LibGuides: Find Primary Sources: Where to Search for Primary Sources

Primary Sources in the Library Catalog

Many primary source materials can be found in the library catalog, including newspapers, government documents, personal materials, and images. You can limit your search to specific types of primary source material by doing an advanced search in the catalog.

Example: If you are looking for interviews about Watergate, search watergate in "any field" and interview in "subject"

Find Primary Sources by Type

Google News
Good for current news especially

America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Newspapers from 1690-1998 from all 50 states
Updated regularly. Includes more than 1,000 U.S. historical newspapers published between 1690 and the 1990s, including titles from all 50 states. Search by dates/eras, article types (news & opinion, election returns, letters, poetry/songs, legislative, prices, advertisements, matrimony & death notices), region/state, and newspaper name.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Find American and International news, both broadcast and print
Updated continually. Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an interface that offers discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
PressReader This link opens in a new window
Full scanned version of current newspapers from around the world.
Updated daily. Provides a full-color and full-page collection of newspapers from around the world,. Includes over 1000 titles from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States. A 60-day archive is also available to browse by country, language, and newspaper title, and to search full text of articles, photograph captions, and headlines.
Once inside the newspaper, click on a headline to read the article or zoom in to read the article as it appears in print.
We have a limited number of users for this database. Please select the logout option before you leave your session. When the limit is reached, a username and password prompt will probably be displayed. If this happens, simply wait 15 minutes and then try the link again.

More Newspaper Databases
See every newspaper database the UT Libraries subscribe to (includes historical)

Guide to Finding Speeches
Guide to finding speeches, created by the Communications Librarian.

Avalon Project
A project out of Yale Law School, "digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government," with supporting documentation.
FindLaw
Legal news and cases, including from the Supreme Court
National Archive
Legal and historical documents and materials from the National Archives and Records Administration

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Congressional publications from 1789-present, including hearings, committee prints, reports, documents, and congressional research service reports
Updated daily. Provides indexing of many Congressional publications, including Bills, Resolutions, Hearings, Committee Prints, Reports, Documents and Congressional Research Service Reports.
House and Senate Reports and Documents indexed in ProQuest Congressional (1817-1969) are available in full text in the Serial Set database. Our subscription to ProQuest Congressional does not include full text of the Serial Set.
Congressional Hearings after 2013 and House and Senate Documents and Reports indexed in ProQuest Congressional (1995 to present) are available in full text on Govinfo.gov site from the Government Printing Office.

USA.gov
Official guide to government information and services

Avalon Project
A project out of Yale Law School, "digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government," with supporting documentation.
FindLaw
Legal news and cases, including from the Supreme Court

American National Elections Study Guide
The Guide provides immediate access to tables and graphs that display the ebb and flow of public opinion, electoral behavior, and choice in American politics over time. It serves as a resource for political observers, policy makers, and journalists, teachers, students, and social scientists. It currently contains data from 1948 through 2012.
Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
Public Agenda Online
Public Agenda is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps diverse leaders and citizens navigate divisive, complex issues and work together to find solutions.

Polling the Nations This link opens in a new window
1986 - present. 4 users
Updated monthly. A comprehensive compilation of public opinion surveys, containing the full text of more than 350,000 questions and responses from 14,000 surveys conducted by 700 polling organizations in the United States and more than 80 other countries.

PollingReport.com
An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion.

American Memory
"A digital record of American history and creativity" from the Library of Congress.
National Archive
Legal and historical documents and materials from the National Archives and Records Administration.
Teaching American History
Historical documents and materials.

American Memory
"A digital record of American history and creativity" from the Library of Congress.
National Archive
Legal and historical documents and materials from the National Archives and Records Administration
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Search in the advertisement and advertising collection genres.

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