Recordings can also be primary sources. Search for recordings on compact disc or LP record or on streaming audio and video!
Use the Library's Catalog Advanced Search to find primary sources on your topic in the WMU collection.
Since the terms "primary documents" or "primary sources" are not Library of Congress (LC) subject headings, these are not the best keywords to use. Instead, use some or all of the following keywords that will help you identify primary documents that we have in our collection. The generic LC subject heading for primary documents is sources. Here are some of the most helpful keywords to use:
The trick is to combine one or more of these keywords with whatever topic you are researching. For example:
or the following search:
While not every single item that comes up is guaranteed to be a primary document, at least some of them should be.
A full-text collection of U.S. newspapers, including six African American newspapers, covering much of the 19th century to the late 20th century. One can limit searches by type of document such as editorials, cartoons, classifieds, and obituaries.
Atlanta Constitution (1868-1984)
Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003)
The Chicago Defender (1909-1975)
Chicago Tribune (1847-1993)
Christian Science Monitor (1908-2003)
Detroit Free Press (1831-1999)
Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005)
Los Angeles Times (1881-1992)
The Michigan Chronicle (1939-2010)
The Nashville Tennessean (1812-1922)
New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993)
New York Times w/ Index (1851-2013)
Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
The Wall Street Journal (1889-1999)
The Washington Post (1877-2000)
This full-text database includes more than 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, and other accounts of traders, explorers, native peoples, and others mainly from 1474-1912. Indexed by place, year, peoples, cultural events, and other categories.
Over 60 newspapers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including newspapers from Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.