Primary Sources
Digital Collections: Databases
Many primary sources are available online through commercially paid, subscription databases in libraries.
The U-M Library subscribes to or purchases many commercially available collections which are accessible to currently affiliated U-M faculty, staff and students on campus and remotely. Many of these are also available through selected guest workstations on campus to the visiting scholars and the general public.
Examples of paid databases which the U-M Library provides access to are:
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Early English Books Online - ProQuest (EEBO)Contains digital facsimile page images of works printed between 1473 and 1700.
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Empire OnlineOver 60,000 images of original manuscripts related to Empire Studies sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
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Gerritsen Collection: Women's History Online 1543-1945Gerritsen curators gathered more than 4,700 publications from continental Europe, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand, dating from 1543-1945. The broad scope allows scholars to trace the evolution of feminism within a single country, as well as the impact of one country's movement on those of the others.
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Nineteenth Century Collections OnlineDigital primary source collections of the long nineteenth century.
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ProQuest Historical NewspapersCustom ProQuest cross-search of full-text backfiles of 30 U.S. and 32 international English-language newspapers.
Digital Collections: Open Access
Many primary sources can also be viewed online for free in digitized collections.
These can be found through U-M research guides, by searching the web, and by reviewing bibliographies and footnotes for collections relevant to your research interests.
Examples of free digitized collections are:
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Digital Public Library of AmericaDiscover thousands of images, texts, videos, and sounds from libraries, museums, and archives across the United States.
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Europeana CollectionsExplore artworks, artefacts, books, films and music from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives.
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Library of Congress Digital CollectionsFrom the Library of Congress.
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New York Public Library Digital CollectionsThe NYPL's collections include prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
Visual Materials
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60 Minutes: 1997-2014Episodes of the long-running TV journalism slow.
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ARTstorProvides over 1.5 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences.
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Life Photo ArchiveSearch millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today.
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Meet the Press"Meet the Press" was a series of interviews, panels and debates, televised 1947-2012. Available in streaming format
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World History in VideoContains over 1000 documentary films and newsreels of significant events in world history.