Research Guides: History Research Guide: Western

Find Western Primary Sources

Dictionary of Abbreviations -- Ancient Authors & Works

Egypt

Ancient records of Egypt historical documents from the earliest times to the Persian conquest
Ancient Records of Egypt is a five-volume work by James Henry Breasted, published in 1906, in which the author has attempted to translate and publish all of the ancient written records of Egyptian history which had survived to the time of his work at the start of the twentieth century.

The Literature of Ancient Egypt by William Kelly Simpson (Editor); Vincent A. Tobin (Translator); Edward F. Wente (Translator); Robert K. Ritner (Translator)
The latest edition of this highly praised anthology of ancient Egyptian literature offers fresh translations of all the texts as well as some twenty-five new entries, including writings from the late literature of the Demotic period at the end of classical Egyptian history.

Mesopotamia

Etana/Abzu
An electronic publishing project designed to enhance the study of the history and culture of the ancient Near East.
Electronic Text Corpus for Sumerian Literature
A project of the University of Oxford, comprises a selection of nearly 400 literary compositions recorded on sources which come from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and date to the late third and early second millennia BCE.

Greece

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
Varied collections of texts, excerpts, and links to primary sources dealing with ancient history.

Women's Life in Greece and Rome by Mary R. Lefkowitz; Maureen B. Fant
The essential collection of source materials on the lives of women in the ancient world. Now in its fourth edition, this highly acclaimed sourcebook examines the public and private lives and legal status of Greek and Roman women. The texts represent women of all social classes, from public figures remembered for their deeds (or misdeeds), to priestesses, poets, and intellectuals, to working women, such as musicians, wet nurses, and prostitutes, to homemakers.

Rome

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
Varied collections of texts, excerpts, and links to primary sources dealing with ancient history.
LacusCurtius: Into the Roman World
Ancient History -- links to primary sources and guides.

Women's Life in Greece and Rome by Mary R. Lefkowitz; Maureen B. Fant
The essential collection of source materials on the lives of women in the ancient world. Now in its fourth edition, this highly acclaimed sourcebook examines the public and private lives and legal status of Greek and Roman women. The texts represent women of all social classes, from public figures remembered for their deeds (or misdeeds), to priestesses, poets, and intellectuals, to working women, such as musicians, wet nurses, and prostitutes, to homemakers.

Additional Resources

Avalon Project
Digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government from ancient times to the 21st century.
Ancient Greek and Latin Library
Greek and Latin texts related to law and government.
Duke Papyrus Archive
Electronic access to texts and images of documentary papyri from ancient Egypt.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
Transliterations and translations of roughly 400 important texts from Ancient Mesopotamia
Giza Archive
More than 30,000 images, archaeologist's notes, and published works on the Giza pyramind site.
Latin Library
Latin texts (classical, Christian, medieval, and modern)
Little Sailing: Ancient Greek Texts
Ancient Greek texts in original and English translation
Online Medieval and Classical Library
A collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization. Browse by author/title/genre/language.
Perseus Digital Library
Major collection: history, literature, and culture of the Greco-Roman world.
Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
Complete records of Howard Carter's excavation of the tomb including a database of artifacts, notes, and diary

Best Bets

English Historical Documents Online
Primary sources from 500 to 1914 covering English political, social, economic, religious, and cultural history.

Internet Medieval History Sourcebook
Varied collections of texts, excerpts, and links to primary sources dealing with medieval history.

Be sure to explore the volumes in the series, Crusade Texts in Translation; this new series translates many primary sources into English for the first time!

Additional Resources

Avalon Project
Digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government from ancient times to the 21st century.
English Medieval Legal Documents A.D. 600-A.D 1535
A "collaborative database on the published sources of English medieval legal documents." Links to online sources are provided when available.
Epistolae: Medieval Women's Letters
"Epistolæ is a collection of letters to and from women in the Middle Ages, from the 4th to the 13th century. The letters, written in Latin, are linked to the names of the women involved, with English translations and, where available, biographical sketches of the women and some description of the subject matter or the historic context of the letter."
EuroDocs: History of Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Subset of the larger EuroDocs site, focusing on the medieval period.
Guide to Early Church Documents
Canonical information, apostolic fathers, texts, creeds and canons, and other miscellaneous texts related to the development of the early Christian church.
Hanover Historical Texts Project: Middle Ages
Small collection of letters of Crusaders.
Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Collection
This is a work in progress from the University of Texas at Austin. When complete, the database will provide full digital access to 215 manuscripts dating from the 11th to 17th centuries. As of May 2010, 27 of these are viewable. The database offers searching and browsing capabilities.
Medieval History Texts in Translation
Almost all of these texts appear here in English translation for the first time, and in the case of the one or two which have previously been rendered into English.
Online Medieval and Classical Library
A collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization. Browse by author/title/genre/language.
Primary Source Material in Religion and Politics
Primary source documents on issues relating to the interaction of religion and politics, categorized by era from ancient times to the present.
Silk Road Narratives
Historical texts and maps that "explore cultural interaction across Eurasia from the beginning of the Common Era (A. D.) to the Seventeenth Century."
Voice of the Shuttle - the Crusades
World Digital Library: Browse by Time
Collection of manuscripts, books and visual resources. Select a date range of interest, then use limiters to focus search on a specific geography, date range, topic or type of resource.

Best Bets

English Historical Documents Online
Primary sources from 500 to 1914 covering English political, social, economic, religious, and cultural history.

British History Online
Key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800.
Letters and papers of Henry VIII, 1509-1547
This series contains information about letters and state papers, relating to both foreign and domestic business, from the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47).
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic - Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth (1547-1603)
This series details records relating to the reigns of Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I, covering the period 1547-1603.
Calendar of State Papers, Foreign (1547-89)
Calendars provide summaries full enough, for most purposes, to replace the original documents. This series details records from the reigns of Edward VI to Elizabeth I, covering the period 1547-89.
Calendar of State Papers Foreign, by area or country (1577-1782)
Scroll down the publication list on British History Online to find the Calendar of State Papers organized by area or country.
Calendar of State Papers : Foreign Series of the Reign of Elizabeth (1581-1588)
This series details records from the reign of Elizabeth I.
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and West Indies
The State Papers Colonial are the accumulated papers of the secretaries of state relating to colonial affairs from the 16th to the 18th century. This series details papers relating to Colonial America and the West Indies for the period 1574-1739.
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, East Indies, China and Japan
The State Papers Colonial are the accumulated papers of the secretaries of state relating to colonial affairs from the 16th to the 18th century. This series details papers relating to the East Indies, Persia, China and Japan for the period 1513-1634.

Additional Resources

17th-19th Century British Religious, Political, and Legal Tracts
Digital images of 17th, 18th, and 19th-century British pamphlets dealing with legal, political, religious, and other controversial topics of the day. From the University of Missouri Digital Library.
Bracton Online
Bracton "attempts to describe rationally the whole of English law." The work is remarkable both for its wealth of detail and for its attempts to make sense out of English law largely in terms of the ius commune, the combination of Roman and canon law that was taught in the universities in Bracton's time.
British Parliamentary Papers Online: Hansard 1803-2005
The Hansard Digitisation Project, led by the Directorate of Information Services of the House of Commons and the Library of the House of Lords, provides electronic access to Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament. Search by volume; Lords sittings; Commons sittings or Westminster Hall sittings. Included are Written Answers, Written Statements, Lords reports or Grand Committee reports, as well as lists of People, Constituencies, Offices, Acts, Bills and Divisions.
Early Photographically Illustrated Books from the British Library
Victorian Britain as captured in almost 1,500 early photographic prints, including works by distinguished pioneers of the medium.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
One of the best places to start for all time periods of European history. Extensive collection of primary sources and links to other sites. Browse by broad era (prehistory/ancient, medieval/renaissance, modern) or by country.
Gazette Online
Digital archive of the London (1665- ), Edinburgh (1797- ) and Belfast (1922- ) Gazettes.
Internet History Sourcebook
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use.
Internet Library of Early Journals
Digital editions of six 18th- and 19th-century journals: Gentleman's Magazine, The Annual Register, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Notes and Queries, The Builder, and Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
Journals of the House of Commons
The official record of the House. Includes volumes 1-12 (1547-1699) & 85 (1830).
Journals of the House of Lords
The official record of proceedings in the House (1509-1764, 1832-4).
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - Free Edition
Sample edition of ONDB content. Includes biographies of people who have shaped British history, from Roman age to the 21st century.
Views of the Famine
Presents images, cartoons and articles from several Irish and British publications concerning the Irish potato famine.
Vision of Britain Through Time
Provides a geographical survey of Britain from 1801 to 2001, including census reports, historical maps, election results, and full texts of British travel writing.
The Workhouse
This site is dedicated to primary sources about the workhouse (primarily of Victorian Britain) -- its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators, even its poets -- a mixture of architecture, economics, social history, politics, and literature.

British History Online
British History Online is a collection of nearly 1300 volumes of primary and secondary content relating to British and Irish history, and histories of empire and the British world. BHO also provides access to 40,000 images and 10,000 tiles of historic maps of the British Isles.
English Historical Documents Online
Primary sources from 500 to 1914 covering English political, social, economic, religious, and cultural history.
Global Newsstream
International news coverage from 1980 to present.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook
This site forms one of the three "parent" sourcebooks of the Internet History Sourcebooks which are collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts compiled under the direction of Paul Halsall of Fordham University.
New York Times Historical
Digital archive of national and international news from 1851 to 2009.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - Free Edition
Sample edition of ONDB content. Includes biographies of people who have shaped British history, from Roman age to the 21st century.
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey
A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,752 trials held at London's central criminal court, and 475 Ordinary’s Accounts of the lives of executed convicts.
Victorian Popular Culture
Primary sources from the Victorian era, covering spirtualism, magic, circuses and sideshows, and the beginning of cinema from 1779 to 1930.

Times London

The Times (London) is a valuable primary source for research. EKU Libraries has the London Times from 1788.

Finding research in newspapers without knowing the specific date can be a time consuming process. If an index is available it will save you a lot of time. We offer a number of indexes to the London Times microfilm:

The Times (The Daily Universal Register) Index (1785-1786)
Palmer's index to "The times" newspaper (1790-1905)
The annual index to the Times (1906-1913)
Index to the Times (1957-1972)
The Times index (1973-2002)

The Times (London) and its indexes are all available in physical format only on the 3rd floor of the library in the Government Documents area. If you need assistance with using the indexes or microfilm, please stop by the Library Help Desk in the Main Lobby of the library.

Site Searching

Site searching allows you to look for specific information within a website, or several websites. To do this, go to Google and enter your keywords, followed by site: and then the website address.

We recommend archive.org and hathitrust.org for primary source searching.

Ex. Cold War site: archive.org