African American African Diaspora Studies

Primary Sources

What is a primary resource??

• Using Primary Sources on the Web
  Online guide to using primary resources provided by the University of Washington. Includes information on defining, finding, and evaluating primary resources.
• Primary vs. Secondary Sources
  Definitions, Examples, and Specific Examples sections explain the difference between primary and secondary sources. Provided by the Borough of Manhattan Community College Library.

For a tutorial, click here.(Provided by the University of Washington)

Electronic Resources (Finding Digital Primary Material)

Newspapers and Magazines

• Access Newspaper Archive
  "Access NewspaperARCHIVE contains tens of millions of searchable newspaper pages, dating as far back as the 1700s. It is your gateway to searching and reading historical newspapers online." "Use the archive to view, save and print full-page newspapers from around the world." (from website)
• African American Newspapers: 19th Century (Windows Only)
  A 40-million plus word searchable windows-based database of African-American newspapers from the 19th century. In addition, information on the papers included in the database. Also a source of primary material. Scroll down on list of resources to reach database.
• Historical New York Times
  (scroll to Historic New York Times) Searchable online database which houses a digitized version of New York Times back to mid 1800's.
• Freedom's Journal (African-American Newspaper)
  Website containing digitized PDF versions of all 103 issues of Freedom's Journal, "the first African-American owned and operated newspaper published in the United States." Scroll down to the bottom of the page, where the issues are linked into two volumes.
• Time Magazine Archive
  A selection of Time Magazine full-text articles from 1923-present. Considered a popular resource, not a scholarly resource.

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Arts and Literature

• African American Poetry
  "The early history of African American poetry, from the first recorded poem by an African American (Lucy Terry Prince's 'Bars Fight', c.1746) to the major poets of the nineteenth century, including Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper." (from website) Along with the search engine, the complete table of contents section allows for easy navigation of the site.
• Black Drama
  "This edition of Black Drama contains approximately features 1200 plays by 201 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays." (from website) Features a table-of-contents, a find section, and allows for simple and multi-field searches.
• Black Thought and Culture
  "Black Thought and Culture contains 989 sources with 947 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans." (from website) Features a table-of-contents, a find section, and allows for simple and advanced searches.
• Database of African-American Poetry
  Provided by the Library Electronic Text Resource Service (LETRS) at Indiana University, this database covers from 1760-1900 and offers users four different methods of searching: Simple, Proximity, Boolean, and Bibliographic. "Includes the poems of such well-known figures as Paul Laurence Dunbar and Phillis Wheatley and the verse of many lesser-known poets whose works may only be found in anthologies or private libraries." (from website)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture: A Multi-media Archive
  A primary resource website dedicated to Harriet Beecher Stowe's classical American novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Contained are images from the original manuscript, as well as commentaries, reviews, and articles written about the book. An excellent resource for examining slavery in the context of American culture.

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Culture and History

• African-American Community
  "A large collection of online photographs and other information about African-Americans for Charlotte and Mecklenberg County, North Carolina, sponsored by the local public library."
• African-American Mosaic (Library of Congress)
  "The major site and starting place for African-American materials online from the Library of Congress and a rich sampling of their larger collections. Included are a comprehensive text and images from the nearly 500 years of the black experience in the Western Hemisphere. Lesser-known topics, which are covered, include Liberia, abolitionists, western migration, and documents from the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Writers Program, and the Daniel Murray Pamphlet collection. Items within the African-American Mosaic can be searched online. The American Odyssey is not part of the American Mosaic."
• AmDocs: Documents for the Study of American History
  A section of the WWW Virtual Library. A chronological listing of primary documents and maps related to American History.
• The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
  An excellent resource for the American Civil War contains 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs. Includes table of contents, as well as simple and advanced search options.
• American Memory Project-Library of Congress
  Housing more than 7 million digitized items, this collection contains items relating to U.S. history, people, politics, and culture. Items include photographs, maps, illustrations, manuscripts, diaries, sheet music, motion pictures, and sound recordings. (Listed below are specific sections dealing with African-Americans)
  • American Memory Project AAADS Relevant sections
    • African American Odyssey
      Along with the link to African American Odyssey, which displays more than 240 items from the impressive African American collections at the Library of Congress, this page links to some of the digital collections of the Library, including The Fredrick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress and Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 among others.
    • African American Perspectives
      Contains the Daniel A. P. Murray Pamphlet Collection, which "presents a panoramic and eclectic review of African-American history and culture, spanning almost one hundred years from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, with the bulk of the material published between 1875 and 1900." Allows for keyword searching and browsing by subject or author index.
    • Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938
      Contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. Includes search by keywords, browse narratives by narrator, browse photographs by subject, browse all by state sections.
    • Voices from the Days of Slavery
      Containing almost seven hours of material recorded between 1932 and 1975, this site features twenty-three recorded interviews with individuals born between 1823 and the early 1860's discussing many of the issues encompassing slavery.
• American Memory Timeline (relates to American Memory Project)
  "This resource was developed to help teachers and students use the vast online collections of the Library of Congress. The links to the right will lead you to sets of selected primary sources on a variety of topics in United States History. The sets are arranged by chronological period." (from the website)
• American Slave Narratives: An online Anthology
  "Text, photos, and recordings of some selected Work Progress Administration interviews are presented online. Developed for classroom use at the University of Virginia."
• American Women's History: A Research Guide
  Women's history research guide page from Middle Tennessee State University. Features digital collections of primary sources, as well as tools for finding primary resources. Includes an African-American section in the subject index.
• Documenting the American South
  "Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs." (from website)
• Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans 1639-1800
  "Based on Charles Evans' American Bibliography this database lists books published in 17th- and 18th-century America and links to images of the books themselves." -University of Virginia Libraries
• Exploring Amistad: Race and the Boundaries of Freedom in Antebellum Maritime America
  Provided by Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut, this website is quality source for primary materials detailing the Amistad Revolt 139-1842. The Library section contains many primary material sources in newspapers, personal papers, court records, government papers, popular media, maps, and gallery sub-sections. The website also features multiple search engines.
• History Resource Center- United States
  Features over 100,000,000 pages of more than 5,000 primary documents, along with maps, images, and numerous secondary resources. "The primary purpose of the History Resource Center: U.S. is to provide students, their teachers, and library patrons with a single place to begin researching the vast topic of U.S. history from the earliest days of discovery and exploration to the present." (from the website)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project of Stanford University
  "The scholars at Stanford University who are editing and publishing King's writings have begun to make a sampling of his papers available online. Some of his most well-known documents are present. In addition, the site contains a bibliography file containing about 2,700 references to published works dealing with King and the Civil Rights movement."
• Race and Place: An African-American Community in the Jim Crow South: Charlottesville, VA
  "Race and Place is an archive about the racial segregation laws, or the 'Jim Crow' laws from the late 1880s until the mid-twentieth century. The focus of the collection is the town of Charlottesville in Virginia." (from website) Contains images, newspapers, personal papers, oral histories, maps, census databases, city records, political materials sections.
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)
  "The New York Public Library Schomburg Collection is 'the world's leading publicly-accessible research institution for the study of the history and culture of peoples of African descent.' Notes on its collection appear on its home page and most of its materials appear in the online exhibits are also being organized."

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Cultural Institution Websites

Indiana

• Archives of African American Music and Culture (Indiana University-Bloomington)
  Established in 1991, the Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC) is a repository of materials covering a range of African American musical idioms and cultural expressions from the post-World War II era. Our collections highlight popular, religious, and classical music, with genres ranging from blues and gospel to R&B and contemporary hip hop. The AAAMC also houses extensive materials related to the documentation of black radio." (from website)
• Black Film Center Archive (Indiana University-Bloomington)
  "The Black Film Center/Archive was established in 1981 as a repository of films and related materials by and about African Americans. Included are films which have substantial participation by African Americans as writers, actors, producers, directors, musicians, and consultants, as well as those which depict some aspect of black experience." (from website) Black Camera: A Micro Journal of Black Film Studies is a scholarly journal published by the archive.
• Butler University Special Collections/Archives
  "Established in 1987, the archives preserve the institutional, physical, scholarly, and, to some extent, the personal history of the university, its programs, facilities, and people. Strengths of special collections cover such areas as Jean Sibelius, Abraham Lincoln, Kin Hubbard, Gaar Williams, 15th to 19th century botanical and zoological prints, early educational materials, 19th-century American sheet music, and African American poets." (from website)
• Historic Landmarks Foundation
  "Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana saves and restores irreplaceable architectural heritage, from outstanding national landmarks like West Baden Springs to modest historic houses, barns and bridges. If you're interested in the historic preservation and restoration of Indiana landmarks or heritage tours and visiting historic sites, you've come to the right place." (from website)
• Indiana Historical Society
  Since 1830, the Indiana Historical Society has been "collecting preserving, interpreting and disseminating Indiana history" and is "one of the largest archival repositories of material on the history of Indiana and the Old Northwest." Over 25,000 digital images are contained in the Collections section.. (from website)
• Indiana State Archives
  "The Indiana State Archives is the official repository of Indiana government records of permanent historical and legal significance. It principally contains records generated by state government and state agencies, but also holds a major collection of county and local government records." (from website)
• Indiana State Library
  "Through its history, the Indiana State Library has developed strong collections in the fields of Indiana history and culture, Indiana state government and United States government publications, Indiana newspapers, genealogy and family history resources on Indiana and the eastern United States, Braille, large print, and books on tape for the visually impaired, library science, and American history, politics, and economics." (from website)
• IMCPL (Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library)
  "IMCPL's collection of over 2.1 million items includes a variety of formats: books, books on tape, magazines, large print materials, audiocassettes, videocassettes, compact discs and DVD's. Foreign language materials are an integral part of the Library's collection." (from website)
• IUPUI Ruth Lilly Special Collections/Archives
  Contains significant primary sources for the study of:
  • Philanthropy (including the records of foundations, nonprofit organizations, fund raising firms, associations, and individuals)
  • German-Americana (including the records of national and local organizations)
  • Individuals and organizations with ties to the University and Indianapolis (General Collections)
  • History of IUPUI preserving the official records of IUPUI and its various predecessor institutions.
• Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Library (Indiana University-Bloomington)
  "The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center (BCC) Library was founded in 1972. It is a hub of information networking, cultural research, and bibliographic instruction and learning for students, faculty, and staff at Indiana University. The BCC Library began as an informal reading room, grew into a distinguished reference and information center on the Bloomington campus, and was organizationally established as a branch library of Indiana University Libraries in 1991-92." (from website)

National

• Listing of State Archives + Historical Societies
  Provided by the Ohio Historical Society, contains some dead links, but overall useful site.
• National Archives The National Archives is responsible for permanently preserving important historical and legal documents that are created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government
  • National Archives Research Page
    Contains enormous amount of primary material including images, maps, movies, and electronic records.
• National Civil Rights Museum
  "The National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, chronicles key episodes of the American civil rights movement and the legacy of this movement to inspire participation in civil and human rights efforts globally, through our collections, exhibitions, and educational programs." (from website)
• Smithsonian Institution
  Research and educational institution funded by the federal government and other endowments that is committed to promoting innovation, research and discovery in science.
  • Smithsonian Institution Research Page
    Primary material can be found in Online Collections & Datasets, Libraries, and Archives sections.

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Census Information

Recent Census Websites

• 2000 Census
  Provided by the U.S. government, this website serves as a gateway to statistics from the 2000 U.S. Census that contains quick facts, figures, and multiple search options.
• 1990 Census
  Provided by the U.S. government, this website serves as a gateway to statistics from the 1990 U.S. Census that contains quick facts, figures, and multiple search options.

Older Census Figures

• AfriGeneas
  "This site is the home page for a private mailing list run by the Mississippi State Historical Archives. The focus is discussion, promotion, and exchange of family history research, especially for people of African descent. The Web site provides a newsletter, information about surnames, and a unique 'Slave Data Project,' which is an online collection of wills and other documents of slave owners." African-American Census Schedules Online section provides to links to historical census data.
• Historical Census Browser
  Provided by the University of Virginia, "Allows you to manipulate population census data for any census year from 1790 to 1960. After selecting the year, choose from the lists of variables based on the questions asked in the census that year." -University of Virginia Libraries
• Selected Historical Decennial Census Population and Housing Counts
  Provided the U.S. Census Bureau, this page contains a variety of information on every census from 1790 through 2000. Contains numerous facts, figures, and statistical abstracts, along with questionnaires and instructions from each census. Includes historic census data from the Decennial Censuses from 1790-1860, 1990, 2000 (PDF). Contains comments and Table of Contents on 1870-1980 Censuses
• IUCAT
  Indiana and United States census information can be found in IUCAT using search terms such as the following: 1. United States Census, 20th, 1980 and 2. 1970 census of population.
  

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