Subject Librarian
John M. Olin Library
Research Center, 1st floor, Room 128
e. michaelschaefer@wustl.edu
p. 314-935-7365
Resources and Services
Books
A primary source is defined as "a document or record containing firsthand information or original data on a topic, used in preparing a derivative work. Primary sources include original manuscripts, periodical articles reporting original research or thought, diaries, memoirs, letters, journals, photographs, drawings, posters, film footage, sheet music, songs, interviews, government documents, public records, eyewitness accounts, newspaper clippings, etc." (Joan M. Reitz, Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science, https://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_p.aspx). What is or is not a primary source can perhaps be better understood by comparison with the definition of a secondary source: "any published or unpublished work that is one step removed from the original source, usually describing, summarizing, analyzing, evaluating, derived from, or based on primary source materials, for example, a review, critical analysis, second-person account, or biographical or historical study. Also refers to material other than primary sources used in the preparation of a written work" (Reitz, https://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_s.aspx).
- Early English Books Online (EEBO) (1475-1700)Contains over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661).
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)Books and other materials published between 1701 and 1800 in the United Kingdom and the Americas.
- Empire OnlineDigital collection of manuscripts and printed material, 1492-1962.
- Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO)MEMSO is a searchable database of rare books on medieval and early modern Britain and Ireland published by TannerRitchie.
- Medieval Sources OnlineSelected texts from the Manchester University Press Medieval Sources series.
- Making of the Modern World: The Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature (1460 - 1850)Presents more than 61,000 books from the period 1460-1850, and 466 pre-1906 serials.
- Making of Modern Law (1800 - 1926)Covers the watershed period of legal development during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; a full-text collection of Anglo-American legal treatises of the period.
- Aristoteles Latinus DatabaseA full-text database of the corpus of medieval translations of the works of Aristotle. The Latin versions of these texts constituted the main tools for the study of science and philosophy in the Middle Ages.
- Bibliotheca Teubneriana LatinaElectronic access to all editions of Latin texts published in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana, ranging from antiquity and late antiquity to medieval and neo-Latin texts. Includes approximately 13 million word forms.
Newspapers and periodicals
- Burney Collection Newspapers (17th & 18th Century)Newspapers, pamphlets, and books gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) represent the largest and most comprehensive collection of early English news sources.
- Eighteenth Century Journals IIRare British newspapers and periodicals from 1699-1812.
- Internet Library of Early JournalsCollection of 18th and 19th Century journals. Some journals currently available are Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Gentleman's Magazine, Notes and Queries, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
- British Periodicals Collection I and IIFull text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
- Daily Mail Historical Archive (1896-2004)Full-text articles and images from the Daily mail (1896-2004) and the Daily mail Atlantic edition (1923-1931). Includes essays on the Daily Mail.
- Union List of Digitized Jewish Historic Newspapers, Periodicals and e-Journalsa global list of digitized, historic Jewish periodicals in Latin, Cyrillic, and Hebraic scripts (Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino)
Archival Material
- Archive FinderA current directory which describes over 220,000 collections of primary source material housed in thousands of repositories across the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
- ArchiveGrid (WorldCat.org)Nearly a million descriptions of archival collections held by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies and archives worldwide.
Britain
- British Campaign in Mesopotamia, 1914-1918 (Archives Unbound)This new collection provides the opportunity to review the telegrams, correspondence, minutes, memoranda and confidential prints gathered together in the India Office Military Department on Mesopotamia. In 1914 the British/Indian Army expedition to Mesopotamia set out with the modest ambition of protecting the oil concession in Southern Persia but, after numerous misfortunes, ended up capturing Baghdad and Northern Towns in Iraq.
- British Literary Manuscripts I, 1660-1900Published in two parts: Medieval and Renaissance and British Literary Manuscripts Online, c. 1660-1900. Presents facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. Searching is based on tags and descriptive text associated with each manuscript. Images of the complete manuscript can be viewed, manipulated and navigated on screen. Please note that the text of the manuscripts themselves is not searchable.
- British Mandate in Palestine, Arab-Jewish Relations, and the U.S. Consulate at Jerusalem,1920-1944 (Archives Unbound)This collection consists of correspondence and telegrams received and sent by the American consular post in Jerusalem.
- Chatham House Online (1920-2010)Contains the publications and archives of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), an independent international affairs policy institute founded in 1920 following the Paris Peace Conference. About half a million pages and over 90 years of research, analysis and commentary. Subject index to briefing papers, special reports, pamphlets, conference papers and monographs, full-text of Chatham House's publications, and audio recordings of Chatham House lectures.
- Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969Historical documents covering such important events as the Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha in the nineteenth century, the Middle East Conference of 1921, the Mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia and the Suez Crisis in 1956, to the partition of Palestine, post-Suez Western foreign policy and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
- Dublin Castle Records 1798-1926 (Archives Unbound)The Dublin Castle administration in Ireland was the government of Ireland under English and later British rule, from the twelfth century until 1922, based at Dublin Castle. Dublin Castle Records, 1798-1926 contains records of the British administration in Ireland prior to 1922, a crucial period which saw the rise of Parnell and the Land War in 1880 through to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921. This collection comprises materials from Series CO 904, The National Archives, Kew, UK.
The Enlightenment
- Electronic EnlightenmentThe most wide-ranging online collection of edited correspondence of the early modern period, linking people across Europe, the Americas and Asia from the early 17th to the mid-19th century — reconstructing one of the world's great historical "conversations."
Free Online Palaeography Sources
- Free Online Palaeography SourcesPalaeography – the art of reading old handwriting – is a very specialized skill that will not be any use to 99.9 percent of the population. However, if you want to explore original sources produced before c.1750 for a dissertation, genealogy or local history, it may be essential.
Online Primary Source Collections
Wilson Center Digital Archive "International History Declassified" - Constructed and maintained by the Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program, the Digital Archive contains newly declassified historical materials from archives around the world—much of it in translation and including diplomatic cables, high level correspondence, meeting minutes and more.
Bandung Conference documents - The 1955 Bandung conference was one of the most important conferences held in the twentieth century. It’s also one of the least well known. Leaders of the major independent Asian and African countries gathered at this Indonesian city from April 18-22, 1955. There, they first set in motion the concept of South-South solidarity — newly-independent countries of Africa and Asia gathering to seek common ground. This e-dossier tells the story of the Bandung conference through the conference bulletin and additional documents. The African-Asian Conference Bulletin was published in the lead-up and aftermath to the conference and on a daily basis while the conference was going on. It was produced by a conference secretariat staff and published by the Indonesian ministry of information.
Reconceptualizing the Cold War: On-the-ground Experiences In Asia - aims to build an online archive of oral history collections concerning the Cold War and decolonization in Asia, with a particular focus on Southeast, East, and South Asia. Based on oral history interviews and archival research across Asia, we aim to capture the emotions, enthusiasms, and fears of the era, and explores experiences and memories of ordinary people who witnessed various kinds of real and imagined wars.
MAPS
Oculi Mundi is the home of The Sunderland Collection of world maps, celestial maps, atlases, globes, and books of knowledge. comprises over 130 exquisite objects dating from circa 1200 to the early 1800s. Featuring world maps, celestial maps, atlases, books of knowledge and globes, the Collection was founded by Dr. Neil Sunderland, an avid traveller to remote places who has been a passionate collector of maps.