LibGuides: A Guide To...Africana Studies: Primary Sources

Recommended Databases for Primary Source Materials

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1600-2000
Primary sources created by and about enslaved individuals and the practice of slavery around the world.
Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1490-2008
Primary sources created by and about enslaved individuals and abolition movements.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Empire Online features a wide variety of original documents pertaining to empire building in the modern ear, primarily the British Empire. Geographic coverage includes the Americas, Australasia, Africa, Oceania and South Asia. Search options include the ability to limit by region of the world.
American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1740-1940
Historic magazine and journal articles, including professional, childrens' and womens' magazines.
First World War: Personal Experiences This link opens in a new window
This digital resource brings to life the reality of the First World War for the men and women who experienced it firsthand. Containing digital images of primary source documents from archives around the world.Search options include filtering documents by "Theatre of War" to Africa.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) This link opens in a new window
Includes monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and other types of sources on a wide range of topics.Go to "Explore Collections" to see collections such as Colonial Africa newspapers, official documents from colonizing countries, and "narratives and reminiscences" on Colonial Africa.

Primary Source Materials in Print

Try searching the Holy Cross Library Catalog and WorldCat.

If you know of a person who wrote about your topic during the time period, search for his or her name and then limit to Author.

You can also search for your topic in combination with any of the subject headings used to define primary sources:

Autobiographies
Correspondence
Diaries
Documents
Early works to…
Government documents
Interviews
Legal documents
Letters
Manuscripts
Memoirs
Narratives
Pamphlets
Personal narratives
Photographs
Reminiscences
Sources
Speeches
Travel narratives

In WorldCat, you may use any of the above strategies or limit your search to “archival materials.”

You can limit your search to the date range of your topic--but be aware that some primary sources may have been compiled and published decades later.

As you read secondary sources, look for citations of primary sources that you might be able to use in your research. When you have a citation that looks promising, try searching for the source in the HC catalog or WorldCat.