Find Primary Sources in Books
Recommended Databases
- Artstor
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Subjects covered include art, design, architecture, fashion, maps, photography, and more. Find images from museums, archives, and other institutions. - Project Gutenberg This link opens in a new windowProject Gutenberg is an on-going project to produce and distribute free electronic editions of books in the public domain. Most are works of literature such as novels, poetry, and drama.
- Brill E-book Collections This link opens in a new windowFull text e-books in the humanities and social sciences.
- Gale Primary Sources (Gale)
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Find primary sources on a range of topics. Includes newspapers, historical & archival documents, and other academic material.
Places to look for primary sources
- Princeton University Library Digital Collections: Princeton Papyri CollectionsThis collection contains the largest number are Greek documentary papyri, including census and tax registers, military lists, land conveyances, business records, petitions, private letters, and other sources of historical and paleographic interest from Ptolemaic (332-30 B.C.), Roman (30 B.C.-300 A.D.), and Byzantine Egypt (300-650 A.D.)
- Ancient World Digital LibraryThe Ancient World Digital Library (AWDL) is an initiative of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at New York University. AWDL will identify, collect, curate, and provide access to a broad range of scholarly materials relevant to the study of the ancient world.
- The National Library of Israel: The International Collection of Digitized Hebrew ManuscriptsThe International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts enables global centralized digital access to the complete corpus of existing Hebrew manuscripts.
- Oxford Text ArchiveA repository of full-text literary and linguistic resources.Thousands of texts in more than 25 languages.
- Goodspeed Manuscript CollectionSixty-eight early Greek, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, Arabic, and Latin manuscripts ranging in date from the 5th to the 19th centuries.
- Christian Classics Ethereal LibraryThe Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a digital library of hundreds of classic Christian books selected for edification and education.
- Perseus Digital LibraryFind primary and secondary sources for the study of ancient Greece and Rome.
- Ancient World Image BankThe Ancient World Image Bank is a collaborative effort to distribute and encourage the sharing of free digital imagery for the study of the ancient world.
- Library of Congress: World Digital LibraryThe WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures and significant historical documents on one site, in a variety of ways. Content on the WDL includes books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, journals, prints and photographs, sound recordings, and films. Browse by place, time, topic, type of item, language, and contributing institution.
- The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital LibraryView infrared photos from the 1950s archive and examine the latest high-definition spectral images, which enhance the texts' visibility and readability. Browse the fragments by Site, Language, or Content or use the "free search" option and let your imagination be your guide.
- Images of Rome: The Rodolfo Lanciani Digital ArchiveThis website offers virtual access to a premier collection of historic depictions amassed by Rodolfo Lanciani (1845–1929). Archaeologist, professor of topography, and secretary of the Archaeological Commission, Lanciani was a pioneer in the systematic, modern study of the city of Rome.
- The Classical Art Research CentreThe Classical Art Research Centre leads and supports research on ancient art. At its heart is the Beazley Archive, which includes the world's largest collection of images of ancient figure-decorated pottery.
- Kelsey Museum of ArchaeologyThe Kelsey Museum of Archaeology digital collection represents the art and archaeological artifacts of the ancient Mediterranean world and its supporting archival collection, held at the Kelsey Museum at the University of Michigan.
- Roman Provincial Coinage onlineThe Roman Provincial Coinage project embodies a new conception of Roman coinage. It presents for the first time an authoritative account of the coins minted in the provinces of the empire and shows how they can be regarded as an integral part of the coinage minted under the Roman emperors.