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- Primary Sources
History
Subject guides to CRL Sources
- African Studiesresources available through interlibrary loan on African Studies
CRL Reference Service
Lakehead students, and faculty may request assistance with CRL resources.
What are Primary Sources?
What are Primary Sources?
First hand accounts of events, written by someone who experienced or witnessed the event in question. They are considered to be scholarly as the information presented is original and has not been analyzed, interpreted or commented upon.
Examples of primary sources include: books, magazines and newspapers articles published at the time, hand-written documents like diaries and journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memoirs, diaries, autobiographies, government agency records, records of organizations, pubic opinion polls, photographs, audio or video recordings, research data and artifacts of all kinds like physical objects, furniture, tools, clothing etc.
Primary Sources according to geographic location:
General - Primary Sources
- Project Avalondocuments in law, history and diplomacy
- League of Nations - Northwestern University LibraryNorthwestern University Library's digital collection "League of Nations Statistical and Disarmament Documents" contains the full text of 260 League of Nations documents. The documents in this digitized collection focus on three areas: the founding of the League, international statistics published by the League, and the League's work toward international disarmament. To promote peace and security, the League reduced national armaments and prevented the manufacture of implements of war. Most of the publications in this digital collection concern disarmament.
Canada - Primary Documents
- Canadiana Online (formerly Early Canadiana Online) This link opens in a new window
Canadiana Online identifies, catalogue, and digitizes documentary heritage—books, newspapers, periodicals, images and nationally-significant archival materials.
Monographs - spanning three and a half centuries of Canadian documentary history, holds rich primary materials exploring a wide range of subjects and disciplines. With a projected 84,000 titles by completion, this resource is the most comprehensive full-text searchable set of historical monographs currently available for the study of Canada.
Serials - includes a wide range of dailies, weeklies, specialized journals and mass-market magazines, as well as city directories and annual reports from churches, schools, and corporations. Specialized publications include trade or industry journals as well as many men’s, women’s, student’s and children’s popular magazines
Government Publications - includes over 1.7 million pages of historical pre-1920 colonial, provincial and federal government documents. This collection includes government acts, bills, committee reports, court rules, debates, journals, ordinances, a selection of official publications from France and Great Britain, sessional papers, regulations, royal commission reports, voter’s lists and treaties.
Canadiana Online is projected to digitalize the entire CIHM collection by the end of 2018. - Champlain Society Digital Collection This link opens in a new windowThe collection contains 115 of the Champlain Society's volumes (over 50,000 printed pages) dealing with exploration and discovery over three centuries. It includes first-hand accounts of Samuel de Champlain's voyages in New France, the diary from Sir John Franklin's first land expedition to the Arctic, 1819–22, plus many other fascinating stories.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
- Hudson Bay Company Archives: Post Records Finding Aid.This online finding aid has been set up to assist researchers find records classified under Section B (Post Records). The HBCA has records for 494 North American posts.
- National Film Board of CanadaDocumentaries, animations and alternative dramas on the web. Free for personal use
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail from 1844-2018. This link opens in a new windowThis historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers, and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society, and events of the time.
- Canadian Major Dailies (formerly Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies) This link opens in a new windowIncludes 15 full-text Canadian Major Daily newspapers. Earliest coverage: 1977-
- Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History [includes Thunder Bay District News Index] This link opens in a new windowThis is a subject index which brings together newspaper and magazine articles on Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario. This index includes more than 50,000 headlines over the past 16+ years.
- Toronto Star (microfilm)1974-2009
Located on the Ground Floor
Paterson Microfilms
MN 32
Africa - Primary Sources
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
- Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice 1490-2007 This link opens in a new windowAn important portal for slavery and abolition studies, bringing together documents and collections covering an extensive time period 1490-2007 .
- Centre for Research LibrariesProvides free access to books, newspapers, serials, archival material and microfilm through Interlibrary Loan.
Asia - Primary Resources
- China: Trade, Politics and Culture 1793-1980 This link opens in a new windowEnglish-language sources relating to China and the West, 1793-1980. Includes maps, illustrations, diaries, essays etc.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
Europe - Primary Sources
- Medieval Travel Writing This link opens in a new windowPresents manuscripts of some of the most important works of European travel writing from the later medieval period.
- InteLex Past Masters This link opens in a new windowA collection of 117 full-text humanities databases that make available cohesive collections of editions, in both original language and in English translation, of seminal figures in the humanities and social sciences.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
UK - Primary Sources
- Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new windowBritish Social History, 1937-1972. insight into everyday life in the 1930s and 1940s.
- Defining Gender, 1450-1910 This link opens in a new windowProvides access to a vast body of original sources in Gender Studies.
- InteLex Past Masters This link opens in a new windowA collection of 117 full-text humanities databases that make available cohesive collections of editions, in both original language and in English translation, of seminal figures in the humanities and social sciences.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
United States Primary Sources
- Historical Newspapers - Library of CongressSearch and view newspaper pages from 1860-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
- New York Times Article Archive: 1981-PresentIf you are looking for a New York Times article published since Jan. 1, 1981, search our Article Archive: 1981-Present. Articles are free back to 1987.
- New York Times Article Archive: 1851-1980If you are looking for a New York Times article published from Sept. 1851 to Dec. 1980, search the Article Archive: 1851-1980. Articles in the Public Domain (1851-1922) are free.
Primary Sources through Center for Research Libraries
Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
CRL has almost four million rarely-held books, journals, pamphlets, newspapers, archival materials, theses and other sources from all regions of the globe. Because Lakehead University is a member of CRL, you can borrow primary research materials and rare publications relating to diverse topics like medieval studies, african history, comparative laws, world war II, etc.
- Search historical newspapers in CRLSearch by country of publication or title to find suitable resources for your research and request through RACER Interlibrary loan.
- Newspaper Digitization ProjectsComprehensive listing of digitized newspapers from around the world, including many free to access.