Primary Materials Online
UTSA subscribes to a number of databases that provide access to original works and primary materials:
- African American Historical Serials Collection (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowThis collection of primary sources related to African American life and culture features 173 periodicals spanning from 1816 through 1922. It comprises newspapers and magazines, in addition to reports and annuals from various African American organizations, including churches and educational and service institutions.
- African American Newspapers (Readex) This link opens in a new windowA large collection of full-text / full-image African American newspapers from all around the country. Covers the 19th and 20th centuries.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new windowDigital collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912 covering advertising, health, women's issues, science, the history of slavery, industry and professions, religious issues, culture and the arts, and more.
- Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collection, Series 1 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowFeatures digitized historical content pertaining to U.S. Hispanic history, literature and culture. Includes more than 1,100 digitized historical books, as well as Hispanic newspapers, political and religious pamphlets, and essays.
Also called: Latino-Hispanic American Experience Series 1 - Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collection, Series 2 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowThe Latino-Hispanic American Experience: Leaders, Writers, and Thinkers: contains a digital collection of historical content pertaining to U.S. Hispanic history, civil rights, religious thought, and growing presence of women writers from the late 19th and 20th centuries. Contains over 250,000 pages of personal and archival manuscript collections, 3000 issues of rare historical newspapers and periodicals, and hundreds of rare books. Content is drawn from the “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project”.
Also called: Latino-Hispanic American Experience Series 2 - Early American Imprints Series 2: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1800-1819 (NewsBank) This link opens in a new window
- Hispanic American Newspapers 1808-1980 (Readex) This link opens in a new windowA collection of hundreds of searchable full-text / full-image newspapers published in the United States by Hispanics during the 19th and 20th centuries. Papers may be in Spanish, English, or both Spanish and English. Based on Nicolás Kanellos' "Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project."
- Manuscrits MedievauxOver 800 medieval manuscripts from France and England. You can search by author, place, theme, and century.
- C19: The Nineteenth Century Index (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowA set of finding aids (indexes) for an extensive collection of 19th century books, periodicals, official publications, newspapers, archives, and reference material. Search across all indexes in a single search or search them individually. Some of the indexes of note include Palmer's Index to the Times of London, Proceedings of the Old Bailey, the U.S. Serial Set, and a number of book catalogs and periodical indexes. A detailed description of each index is available. Limited full text.
- NAACP Papers (ProQuest History Vault) This link opens in a new windowCovers 1909-1972. Digitized primary source material from the NAACP. Content is organized into six modules documenting the NAACP's work on behalf of civil rights, including the fight for voting rights and campaigns against segregated education, discrimination and segregation in public places, residential discrimination, discrimination in the workplace and the armed forces, and the campaign against lynching, among others. Also included are the NAACP’s national organizational records and Legal Department files. Use Advanced Search for keyword searching or use the timeline to find records of significant events.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale) This link opens in a new windowIncludes over 100 types of primary sources covering the long nineteenth century. Materials represent resources from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia, the Middle East, and North America. Sourced from over 100 world libraries and archives.
Definition
A primary source is "first-hand" information, sources as close as possible to the origin of the information or idea under study. Primary sources are contrasted with secondary sources, works that provide analysis, commentary, or criticism on the primary source. In literary studies, primary sources are often creative works, including poems, stories, novels, and so on. Examples of commonly used primary sources include government documents, memoirs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and contemporary newspaper accounts.