Research Guides: History of the Body: Primary Sources

Published sources

Primary Sources in Print Collections

The subheading "sources" indicates a bound collection (book) of primary sources. You can either search known subject heading strings for the final subheading of "sources," or you can use "sources" as a keyword along with other keywords.

Primary Source Databases

WU Libraries have purchased access to a number of primary source databases. There are a number of ways of finding them:

Library Homepage ►Find a Database ►Full A-Z Database List ► History of Science, Medicine, & Technology (under All Subjects) ► Primary Sources (under All Database Types)

You can scroll through all 427 primary source databases, or you could search these primary source databases for keywords (like "newspapers").

Digital collections

Early English Books Online (EEBO) (1475-1700)
Books and pamphlets published, for the most part, in Great Britain.
ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collections Online)
Books and other materials published between 1701 and 1800 in the United Kingdom and the Americas.
Early European Books, 1450 to 1700
Images of rare printed sources from Early Modern Europe, roughly 1450-1700, from selected European libraries, including the Wellcome Institute.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index
C19 is a comprehensive source for discovering nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers and archives. It indexes sources such as the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC), The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index, Periodicals Index Online, Cumulative Index to Niles' Register 1811–1849, British Periodicals Collections, Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism, and House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800
Many early American books are reprints of books published in Britain.
Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819
Also includes early American books that are reprints of books published in Britain.
HathiTrust Digital Library Catalog
more...less...
many pre-1923 imprints are available in full text here.

Periodicals Index Online
PIO indexes over 7,000 journals within the arts, humanities and social sciences covering the period 1665-1995.
Periodicals Archive Online
PAO is a major archive of scholarly periodicals in the humanities and social sciences many of which are indexed in PIO.
British Periodicals I and II
Periodicals from the late 17th century to early 20th century on a wide range of topics.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index
C19 is a comprehensive source for discovering nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers and archives. It indexes sources such as the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC), The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index, Periodicals Index Online, Cumulative Index to Niles' Register 1811–1849, British Periodicals Collections, Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism, and House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.
Economist Historical Archive, 1842-2008
Useful for topics that have an international aspect, e.g., the World Cup.
Eighteenth Century Journals I, II, & IV
British newspapers and periodicals from 1693-1820.
19th Century UK Periodicals, pts. 1 -2
more...less...
19th Century UK Periodicals provides an in-depth view of many facets of British life in the Victorian age. Series 1, New Readerships: Women’s, Children’s, Humor and Leisure/Sport charts the rapid rise of publishing in a reading culture expanding with literacy and leisure. Series 2, Empire: Travel and Anthropology, Economics,Missionary and Colonial includes titles from India, Canada, South and East Africa, Australia and New Zealand alongside British titles, and covers both the economic and non-mercantile aspects of British expansionism. (Gale)
American Periodicals (1740-1940)
American perspectives on Europe; mostly 19th century.

Times Digital Archive (1785-1985)
The Times of London.
Sunday Times Digital Archive (1822-2006)
Burney Collection Newspapers (17th & 18th Century)
Newspapers, pamphlets, and books from England totaling almost 1 million pages from approximately 1,270 titles.
Daily Mail Historical Archive (1896-2004)
Eighteenth Century Journals I, II, & IV
British newspapers and periodicals from 1693-1820.
Financial Times Historical Archive (1888-2009)
Gale NewsVault
Search many historical British newspapers simultaneously.
Guardian (1821-2003) and the Observer (1791-2003)
Illustrated London News, 1842-2003
The Independent Digital Archive (1986-2012)
Irish Times (1859-2011) and the Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958)
LexisNexis Academic
Use this to search the full text of European newspapers from about 1980 to the present. It does not include images.
New York Times, Historical (1851 to 3 years ago)
American perspective on events and topics in Europe.

Defining Gender, 1450-1910
Defining Gender brings together over 120,000 pages of original documents related to Gender Studies from various European libraries and archives. Section 5 is titled, "The Body."
Empire Online
Manuscripts and printed material related to the British Empire, 1492-1962.
Gerritsen Collection - Women's History Online, 1543-1945
A collection of publications related to women's history.
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. It focuses on economics interpreted in the broadest sense, including political science, history, and sociology.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO)
Medical Heritage Library
a digital curation collaborative among some of the world’s leading medical libraries, promotes free and open access to quality historical resources in medicine.
State Medical Journals Collection
encompasses nearly 50 U.S. state medical journals collectively held and digitized by the following members of the Medical Heritage Library

Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources 1600-1970
Statutes, commentaries, analyses from a number of European, Latin American, United Kingdom & other countries.
Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926
Covers legal development during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with a collection of Anglo-American legal treatises from the period.
State Papers Online: the Government of Britain, 1509-1714
Correspondence, reports, memoranda, and parliamentary drafts from ambassadors, civil servants and provincial administrators of Britain from Henry VIII to George III.
U. K. Parliamentary Papers (ProQuest)
Great resource for the British government's involvement in domestic and world affairs, which covers just about everything. For example, you will find a 1922 report entitled, "Report from the Select Committee on Training and Employment of Disabled Ex-Service Men."

Associated Press (AP) Images
News photos and images back to 1826.

WashU Libraries

History of the Body

Newspapers at CRL

Miscellaneous

Published sources

Primary Sources in Print Collections

Primary Source Databases

Digital collections