Research by Subject: Comparative and Digital Humanities: Primary Sources

Primary Texts

Below are some open-web and library resources where you may find sources to use as primary texts. This list was created with a particular focus on text that may be easier for text analysis and does NOT represent all potential primary sources. The primary sources you use should be guided by your topic, focus, and methodology. Reach out to Eloise for a consultation on what might be helpful for you!

The following Historical News sources all provide relatively easy access to plain text versions of articles, which may come in handy for text analysis. But please keep in mind, that other resources among our online historical newspaper collections may meet your specific needs.

Accessible Archives Access to the Pennsylvania Gazette (1728-1800); Civil War newspapers; African American newspapers (19th century); Godey’s Ladys Book (1830-1880); Delaware County, PA newspapers (1819-1870); and Chester County, PA Genealogical Catalogue (1809-1870).
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers Provides access to hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers cover-to-cover, including articles, advertisements, and illustrations.
British Library Newspapers Includes full runs of 48 influential national and regional newspapers representing different political and cultural segments of 19th century British society.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Collection The newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757 - 1817) represent the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media.
Times (London) Digital Archive Full-text content from The Times (London), including headlines, advertisements, and images, from 1785 to 2019. The archive contains coverage of topics including history, politics, social and cultural history, law, genealogy and criminology.

Images

Here are some resources where you can find images that may serve as primary sources for your work. Please consider some of the special copyright considerations for images, especially when you are considering publishing or presenting your work.

African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes The collection includes photographs, GIS data, site plans, aerial and satellite photography, images of rock art, excavation reports, manuscripts, historical and antiquarian maps, books, articles, and other scholarly research.
ARTstor This searchable repository of over 1.6 million high quality digital images offers tools for viewing, sharing, and saving visual materials. Although its strengths are visual art and architecture, Artstor includes images that are useful in both the humanities and the sciences.
Credo Reference Search the full-text of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and other full-text reference books. Access to individual reference titles is also available from the Bertrand Library catalog.