Research Guides: Primary and Secondary Sources: Primary Sources in Books and Databases

Primary Sources in Books

To look for books containing primary sources in the SanJac library, search the library catalog.

A good way to search for library books that contain primary sources is to include keywords like letters, diary, papers,or journal in your search:

For more tips, take a look at the guide to searching the library catalog or check out our Video Tutorials. You can always contact a librarian for more information, too.

Primary Sources in Online Databases

You can also find primary and secondary sources in the library databases, available 24/7 online.

Some databases specialize in primary sources, while others (like History Reference Center and MasterFILE Premier) have both secondary sources and a way to limit results to primary source documents. Click the info icon for more detail.

Primary Source Databases

AAS Historical Periodicals This link opens in a new window American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection, Series 1-5 is the premier library documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, providing digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912.
Archives of Sexuality & Gender This link opens in a new window Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 covers topics including LGBTQ activism and the HIV/AIDS crisis. It provides researchers with the documents necessary to delve deep into the Gay Rights Movement with resources that may otherwise go undiscovered. Repositories for this collection include: Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation; Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives; Women's Energy Bank; GLBT Historical Society; National Library of Medicine; among other archives.
The Austin American Statesman (1871-1980) This link opens in a new window This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers, and scholars with online, easy to search first-hand accounts, and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society, and events of the time.
Chronicle of Higher Education This link opens in a new window The Chronicle of Higher Education provides news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators. The Chronicle's website features the complete contents of the latest issue; daily news and advice columns; thousands of current job listings; an archive of previously published content; vibrant discussion forums; and career-building tools such as online CV management, salary databases, and more.
eLibrary This link opens in a new window This database contains full-text articles from popular magazines, newspapers and reference books. You will also find maps, television transcripts and photograph collections.
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Heritage Quest This link opens in a new window Provides a unique and continuously expanding collection of research materials to help patrons trace their family lineage and American culture. Heritage Quest Online provides many of most-requested resources for genealogists and local historians.
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Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
National Geographic This link opens in a new window
News This link opens in a new window Gale OneFile: News provides access to full-text newspapers and allows users to search articles instantly by title, headline, date, newspaper section, or other fields. The database offers a one-stop source for current news and searchable archives. Part of Academic OneFile
Newspaper Source Plus Newspaper Source Plus provides a full-text digital collection of the world's major news content. It includes millions of articles from newspapers, newswires and news magazines. In addition, it offers television and radio transcripts and ongoing daily updates from popular news sources. Sources include AP, CNN Wire, PR Wire, UPI and Xinhua.
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New York Times This link opens in a new window Use this link to access your very own year-long subscription to The New York Times, 1851-present. Once registered, you can sign on directly to The New York Times via the Website or APP. After a year you will be required to re-authenticate with the library. Please note: Articles from 1923-1980 are restricted to 5 per person per 24-hour period. Activation Instructions
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window With digital facsimile images of both full pages and clipped articles for hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers and advanced searching capabilities, researchers will be able to research history in ways previously unavailable. For each issue, the newspaper is captured from cover-to-cover, providing access to every article, advertisement and illustration.
Regional Business News This link opens in a new window This database is a supplemental database for customers of Business Source Premier. With daily updates, Regional Business News provides comprehensive full text for regional business publications (including titles from Crain Communications). Regional Business News has full text for more than 50 sources.
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Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window The largest and most ambitious project of its kind, this collection is devoted to the scholarly study and understanding of slavery from a multinational perspective. An unprecedented collection developed under the guidance of a board of scholars, it offers never before available research opportunities and endless teaching possibilities.
Texas Digital Sanborn Maps This link opens in a new window This site provides digital access to more than 660,000 large-scale maps of over 12,000 American towns and cities. Founded in 1867 by D. A. Sanborn, the Sanborn Map Company was the primary American publisher of fire insurance maps for nearly 100 years.
Time Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window The Time Magazine Archive presents an extensive collection of the prominent weekly news magazine dating back to its first issue in March 1923 through December 2000, presented in a comprehensive cover-to-cover format.
The Times (of London) Digital Archive This link opens in a new window First published in 1785, The Times of London is widely considered to be the world's 'newspaper of record'. The Times Digital Archive allows users to search over 200 years of this invaluable historical source.
Women's Studies Archive This link opens in a new window Focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries, Women's Studies Archive provides a history of the social, political, and professional aspects of women's lives and offers a look at the roles, experiences, and achievements of women in society. Through a variety of documents such as diaries, letters, photographs, news clippings, organizational records, and journals, it presents a record of the issues that have affected women, societal contributions, social status, and women's movements.

Secondary Sources with Primary Source Material

History Reference Center This link opens in a new window The database features full text for more than 1,500 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers, full text for more than 100 leading history periodicals and 58,000 historical documents; 43,000 biographies of historical figures; more than 12,000 historical photos and maps; and more than 80 hours of historical videos.
MasterFILE Complete This link opens in a new window MasterFILE Complete provides full text periodicals covering an extensive range of subject areas including business, health, education, fitness, sports and leisure, personal finance, general science, multicultural issues, DIY and fashion. This database also contains full text for more than 870 reference books, 73,000 primary source documents, 70,000 Associate Press videos and an Image Collection of 1.6 million photos, maps & flags. MasterFILE Complete now offers PDF back files (as far back as 1975) for key publications including American Libraries, Foreign Affairs, History Today, Judaism, Library Journal, National Review, Saturday Evening Post, etc.
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The SanJac Libraries provide access to over 80 online databases. You can find the complete list on our article databases page. If you are off campus, you will have to sign in with your name and G number to access the databases. Contact a librarian if you can not log in.

For more help searching databases, check out our Video Tutorials or Contact a Librarian

Chat with a Librarian

If Chat is offline, you can email questions to reference.librarian@sjcd.edu