hate groups and other organizations.
Communist Infiltration of the SCLC: FBI Investigation File
Alexander Microfilm 2828; 9 reels
File on the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, including J. Edgar Hoover's official and confidential file on Martin Luther King Jr.
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Papers
Alexander Microfilm 2774; 43 reels
Early American Newspapers (1704-1820)
This set is in the process of being relocated. Ask for help at the Help Desk in the Microforms Room.
Early State Papers
Government Documents Microfilm Cabinets 20A-H & 21A-B, 721 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference Z1223.5.A1U47
We have the legislative records, statutory laws, and constitutional records for the states east of the Mississippi.
Emma Goldman Papers
Douglass Microfilm 3; 69 reels
Guide: Douglass Reference HX843.7. G65E55
Goldman was an important anarchists leader and writer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Gerritsen Collection of Women’s History
Douglass microfiche 376; 17,555. Douglass microfilm 127 ; 244 reels
Guides: Douglass and Alexander Reference HQ1121.G43
All of the individual titles within this set are indexed in IRIS.
History of Women
Alexander microfilm 2868; 1248 reels
Guides: Alexander, Camden, and Dana Reference HQ1121.R474 1981
All of the individual titles within this set are indexed in IRIS.
History of the Vietnam War
Alexander Microfiche 392
Guide: Alexander Reference: DS557.7 .H57 1987
We have parts one through eight of ten parts of this very large set. Part three includes extensive material on the anti-war movement.
Martin Luther King, Jr. FBI File
Douglass Microfilm 8; 16 reelsGuide: Douglass Reference E185.97.K5M37 1984
For portions of King's and file and other files online, see: http://www.fbi.gov/foia/electronic-reading-room/reading-room-index
Pamphlets in American History
Microfilm Cabinets 10 and 11 in Alexander Library
Guide: Alexander Reference E173.P35 and E173.P354
All of the individual titles within this set are indexed in IRIS.
Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
Douglass Microfilm 5; 45 reels
Guide: Camden, Dana, Douglass Reference HQ1413 .S689P37 1992; Alexander Reference Z6616.S689P37 1992
Papers of Eugene V. Debs, 1834-1945
Alexander Microfilm 2319; 21 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference HX84 .D3P36 1983Debs was a leader of the Socialist Party in the early twentieth century and the Socialist candidate for president in 1912.
Papers of the League of Women Voters 1918-1974
Alexander Microfilm 2558; 64 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference JK1881.P36 1985
Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
Government Documents Microfilm Cabinet 2F-I; 204 reels
Guide: Government Documents Reference GS4.20
Papers of the NAACP
Alexander Microfilm 2609; 288 reels
Guides: Alexander Reference E185.61 .N37
We have several parts of this very extensive collection.
Papers of W.E.B. DuBois
Alexander Microfilm 2670; 89 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference Z6616.D8M35 1981
Paul Robeson Collection
Dana Microfilm 81, Camden Microfilm E185.97 .R63R6 1991; 9 reels
Guides: Alexander and Camden Reference E185.97 .R63R6 1991
Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War
Alexander Microfilm 2499; 14 reels
Guide: Alexander reference F213.R42
We have just series D.
Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (1895-1992)
Douglass Microfilm 23; 41 reels
Guides: Alexander and Douglass Reference E185.86 .N38R43 1994
Socialist Party of America Papers, 1897-1963 & 1919-1976, addendum
Alexander Microfilm 2658-59; 180 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference HX83.D78
State Slavery Statutes (1789-1865)
Alexander Microfiche 412Guide: Alexander Reference KF4545.S5A127 1989
Every statute enacted in a Southern state pertaining to slavery.
Thomas A. Edison papers, Selective Microfilm Edition
Alexander Microfilm 2673; 193 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference Z6616 .E3G84
Parts have been digitized by the Edison papers project at Rutgers: http://edison.rutgers.edu/
U.S. Census Bureau, Decennial Censuses
The individual responses to the census bureau questionnaires, known as the census schedules, are made public and published on microfilm 72 years after the census is taken. The Libraries own most of the available censuses for New Jersey and some for other states. The titles vary. To search for a particular census, try a “begins with” subject search in IRIS. For example, for 1920: “united states census 14th.”
Voices of the Women's Movement, 1850-1900
Alexander Microfilm 2625; 28 reels
Women's Studies Manuscript Collections from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College
Series 2: Women in National Politics, part A: Democrats
Alexander Microfilm 2872; 14 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference HQ1236.5 .U6G8
Women's Studies Manuscript Collections from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College
Series 3: Sexuality, Sex Education, and Reproductive Rights
Alexander Microfilm 2873; 39 reels
Guide: Alexander Reference HQ766 .G855 1994
World War II Combat Interviews
Alexander Microfiche 455; 573 microfiche
Guide: Alexander Reference D811 .A2W67