LibraryGuides: Finding Primary Sources: 1500-1800

Primary Sources for Dates Between 1500 and 1800

Library of Congress Digital Collections
Digital collection of primary documents, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, and photos, from the Library of Congress.
Antislavery Collection
An Amherst University project which hosts many antislavery pamphlets, political tracts, and books published between 1725 and 1911.
Avalon Project at Yale University
Documents in law, history and diplomacy for the 18th through 21st centuries.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp
China, America, and the Pacific
Archival database with materials mostly relating to the economic and cultural exchange between China and the United States.
Digitized Manuscripts of the British Library
Fully digitized manuscripts held by the British Library going back to 0 CE.
Early Modern Resources
A web portal which links to quality websites containing primary resources on the European Renaissance and Early Modern Period
EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents From Western Europe
Links to Western European historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
Founders Online
more than 100,000 text-searchable documents produced by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.

HeinOnline
HeinOnline is an online database containing more than 270,000 titles of historical and government documents in a fully searchable, image-based format. HeinOnline bridges an important research gap by providing comprehensive coverage from the inception of more than 2,700 law-related periodicals. In addition, HeinOnline contains the entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, and entire databases dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, U.S. Presidents, and much more.

Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS)
Historical Statistics on a range of topics and locations. An essential source for statistical data before 1975.
Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Collection
A project of the University of Texas at Austin, contains digitized versions of more than 200 significant medieval manuscripts. Most are text-searchable.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
Information on almost 35,000 slaving voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans to the Americas from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces
Women Writers Online
A large database of documents written by female writers, most from the late 16th century to the early 19th century.

Available by subscription only from Northeastern University.
World Digital Library
Significant primary materials that represent the culture of countries around the world. Sponsored by UNESCO and the Library of Congress.
http://www.wdl.org