Subject Librarian
John M. Olin Library
Research Center, 1st floor, Room 128
e. michaelschaefer@wustl.edu
p. 314-935-7365
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source can perhaps be better understood by comparison with the definition of a secondary source: "any published or unpublished work that is one step removed from the original source, usually describing, summarizing, analyzing, evaluating, derived from, or based on primary source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).
- American Religion: Denominational Newspapers This link opens in a new windowHistorical newspapers covering religious news, and the role religion played in American life and society. Supports research of early American history, religious history, ethnic studies, abolitionism, Civil War, and gender studies. Contains more than 320 rare newspapers from over 30 states published between 1799 and 1900.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Electronic Archives
- Global Missions and Theology (Archives Unbound)This collection documents the broad range of Nineteenth Century religious missionary activities, practices and thought in the United States by reproducing pivotal personal narratives, organizational records, and biographies of the essential leaders, simple missionaries, and churches. This collection includes materials on missionary activities among Native Americans and African Americans, both slaves and freedmen. In addition, it highlights activities in far-flung regions and countries, such as Africa, Fiji and Sandwich Islands, India, China, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Hawaii.
Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives (BiA) seeks to "collect, maintain and set up a database for original written works by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, to provide support for education, research, development, publication and exchange of Dhamma knowledge." (website) Buddhadasa, also known as Phra Dharmakosacarya, Phra Thēpwisutthimēthī, or Buddhadasa Indapañño, (May 27, 1906 – May 25, 1993) was a famous and influential Thai ascetic-philosopher of the 20th century.