Holt Library: History: Primary Sources

Herbert W. Pelton, On the Indian reservation, Cherokee, N.C., 1909, photographic print: gelatin silver; (6 x 31 in.), The Library of Congress, The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

What are Primary Sources?

Primary Sources are immediate, first-hand accounts of a topic, from people who had a direct connection with it.

Primary sources can include:

Texts of laws and other original documents.
Newspaper reports, by reporters who witnessed an event or who quote people who did.
Speeches, diaries, letters and interviews - what the people involved said or wrote.
Original research, including case studies.
Datasets, survey data, such as census or economic statistics.
Photographs, video, or audio that capture an event.

Featured Primary Sources Databases

Holt Library Book Catalog
Search here for print materials available at Holt Library

Complete List of Primary Source Digital Collections Compiled by Holt Library This link opens in a new window
List of primary source digital collections compiled by Holt Librarians. This is not an exhaustive list.

American History Primary Sources
Select primary sources databases that contain materials related to American history, including historical events like the Civil War, Civil Rights Movement, American Women's history, government publications, books and historic newspapers.
North Carolina Primary Sources Databases
Select primary sources databases that contain materials related to North Carolina history, state statistics, NC government publications, books and historic newspapers.
World Civilizations Primary Sources
Select Primary sources and secondary book resources related to world history, and culture.

American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection (1684-1912) This link opens in a new window
Collections include digitized images of daily life from 3,700 American magazines and journals collected by the American Antiquarian Society from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction.
American Revolution This link opens in a new window
American Revolution.org was founded in 1996 by Edward St. Germain, an avid historian with a fascination for the Revolutionary period. Since then, Edward and other contributors, including esteemed professors and historians, have created an incredibly valuable collection of resources about the American evolution including primary sources.
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States This link opens in a new window
This curated selection of primary sources is designed for teaching and learning about the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans. Developed with input from Black history scholars and advisors, its easily discoverable materials are ideal for assignments and special projects focused on U.S. Black history and covers many time periods in history.
Black Past.org This link opens in a new window
Reference center dedicated to providing information to the general public on African American history and the history of more than one billion people of African ancestry around the world.
Chronicling America This link opens in a new window
Provided by the Library of Congress, Chronicling America, allows you to search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 and view digitized collections of newspapers from across the country.
DigitalNC This link opens in a new window
Explore the history and culture of North Carolina through original materials from cultural heritage repositories across the state.
Digital Public Library of America Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators — complete with teaching guides for class use.
Discovering Women's History Online This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States. These diverse collections range from Ancestral Pueblo pottery to interviews with women engineers from the 1970s.
Documenting the American South This link opens in a new window
Sponsored by the University Library of UNC Chapel Hill, this is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
EuroDocs This link opens in a new window
European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
In addition you will find video or sound files, maps, photographs or other imagery, databases, and other documentation.
EyeWitness To History This link opens in a new window
This website has primary sources along with some explanatory notes. Primary sources appear in RED. Be sure to scroll to the bottom to look at the citation for the primary source. Includes translations of accounts from the Ancient World to the 20th century.
Historic North Carolina Digital Newspaper Collection This link opens in a new window
View the Jackson County Journal (1923-1942) or the Sylva Herald and Ruralite (1943-1950)!
3.5 million pages of digitized content from over 1,000 NC county newspapers.
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook This link opens in a new window
The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York and provides a vast digital collection of primary, secondary and bibliographies related to Ancient History, the Near East, Greek and Roman civilizations.
Internet History Sourcebook Project This link opens in a new window
The Internet History Sourcebook Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York and provides this vast digital collection of primary, secondary and bibliographies related to Ancient, Medieval, and Modern history, form the Early Modern World to present.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook This link opens in a new window
The History Department of Fordham University of Medieval Studies, provides this vast digital collection of primary, secondary and bibliographies including the largest online resource of medieval and Byzantine textual sources covering the period from late antiquity to the Age of Exploration. Includes Islamic, Jewish, Indian, East Asian, and African history. Includes texts from the end of the classical world, Byzantium, Renaissance, and the Reformation, and has translations of many texts.
Library of Congress Digital Collections This link opens in a new window
All the digitized collections of the Library of Congress, including historical documents, photographs and audio recordings relating to American and World history.
National Archives (National Archives and Records Administration) This link opens in a new window
The National Archives is charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records including America's founding documents, veteran's service records, and documents, photos and other primary sources related to American history.
North Carolina Digital Collections This link opens in a new window
The North Carolina Digital Collections contain over 90,000 historic and recent photographs, state government publications, manuscripts, and other resources on topics related to North Carolina. The Collections are free and full-text searchable, and bring together content from the State Archives of North Carolina and the State Library of North Carolina.
Oral Histories Collection from UNC Asheville This link opens in a new window
Contains hundred of first-person accounts across a range of topics related to Asheville and Western North Carolina history and culture, including city and county development issues, segregation and integration of Asheville schools, education in the region, religion throughout the area, music, farming , voices from the regional LGBTQ+ community, local histories of various families and organizations in western North Carolina.
Southern Appalachian Digital Collections This link opens in a new window
The Southern Appalachian Digital Collections Partnership was founded in 2019 to host centralized online access to unique regionally focused digitized materials that document the history and culture of Southern Appalachia.

Defining Documents in American History
A collection of primary source documents which are considered foundational and crucial to understanding the development of the United States, outlining its core principles and government structure; essentially, the most important documents that shaped the nation's identity and legal framework.