LibGuides: Primary Sources: Books

Books as Primary Source

The CBC Library has many published primary sources dealing with history. Primary sources for other regions and time periods are also available. These include books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the Russian Revolution), books written by participants, published collections of correspondence and other personal writings, memoirs and reprints of collections of primary source material.

Digital Collections of Early Books

Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Books
More than 5,000 18th and 19th Century children's books.

Many copyright free books (those published prior to 1924, US government publications and more) are available on the web free of charge. Some collections to search are:

Documenting the American South
Digitized collection of 19th and early 20th Century books including many memoirs.
Gallica
Large collection of digitized French books and other materials
Google Books - Advanced Search
the Advanced Book search provides options to search for specific titles, authors and keywords and to limit your search by fulltext availability (full view only) and publication date.Current books and books still in copyright are not available full-text but you can usually use the search feature to pinpoint the pages you might need. Then search the UW Libraries to find a copy of the printed book.
HathiTrust
Use the "Full View Only" check box to limit your search to books that are available fulltext. Go to the Advanced Catalog Search to limit your search by publication date, language etc. The catalog searches just search the citation of the book (title, subject heading, author, etc.); use the Full-Text Search box to search for keywords within a text.
Making of America
Digitized collection of almost 10,000 19th Century books and journals.
Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection, USC Libraries
Contains over 700 complete and partial reproductions of books and manuscripts principally from the Special Collections of the USC Libraries. Subject areas cover fine arts, geography, history, language and literature, music and performing arts, philosophy and religion, and science.

Using Story Library Catalog to Find PUblished Primary Sources

On-Campus Catalog Access
On-Campus Catalog Access

To find published primary sources use the following strategies and search terms when searching the Story Library Catalog:

Search the catalog or books written by key participants and organizations, e.g., Martin Luther King or the NAACP
Do a keyword search and limit your search by publication date, e.g., books published between 1955 and 1965 on civil rights
Do a keyword search for your topic/event and add special terms that designate primary source

church records and registers

correspondence

diaries

early works to 1800

interviews

personal narratives

probate records

sermons

sources

wills

Off-Campus Catalog Access
Off-Campus Catalog Access