Primary Sources - AFAM 205 | Survey of Race & Culture in Ethnic Lit - Collins Memorial Library at University of Puget Sound

What's a primary source?

Primary sources are original, uninterpreted information. Scholars analyze primary sources in order to answer research questions. Examples of primary sources vary by discipline.

Examples in the humanities:

a novel
a painting
a theatre performance

Examples in the social sciences:

a political, social, or economic theory
a dataset
the results of an experiment published in a peer-reviewed journal

Example in the sciences:

the results of an experiment published in a peer-reviewed journal

Historical Newspapers

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
From the Library of Congress a searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages.
New York Times Historical Newspaper This link opens in a new window
Includes full page images of the New York Daily Times (1851-1857) and the New York Times (1857-2017).
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Provides access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S.
Chicago Defender Historical Newspaper (1909-1975)
Founded in 1905, the oldest and most respected African-American newspaper in Chicago.

Further sources for advertisements

African Americans and Advertising
Collection of digitized advertisements relating to African Americans in the 19th & 20th centuries. Created by the ANA Educational Foundation (AEF); an organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of marketing and advertising in society.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 | African American Ads
Duke University digital collection featuring over 3,300 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920 in the United States.

Databases

Black Thought and Culture
A collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history. Includes letters, speeches, prefatory essays, political leaflets, interviews, periodicals, and trial transcripts.
African American Studies Center (Oxford)
A collection of full text materials focusing on the lives and events which have shaped African and African American history and culture. Includes biographies, images, primary source documents with commentaries, maps, tables and charts, and thematic timelines.

Access limited to 3 simultaneous users.
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
An open access collection of primary source documents covering six different time periods in African American history.
Black Studies Center
Includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and much more. Including The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, Index to Black Periodicals Full Text, Black Literature Index, and the Chicago Defender historical newspaper from 1912-1975.

Collaborative Bibliography

AFAM 205 Collaborative Bibliography
A collaborative bibliography created by students in AFAM-205 - use this for the in-class activity.

Puget Sound Archives & Special Collections, African American Studies

The Archives & Special Collections collects, preserves, and makes available primary source material documenting life at the University as well as collections representing regional, national and international issues.

A small selection of material is listed below.

United States Commission on Civil Rights, School desegregation in Tacoma, Washington: a staff report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1979.

The Black Panther, vol. III, no. 21, September 13, 1969: Black community news service.

Racist Stereotypes of African Americans (1902) - A chromolithographic embossed die cut print.

Sligh, Clarissa T., It wasn't Little Rock, 2005. (artist book)

Meador, Clifton, Long slow march, 1996. (artist book)

Bills of Sale for the Purchase of Slaves, 1835, 1837, 1845.

The Abby Williams Hill papers, 1880s-1930s, document the life and work of this female painter and social activist in the early 20th century. Hill was especially interested in early education and documented her visit to the Tuskegee Institute and her interactions with Booker T. Washington (1901-1902).

The Archives & Special Collections holds a wide range of material documenting life at the University of Puget Sound; including photographs, Trail articles, and student and administrative papers. A small selection of digitized material is available online.

Photo Credit: Regester and students in Johnston's Negro in U.S. History class, 1949 from A Sound Past