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Hope Library Guides

HIST 140 - Gibbs - Religion, Politics and Society in Europe, 1500-1800: Primary Sources

This is a guide for Professor Janis Gibbs history workshop.

Primary Sources

When searching for primary sources on the Internet, try to think about organizations that would have an interest in keeping the materials you are searching for.  For instance, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations will have materials related to Spanish American War.

Additionally, use search terms like: digital collection, digitized, archives, finding aid, primary sources

There are many fantastic digitization projects that are going on right now that make primary source materials much more easily accessible to you. 

Here are a couple of tips for looking for these to get you started on your research.

  • If your topic is country specific, do some browsing on the national library website for that country to see if they have any digitization projects from their collection.
  • If you discover that a particular library is strong in your subject area, check their website as well.
  • Browse the subject guides of major research libraries, they will often include helpful weblinks in subject specific guides.
  • When searching on the internet, try including words like "digital collection" or "primary sources" along with your more general subject

Primary Sources in PRIMO

Primary sources include a variety of materials written or created during the time period of the topic you are researching.

Primary Sources Online: Finding, Evaluating, and Using from the American Library Association

Library collections include primary sources in a variety of formats. Most of those in the Hope College Libraries are in book form. In some cases, the content of the book has been transferred to microfiche or a special type of microfiche known as ultrafiche.

One method for finding books that may be considered primary sources is to search PRIMO using keywords that describe your topic in combination with the following terms:

  • sources;
  • personal narratives;
  • diaries;
  • correspondence;
  • interviews;
  • church records and registers;
  • sermons;
  • early works;
  • wills;
  • photographs.

Remember that you may need to think about your topic broadly to find primary sources using this method. After actually looking at the source you will know whether or not it effectively addresses your specific topic.

 

Searching for Primary Sources on the Web

There are many primary source collections freely available online. 

Try searching on national library websites of countries you are researching, or do a very broad search on your topic in combination with words/phrases like "digital archive" or "primary sources" or "digitized" or "digital collection."

For example: 

jane addams digital collection 

france national library digitized

 

  • If your topic is geographically specific, do some browsing on the local library or museum websites for in that area to see if they have any digitization projects from their collection.
  • If you discover that a particular library is strong in your subject area, check their website as well.
  • Browse the subject guides of major research libraries, they will often include helpful weblinks in subject specific guides.
  • When searching on the internet, try including words like "digital collection" or "primary sources" along with your more general subject
  • If you are looking for a specific older published source, type in its specific title; it might come up in a digital collection or Google Books.

Hope Electronic Primary Source Collections

Websites

Travelers in the Middle East Archive

BGSU Internet Sites for Primary Sources for European History