Research Guides: History: Primary Sources

Current List of Primary Source Databases:

Databases & Resources by Title: Primary Sources

https://libguides.usna.edu/az.php?t=15546

Primary Sources Tip Sheets

Primary sources can be defined as "those closest, in time and connection, to any subject of investigation." [Richard Maruis, A Short Guide to Writing about History, 8th ed., 2012, p.14]

These include

Letters, diaries, memoirs, speeches, and other first person accounts
Certain government publications, such as Congressional hearings
Official accounts by people in authority, such as reports from the Secretary of the Navy or captain of a ship
Oral histories or interviews
Manuscript collections
Most newspaper or periodical articles from the time of the event
Other material from the time such as photographs or pamphlets

Full-text Primary Source Document Collections

Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Classified Files
AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
America in Protest: Records of Anti-Vietnam War Organizations, The Vietnam Veterans Against the War
American Decades Primary Sources, 2000-2009
American Memory Historical Collections
American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920
Arms Control and Global Security: A Document Guide, 2 vols.
Also in print under JZ5625.A767 2010
The Atlantic Archive: UK-US Relations in an Age of Global War, 1939-1945
Avalon Project at the Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
Black Abolitionist Archive
British Army War Diaries, 1914-1922
The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, ca. 1600-1925
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, 1774-1875
China and the Korean War
The Chinese Civil War and U.S.-China Relations: Records of the U.S. State Department's Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955
C.I.A. Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Also in print under E841.U35
Civil War Service Reports of Union Army Generals
Cold War International History Project Digital Archive
73 collections of documents on topics like the Berlin Wall, Korean War, Stalin, Iran-Iraq War, nuclear history, intelligence operations, Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War
Cold War: Voices of Confrontation and Conciliation
Commander Naval Forces Vietnam, Monthly and Quarterly Summaries, 1966-1973
Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1993-present
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969
Daily Life Through American History in Primary Documents, 4 vols.

Declassified Documents Online
Provides access to over 75,000 declassified documents from numerous government agencies plus supplemental information. Ranging from the late 1940's through the 1970's, it covers nearly every major foreign and domestic event of the time period. View more information here.

What are Primary Sources

Digital National Security Archive
41 collections of documents on topics like Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Iran-Contra, terrorism, CIA covert operations, nuclear history, Vietnam, and weapons of mass destruction

Full-text access to 50 years of declassified documents related to U. S. foreign policy. View more information here.

History Vault, World War II: U.S. Documents on Planning, Operations, Intelligence, Axis War Crimes, and Refugees

Milestone Documents Collections

Milestone Documents in African American History: Exploring the Essential Primary Sources, 4 vols.
Also in print under Ref E184.6.M55 2010
Milestone Documents in American History: Exploring Primary Sources that Shaped America, 4 vols.
Also in print under Ref E173.M62 2008
Milestone Documents in World History: Exploring the Primary Sources that Shaped the World, 4 vols.
Also in print under Ref D5.M554 2010
Milestone Documents of American Leaders: Exploring the Primary Sources of Notable Americans, 4 vols.
Also in print under Ref E173.M623 2009
Milestone Documents of World Religions: Exploring Traditions of Faith Through Primary Sources, 3 vols.
Also in print under Ref BL31.M56 2011

Defining Documents in American History

Exploration and Colonial America, 1492-1755, 2 vols.
Also in print under Ref E187.E96 2013
The American Revolution, 1754-1805, 2 vols.
Also in print under Ref E203.A5727 2013
Manifest Destiny and the New Nation, 1803-1859, 2 vols.
Also in print under Ref E338.M25 2013
Civil War (1860-1865), 2 vols.
Also in print under E464.C4384 2014
Reconstruction Era, 1865-1877
Also in print under Ref E668.R436 2014
The Emergence of Modern America, 1874-1917
Also in print under Ref E661.E447 2014
World War I (1916-1919)
Also in print under Ref D619.W67 2014
The 1920's
Also in print under Ref E784.A19 2014
The 1930's
Also in print under Ref E806.A19 2014

Examples of Primary Source Collections in Books

Primary source collections in print may be in the Reference Collection on the 1st floor or in the general collection with other material on that subject.

American Decades: Primary Sources, 1900-1999, 10 vols. (Ref E169.1.A471977 2004)
The American Revolution Through British Eyes: A Documentary Collection, 2 vols. (E249.3.A46 2013)
American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, 41 vols. (E444.A45)
America's Plans for War Against the Soviet Union, 1945-1950, 15 vols. (UA23.A6634)
Battle of Jutland, 30th May to 1st June, 1916: Official Dispatches with Appendixes (D582.J8A3)
Blacks in the United States Armed Forces: Basic Documents, 13 vols. (E185.63.B55)
British Pamphlets on the American Revolution, 1763-1785, 8 vols. (E203.B75 2007)
British Piracy in the Golden Age: History and Interpretation, 1660-1730, 4 vols. (G535.B75 2007)
Covert Warfare, 1939-1945, 18 vols. (Oversize D810.S7C66)
Daily Life Through World History in Primary Documents, 3 vols. (Ref CB69.D35 2009)
Der Adler: the Official Nazi Luftwaffe Magazine: the English Language Editions (Oversize D787.A35 2011)
Documentary History of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidency, 12 vols. (E836.D63)
Documentary History of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency, 43 vols. (E806.D614)_
Documentary History of the John F. Kennedy Presidency, 15 vols. (E841.D575)
Documentary History of the Truman Presidency, 35 vols. (E813.D66)
Documents of American Indian Diplomacy: Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions, 1775-1979, 2 vols. (Ref KF8202 1999)
Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939, 62 vols. (DA566.7.A18)
Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945, 20 vols. (JX691.A45)
Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents, 3 vols. (Ref E173,E54 2004)
Greenwood Library of American War Reporting, 8 vols. (Ref D5.G84 2005)
Hearings Before the Committee on Naval Affairs, 1908-1960 (VA53.A2)
Hearings on Naval Appropriation Bills, 1901-1959 (VA53.A4)
Iraq, 1990-2006: A Diplomatic History Through Documents, 3 vols. (Ref DS79.75.I728 2009)
The Iraq War: A Documentary and Reference Guide (DS79.76.M625 2012)
The Naval Chronicle: The Contemporary Record of the Royal Navy at War, 1793-1815, 5 vols. (VA454.N383)
Nazism, 1919-1945: A Documentary Reader, 4 vols.
New American State Papers: Exploration and Surveys, 15 vols. (F592.U54)
New American State Papers: Indian Affairs, 13 vols. (E93.U938)
New American State Papers: Military Affairs, 19 vols. (E181.N47)
New American State Papers: Naval Affairs, 10 vols. (E182.N47)
New American State Papers: Science and Technology, 14 vols. (Q127.U6U485)
On the Account: Piracy and the Americas, 1766-1835 (E18.75.G53 2012)
Origins of the First World War: Diplomatic and Military Documents (D511.O675 2013)
Parliamentary History of England, 1066-1803, 36 vols. (J301.H5)
Publications of the Navy Records Society [British Navy], 161 vols. (DA70.A1)
Records of the Hashimite Dynasties: A Twentieth Centure Documentary History, 15 vols. (DS62.8.R43)
The Times Documentary History of the War [World War I], 11 vols. (D505.T5)
United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919, 17 vols. (D570.A4A45)
Voices of the African American Experience, 3 vols. (E184.6.V65 2009)
The Wipers Times: the Complete Series of the Famous Wartime Trench Newspaper (D501.W38 2008)
World War II German Military Studies: 213 Special Reports Prepared by Former Officers of the Wehrmacht for the U.S. Army, 24 vols. (D757.W67)

Early American Naval Document Collections

Naval Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-1778, 11 vols.
Also in print in the general collection under E271.U583
Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France, 1797-1801, 7 vols.
Also in print in the general collection under E323.U75
Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers, 1785-1807, 6 vols.
Also in print in the general collection under E335.A35
The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, 1812-1815, 3 vols.
Also in print in the general collection under E360.N294
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, 30 vols.
Also in print in the general collection under E591.U58

Nimitz Library Special Collections and Archives

Special Collections and Archives
Nimitz Library Digital Collections
A selection of items from Nimitz Library's Special Collections & Archives Division, or the USNA Museum on topics such as:

The Civil War,

John Paul Jones,

Naval Academy History,

Oliver Hazard Perry,

Polar Exploration,

The Somers Affair,

War of 1812,

WWII Combat Photographs,

and

World War II Propaganda