Primary sources are original documents and objects created at the time being studied, such as diaries, newspaper accounts, letters, governmental records, or drawings. Any record that documents a past event can be considered a primary source.
You can find primary sources in libraries, museums, and archives, including McGill's Rare Books and Special Collections Library (located on the 4th floor of the McLennan Library building). You can also find digitized primary sources online in library databases, such as those linked below, as well as in digitized collections, such as McGill's Digital Exhibitions & Collections.
You can also find primary sources in print and eBooks through the library. Historians and other scholars often bring together (and, when necessary, translate) primary sources in collections called sourcebooks (sometimes spelled source books), readers, or anthologies. You can systematically search for these in the Library Catalogue by using subject headings. Try combining keywords on your topic with the word sources (which demarcate primary sources) in a subject heading search. For example:
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This link opens in a new windowSearchable archive of historical newspapers from Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Coverage varies, from the mid-1800s to 2000s.
2 simultaneous users.
Find more historic newspapers on the Newspapers Subject Guide.
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You can also try searching the catalogue by subject heading (su:) to find primary sources associated with the Age of Enlightenment. The subject heading code for primary sources is "sources". The catalogue will return both books as well as databases. Try searches like these:
You can further sort results by language, year published (if you want original publications as opposed to critical editions), and format (print book, ebook).
RBSC includes:
And more items from the Age of Enlightenment. To learn more, visit the History of Ideas webpage.
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Refugees, Relief and Resettlement: Forced Migration and World War II chronicles the plight of refugees and displaced persons across Europe, North Africa, and Asia from 1935 to 1950, bringing together over 590,000 pages of pamphlets, ephemera, government documents, relief organization publications, and refugee reports that recount the causes, effects and responses to refugee crises before, during and shortly after World War II.
Refugees, Relief and Resettlement: The Early Cold War and Decolonization opens a window onto the history of refugees and forced migration, expanding the possibilities of research for scholars and students who are studying the history of—and who may possibly come to work with—refugee populations. Topical coverage includes the causes of refugee crises following World War II, from the onset of the Cold War to the decolonization of, and rise of independence movements within, the nations of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab
For more Cold War resources, esp. government documents, see the course guide for HIST 438: Topics in Cold War History.
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