Many libraries and organizations are making digital materials available online.
To find these collections, use a search string with terms relevant to your topic in Google or another search engine. For example:
digital collection site:edu "african methodist episcopal church"
You can also try the same search limiting to site:org rather than site:edu BUT:
Be careful!
EDU = educational institution
ORG = organization, which can mean almost ANY kind of noncorporate organization. If you aren't familiar with the organization, do some research on it! Who are they? What do they promote? Are they reliable?
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Questions to ask when you are assessing online primary-source collections:
Use Google, Wikipedia, & other sources to research the authors, organizations, or institutions responsible for the page and its funding.
Don't just trust the About page!
The GSU Law Library is your best starting point for legal-history questions
Their Reference Collection has many good sources for legal information.
You can also direct specific questions about legal research to a reference librarian at the Law Library.
GSU Library's Digital Collections consists of digitized materials which are held in GSU's Special Collections and Archives.
Digital collections include (but are not limited to!) these collections:
Many libraries and organizations are making digital materials available online.
To find these collections, use this search string in Google or another search engine, in addition to keywords relevant to your topic, for example:
digital collection library site:.edu slavery atlantic
You can also try the same search limiting to site:org rather than site:edu BUT:
Be careful!
EDU = educational institution
ORG = organization, which can mean almost ANY kind of noncorporate organization. If you aren't familiar with the organization, do some research on it! Who are they? What do they promote? Are they reliable?
In this era of "fake news," don't just trust the information you see on a website's "About Us" tab or page.
Google the organization and learn more about them
from other sources.
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For more information about evaluating websites, see the Evaluating Information tab, above.
Primary sources are materials in a variety of formats, created at the time under study, that serve as evidence documenting a time period, event, people, idea, or work. Primary sources can be:
Primary sources can be found in analog, digitized, and born-digital forms.
(Definition from the Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy developed by the SAA-ACRL/RBMS Joint Task Force on the Development of Guidelines for Primary Source Literary, approved on June 2018)
Datasets and other forms of quantitative evidence can also be considered as primary source material. (For assistance with finding and using datasets, please consult our Research Data Services team).
Generally, a secondary source is scholarly work that draws on primary sources as its evidence. Different disciplines may have varying definitions of primary and secondary sources, and/or different ways of understanding the relationships between primary and secondary sources.
Because academic honesty requires a scholar to cite their sources, a secondary source on your topic can be a useful way to begin identifying primary sources for your own work. If you've found a relevant scholarly book or article, look at its references to see what kinds of primary sources it cites.
For full information about our newspaper holdings, and information about locating other current/historical newspapers, see our Newspapers research guide.
This indexing provides access to top news stories, and covers bibliographic information, companies, people, and products ranging from 1987 - current.
Founded in 1928 by W. A. Scott, the Atlanta Daily World became the first successful African American daily newspaper in the United States.
The digitized Chicago Defender served as the de facto national black newspaper in the U.S., and was the most influential African-American newspaper of the 20th century. Coverage: 1910 to 1975.
History Vault's Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century is a collection of primary sources, including government records, organizational papers, speeches, and other documents. It also includes ProQuest's University Publications of America (UPA) and Black Freedom Struggle I and II.
The material in this resources includes the material included focuses on the varieties of slavery, the legacies of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery in the twentieth century. Offers primary source documents and secondary sources allowing for exploration and comparison of material related to slavery, abolition, and social justice.
This link opens in a new windowNot a comprehensive list! Check out our A-Z list of databases.
Many state-based libraries and organizations are digitizing materials relating to the their state.
The Library of Congress has assembled this list of state digital libraries. Search by state, or check out the Multi-State options.
This database features a wealth of new material and a new, dynamic interface that makes it easier than ever to explore the events that shape our world
This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new windowGSU Library's Digital Collections consists of digitized materials which are held in GSU's Special Collections and Archives.
Digital collections include (but are not limited to!) these collections:
