A&M-SA Research Guides: 19th Century European History Research Guide: Primary Sources

Suggested Online Collections

British History Online
A "digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles."
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History Selected Transcriptions, Facsimiles and Translations
Links to European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. They shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history.
German History in Documents and Images
German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) is a comprehensive collection of primary source materials documenting Germany's political, social, and cultural history from 1500 to the present. It comprises original German texts, all of which are accompanied by new English translations, and a wide range of visual imagery.

JSTOR Arts & Sciences I-XV (JSTOR) This link opens in a new window
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Coverage of humanities disciplines including history, language & literature, art & art history, education, philosophy, classical studies, and music. Also includes a digitized group of rare 19th and early 20th century American Art periodicals.

PARES: Portal de Archivos Españoles - Portal of Spanish Archives
A portal and database created by Spain's Ministerio de Cultura containing more than twenty million documents and digital images from the principal Spanish archives, including the Archive of the Indies and Archive of the Spanish Civil War.
(Medieval to 20th century; facsimiles, transcriptions and commentaries) Website is in Spanish.

Primary versus Secondary

Primary Sources

Primary sources are records of events as they are first described, usually by witnesses or people who were involved in the event. Many primary sources were created at the time of the event but can also include memoirs, oral interviews, or accounts that were recorded later.

Visual materials, such as photos, original artwork, posters, and films are important primary sources, not only for the factual information they contain, but also for the insight they may provide into how people view their world. Primary sources may also include sets of data, such as census statistics, which have been tabulated but not interpreted. However, in the sciences or social sciences, primary sources report the results of an experiment.

Why are primary sources important?

Primary sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research.

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Secondary sources offer an analysis or a restatement of primary sources. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources. Some secondary sources not only analyze primary sources, but also use them to argue a contention or persuade the reader to hold a certain opinion. Examples of secondary sources include dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, books, and articles.

Using the Web

There are plenty of freely available digital collections of primary sources available online. Things to keep in mind when searching for them on the web:

Use websites only when appropriate and question their credibility. Remember, almost anyone can publish something online because it doesn't go through the same review process like books or articles.
Generally .gov, .edu, .org sites tend to be the ones that contain the credible digital collections, though there are still exceptions. To limit your Google search to these domains, type in your search term followed by a colon with the domain name. Ex. population trends:.gov
When in doubt, ask your instructor if it’s okay to use a particular web source.