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Finding Primary Sources in History

There are several Internet sites which provide access to the full text of primary documents, such as those listed below:

19th century British Library newspapers
British Newspapers 1600 -1900
Dying speeches and bloody murders : crime broadsides collected by the Harvard Law School Library
Electronic records online : Explore the growing collection of UK government digital records, including the records of a number of high-profile public inquiries, parliamentary committees and royal commissions.
Eurodocs: online sources for European history
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers - 1801-2003/4
The Italian Renaissance : primary documents from the Internet Archive of Texts and Documents
The Italian Renaissance : primary documents
National Archives of Ireland : the records of the modern Irish State.
United Kingdom-primary documents
World War I document archive
World War II resources: primary source materials on the web
Online primary sources for the United States

You can search for primary sources, both printed and electronic, on the Library catalogue. Use the following format to browse for the subject, followed by the word 'sources'. Where there is a sub-heading in the format 'sources-electronic full text' it means that there is a link to the full text of a document or documents about that subject available on line.

Cuban missile crisis-sources
Cuban missile crisis-sources-electronic full text
Great Britain-history 1642-1649 Civil war-sources
World War 1914-1918-sources-electronic full text

T: 01904 876696 F: 01904 876324 E: libraryqueries@yorksj.ac.uk

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Finding Primary Sources in History