History: Primary Sources

From the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War, Early English Books Online contains titles listed in Pollard and Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661), and the Early English Tract Supplement - all in full digital facsimile from the Early English Books microfilm collection. This database contains over 100,000 titles published from 1474-1800 in many subject areas, including: English literature, history, philosophy, theology, music, fine arts, education, mathematics, and science.

Full-text of 150,000 English-language titles and editions published between 1701 and 1800. Includes most titles published in the United Kingdom during this period as well as a number of items published in the Americas.

Coverage includes Asia & West Diplomacy & Cultural Exchange, British Theatre, British Politics and Society, Corvey Collection of European Literature, Europe and Africa, Photography, Science-Technology-and Medicine, Women, Science Part 2, Children-Literature and Childhood, Mapping the World, and Religion. Expand your search with the Artemis Primary Sources link on the database home page.

Evans, 1639-1800 (Early American Imprints, Series I) has been described as the definitive resource for researching 17th- and 18th-century America. This digital collection contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over a 160-year period. Early American Imprints, Series I is based on Charles Evans’ “American Bibliography” and Roger Bristol’s supplement.
See America’s Historical Imprints

Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 (Early American Imprints, Series II) provides a set of American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the early part of the 19th century. It is based on the noted “American Bibliography, 1801-1819” by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker.
See America’s Historical Imprints

A wide range of original sources including ephemera, pamphlets, commonplace books, diaries, periodicals, letters, ledgers, manuscript journals, poetry, receipt books and conduct and advice literature.

Primary and secondary resources about the rise and fall of Empires. Major sections include: Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969; Empire Writing & the Literature of Empire; the Visible Empire; Religion & Empire; Race, Class, Colonialism, Imperialism.

Includes collections from the U.S. and Europe on the worldwide movement for the abolition of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Includes accounts written by women of their travels across the globe from the early 19th century to the late 20th century. Materials include manuscripts, diaries, correspondence drawings, and guidebooks.

Access millions of pages of primary source collections across the entire portfolio of Adam Matthew Digital, spanning content from the 15th-21st centuries. You'll find award-winning digital resources spanning the social sciences and humanities, developed in collaboration with leading libraries and archives