Library Guides: HIST 90: The Wild Wild West: Home

Interlibrary Loan

Need to request a copy of a book that's not available at Lehigh? Use Interlibrary Loan to have books sent here. You will get an email when your book is ready for pickup.

U.S. Government Reports as Primary Sources

U.S. Congressional Serial Set
The U.S. Congressional Serial Set is an incomparably rich, and until this digitization, a largely untapped collection of primary source material detailing all aspects of American history. Lehigh's Federal Depository collection has had many of these materials in print form, however the indexing was limited and discovery was difficult and time consuming. With this online database one can easily research U.S. political, social, cultural, military and ethnic history, as well as international relations, exploration expeditions across the country and throughout the world, genealogy, commerce, industrial development and much more. Its contents come not only from the U.S. Congress, but also include key Executive Department publications and publication series. Lehigh's official subscription to this product contains the 19th and 20th Century documents beginning with Volume 1 in the first session of the 15th Congress (1817) and extending to 1980.

What is a primary source?

A primary source are sources that were created during the time period a researcher is studying, and provide firsthand evidence about a person, event, work of art, or object. This can include:

letters or other forms of direct communication
creative writing such as novels, poems, or plays
speeches
newspapers
works of art, photographs, and music recordings
eyewitness accounts
interviews
maps

Primary Sources Databases

Historic magazines, newspapers, and other published content:

Magazines and periodicals:

Historical Periodicals Collection
Collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912, provided by the American Antiquarian Society (AAS).

Subjects covered in the collection reach all facets of American life, including science, literature, medicine, women's fashion, agriculture, family life, and religion.
American Periodicals Series Online
Full text of over 1,100 periodicals published between 1740 and 1900.

Includes special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically-significant periodicals.
African American Periodicals: 1825-1995
Full text of more than 170 African American Periodicals published between 1825 and 1995.
Early American Imprints: 1801-1819
In addition to its books, pamphlets and broadsides, this collection features many state papers and government materials, including published reports; presidential letters and messages; congressional, state and territorial resolutions. Coverage from 1801 to 1819.

Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819) provides full-text search capabilities and access to an image database of the 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the first nineteen years of the nineteenth century. Continues Readex's Early American Imprints: Series I: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1659-1800. This primary source database is based on the bibliography by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker and now supplemented by thousands of new items.
Harper's Weekly: The Civil War Era 1857-1865
Provides Harper's Weekly online for the years 1857 to 1865.

All the pages of Harper's Weekly (1857-1865) are viewable as scanned images, together with a series of four indexes: subject, illustrations, literature & publishing, and advertising.

Books, essays, maps, and more:

HathiTrust Digital Library
This collection of digitized books and other materials from major U.S. research libraries is a great source for published memoirs, travel narratives, and other books.

Search for known items or by keyword. Not all resources in the catalog are accessible online. Printing and downloads are limited. This is a great source of pre-1922 materials.
A.M. Explorer
A.M. Explorer is a platform that enables cross searching of 88 primary source collections covering a wide range of humanities and social science subjects.

Major themes include Area Studies, Cultural Studies, Empire and Globalism, Ethnic Studies, Gender and Sexuality, History, Politics, Literature, Theatre, and War and Conflict

Newspapers:

19th Century U.S. Newspaper Digital Archive
Cover-to-cover full-text contents for hundreds of 19th century U.S. papers, 1800-1899.

Dates vary for individual newspapers, however the entire database covers 1800-1899
African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century
Newspaper coverage of events and issues of the day, as well as biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements.
African American Newspapers: 1827-1998
Access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience.

Features papers from more than 35 states, including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.
Early American Newspapers, Series II, 1758-1900
Offers more than 200 significant 18th and 19th-century newspapers, focusing on the period between 1820 and 1860, when the number of American newspapers rose dramatically.

Based primarily on the newspaper collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Series II also includes titles from the holdings of the Library of Congress, the Wisconsin Historical Society and other organizations. Dates of coverage vary by newspaper.
New York Times (Historical Newspapers)
A full-image archive that includes the entire historical run of The New York Times, since 1851.The database delivers every page of every issue from cover to cover, with full-page and article images in downloadable PDF.

Covers Sept. 18, 1851 to 3 years before the current year
Philadelphia Inquirer (Historical Newspapers)
A full-image archive that covers the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1860-2001. The database delivers every page of every issue from cover to cover, with full-page and article images in downloadable PDF.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Historical Newspapers)
A full-image archive that covers the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 1786-2003. The database delivers every page of every issue from cover to cover, with full-page and article images in downloadable PDF.

History Librarian

Heather Simoneau

she / her / hers

Email Me

Contact:

Linderman Library, room 143.

610-758-3052

Subjects: Africana Studies, American Studies, Art & Architecture, Asian Studies, Classics, English, Health, Medicine, & Society, Latin American Studies, Modern Languages & Literatures, Music, Philosophy, Religion, Theatre

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HIST 90: The Wild Wild West: Home

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