Research Guides: German Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented. Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later. Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are available in original format, in microfilm/microfiche, in digital format, or in published format.

Source: Yale University Library

To search the online catalog for primary sources, use keywords for topic and add words like:

diaries, letters, interviews
oral histories
personal narratives, personal memoir
sources

News

Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
The Burney Collection Newspapers is a full-text, fully searchable digital archive of nearly 1,270 17th and 18th century newspapers and news pamphlets from the United Kingdom. Collected by the Reverend Charles Burney, this unique collection represents the largest single archive of 17th and 18th century news media available from the British Library. In addition, there are approximately three hundred "newsbooks." Circulated during the Civil War and the Commonwealth, newsbooks were small, cheap weekly pamphlets of current news, the precursors to modern newspapers, Finally, the collection also includes almost three hundred pamphlets and broadsides. The 17th–18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers chronicles a critical period in the political history of Great Britain and as well as the early history of journalism in the English-speaking world.
Abbreviation: bcn
Vendor: Gale
Coverage: 1603–1788
Subjects: History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Newspapers and Newswires
Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Searchable and browsable digital reproduction, cover to cover, of the London Times in PDF files, 1785–1985 and 2015-2019. The PDFs in this database are not transcribed into text, so you may need to search for keywords with unusual spelling for earlier copies. For articles outside of these dates, use the database Times (The London Times).
Abbreviation: tdar
Vendor: Gale
Coverage: 1785–1985, 2015–2019
Subjects: History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Images, Newspapers and Newswires

The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is another excellent resource for books, periodicals, manuscripts, newspapers, and archival materials in print, microfilm, and digital formats. FSU belongs to this international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries, which allows FSU patrons to borrow CRL materials via interlibrary loan for extended periods.

CRL’s collection related to France is particularly strong in newspapers, official gazettes, legislative debates, and other government publications.

CRL France Topic Guide: http://www.crl.edu/collections/topics/france

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni offers a simple, intuitive research experience with flexible search options and tools to help guide students through common research tasks. Nexis Uni offers the same trusted content collection of more than 15,000 news, legal and business sources that students and librarians alike have come to expect from LexisNexis, while also providing a better research experience.
Content:
Briefs, Pleadings and Motions
Cases
Company and Financial
Directories
Law Reviews and Journals
Legal News
News
Statutes and Legislation

Abbreviation: nexis
Vendor: LexisNexis
Subjects: Business, Business Legal Studies, Communication, Hospitality, Law, Psychology, Public Administration and Policy, Sociology
Type: Directories, Historical / Primary Sources, Newspapers and Newswires, Proceedings
NewsBank This link opens in a new window
NewsBank is a Web-based collection of primary source information from regional, national and international newspapers, newswires, government and international documents, regional business journals, and periodicals.

Please note that FSU does not having a data-mining subscription with NewsBank. Downloading entire series or papers is prohibited.
This database includes:
NPR Transcripts from 1990–Current
Broadcast Transcripts from Nightly News local and national
World & US Newswires
Current full text of major metro newspaper articles

Log into NewsBank and create an account to save your search history, save articles, save searches, and create Email alerts.

To Create an Alert:

Enter a search that you're interested in.
On the results page click on Set up an Alert.
Choose to create the alert as a registered user or without registering.
Specify the frequency by which you'd like to receive your alerts.
If there are new results, NewsBank will send them to you in an email.

Abbreviation: infoweb
Vendor: NewsBank
Coverage: 1789–Current
Type: Government Publications, Historical / Primary Sources, Newspapers and Newswires
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Ethnic NewsWatch™ includes current journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and independent presses.
- African American/Caribbean/African
- Arab/Middle Eastern
- Asian/Pacific Islander
- European/Eastern European
- Hispanic
- Jewish
- Native Peoples
Abbreviation: ethnicnews2
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: 1973–Current
Subjects: African-American Studies, Asian Studies, Communication, History, International Affairs, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Russian & Eastern European Studies
Type: E-Journal Collections, Newspapers and Newswires
Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new window
Find current and archived state, national, and international full-text articles on issues, events, people, government and more with over 4,500 newspapers and other news sources including the Miami Herald (5/19/82–Current), Orlando Sentinel (4/1/85–Current), and USA Today (7/1/87–Current). Also includes: Access Business News, Access International News, Access Military, Government, and Defense, Access Newswires & Transcripts, and Acceda Noticias.
Log into NewsBank and create an account to save your search history, save articles, save searches, and create Email alerts.

To Create an Alert
- Enter a search that you're interested in.
- On the results page click on Set up an Alert.
- Choose to create the alert as a registered user or without registering.
- Specify the frequency by which you'd like to receive your alerts.
- If there are new results, NewsBank will send them to you in an email.
Please note that FSU does not having a data-mining subscription with Newsbank. Downloading entire series or papers is prohibited.

Abbreviation: awn
Vendor: NewsBank
Coverage: 1903–Current
Subjects: Communication, Hospitality
Type: Newspapers and Newswires

Monumenta Germaniae Historica This link opens in a new window
The Monumenta Germaniae Historica was founded in 1819 by the Gesellschaft fr Deutschlands ltere Geschichtskunde. It is one of the most prestigious editorial undertakings for the critical publication of medieval historical texts. In more than 300 volumes, covering a wide range of historical documents, divided into five major Series (Scriptores, Leges, Diplomata, Epistolae and Antiquitates) and into 33 Subseries, the Monumenta continues its editorial programme and has established for a standard for critical editions.
Additional information:
Publisher's PDF information document

Abbreviation: mgh
Vendor: Brepols Publishers
Subjects: History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources
Electronic Enlightenment (2 concurrent user limit) This link opens in a new window
Note: Access only allows 2 simultaneous users. Electronic Enlightenment reconstructs the extraordinary and vital web of correspondence that made the long 18th century the birthplace of the modern world. EE's unique collection of primary documents, based on scholarly critical editions, gives you a new, richer vision of the early modern world. Like no other resource, EE presents the Enlightenment in context.
Tutorials:
Guided tours

Abbreviation: eenlight
Vendor: Oxford University Press
Coverage: 17th–19th Century
Subjects: History, Literature, Philosophy
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources

German History in Documents and Images (GHDI)
Images, documents, and maps are provided from various periods including Bismarckian Germany, WWI and WWII, Nazi Germany, etc.
Europeana
A digitized multimedia library of the European cultural heritage: digitized books, manuscripts, photos, paintings, maps, audio and film material, newspapers, etc.
EuroDocs: Germany
Links to online primary source documents in German history.
Compiled by Richard Hacken, Brigham Young University Library.

bpk-Bildagentur
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation based out of Berlin teams with this site to provide an archive of millions of photographs.
Das Bundesarchiv
The Federal Archive has about 11 million photographs pertaining to German history with special emphasis on the Weimar Republic, Nazi Reich, GDR, and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Deutsche Fotothek
Contains photographs from over 80 institutions along with maps and drawings.