LibGuides: HIST 344: The Age of Industry in America: Finding Primary Sources

Primary sources at Tomlinson Library

The Gilded Age and Progressive Era by William A. Link (Editor); Susannah J. Link (Editor)
Call Number: E661 .G455 2012
ISBN: 9781444331387
Publication Date: 2012-02-20
Progressive Movement 1900-1915 by Richard Hofstadter (Editor)
Call Number: E743 .H633
ISBN: 9780844622637
Publication Date: 1983-07-01
Jim Crow New York by David N. Gellman (Editor); David Quigley (Editor)
Call Number: E185.93.N56 J56 2003
ISBN: 0814731503
Publication Date: 2003-06-01
Women's Suffrage in America by Elizabeth Frost; Kathryn Cullen-DuPont
Call Number: JK1898 .F76 1992
ISBN: 0816023093
Publication Date: 1992-07-01
Speaking History by Laurie Mercier; Sue Armitage
Call Number: E661 .S64 2009
ISBN: 9781403977830
Publication Date: 2010-02-12
The American Nation by Bruce Frohnen (Editor)
Call Number: E173 .A747 2008
ISBN: 9780865977297
Publication Date: 2009-04-24
The Triangle Fire by Jo Ann E. Argersinger
Call Number: HD9940.U5 N9127 2009
ISBN: 9780312464523
Publication Date: 2009-02-04
Women in American History by Peg A. Lamphier (Editor); Rosanne Marie Welch (Editor)
Call Number: HQ1410 .W6468 2017
ISBN: 9781610696029
Publication Date: 2017-01-23

19th Century US Newspapers Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Subjects: US History, Political Science
19th Century U.S. Newspapers provides access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life, among other subjects.
History Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Subject: History History-related books, periodicals, documents, videos, biographies, photos, and maps; some full-text from 1917-current.
Times Digital Archive 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
Subjects: Social & Behavioral Sciences, History The (London) Times has offered readers in-depth, award-winning and objective coverage of world events since its creation 1785 and is the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication. The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, a valuable resource for 19th – 20th Century history detailing every complete page of every issue from 1785 onward.

Special Collections and Archives at Tomlinson Library
Special Collections and Archives at Tomlinson Library contains records of the university as well as collections related to the local area. For your purposes, the Walter Walker papers might be of interest since he was of the era you're studying. We also have numerous books that pertain to the history of the West, some contemporary to this era.
Loyd Files Research Library
Part of the Museums of Western Colorado in downtown Grand Junction, the research library includes many archival collections.

Primary Source Collections in the Wild Web

Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America makes millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country available to all in a one-stop discovery experience. It's one of the easiest access points for online primary source materials related to United States history.
Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) in DPLA
This subsection of DPLA contains primary sources related to the early 19th century expansion and industrial development of the United States. While this period is not directly addressed in this course, primary sources from this era might inform your research into individuals influential in later years.
Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900) in DPLA
This subsection of DPLA is focused on primary sources related to the United States during its later industrial development.
Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930) in DPLA
This subsection of the Digital Public Library of American focuses on primary sources related to developments in early 20th century United States history and culture.

Library of Congress Collections
Photographs, papers, and more on all eras of American History. Includes the papers of many prominent Americans from the industrial era. While the Library of Congress does hold the papers of some individuals of interest such as Andrew Carnegie, not all collections have been digitized. And cat photos. For real.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
"Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present."
Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress
"The online version contains 4,695 items (equaling about 51,500 images), consists of correspondence, scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, articles, and photographs documenting Bell's invention of the telephone and his involvement in the first telephone company, his family life, his interest in the education of the deaf, and his aeronautical and other scientific research. Dates span from 1862 to 1939, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1865 to 1920."
American Federation of Labor Records
"he records of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) span the years 1883-1925 and consist of letterpress volumes of correspondence of Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) and William Green (1870-1952), presidents of the organization, and by other officials including James Duncan, Gabriel Edmonston, Frank Keyes Foster, and John McBride."
Anna E. Dickinson Papers
"The papers of lecturer, reformer, actress, and author Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932) span the period 1859-1951, but are chiefly concentrated in the years from 1859 to 1911...Dickinson was a teenage phenomenon on the antislavery lecture circuit, whose electrifying speeches made her one of the campaign’s most sought-after speakers. In 1863, she toured the country on behalf of Republican Party candidates, and after the Civil War, she became a star of the lyceum circuit, drawing large crowds and commanding huge speaking fees."

Massachusetts Historical Society
"The MHS possesses a remarkable assembly of personal papers of three presidents, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. The collections also contain accounts of the lives of thousands of ordinary Americans."
New York Historical Society Digital Collections
"This site presents selections from the New-York Historical Society Museum and Library’s holdings, featuring highlights from the collections of paintings, drawings, photographs, manuscripts, broadsides, maps, and other materials that reveal the depth and breadth of over two centuries of collecting. The N-YHS Digital Collections site is expanding as the library and museum continue to digitize their primary source materials relating to the history of New York and the United States."

Hathi-Trust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Subjects: Biological Sciences, Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Business,
Education, Literature Open Access Resource HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Titles out of copyright and in public domain are viewable.

How to find primary sources online

The tools you use to find primary sources will be individual to your topic. If you need more options, think back to our mapping exercise. You can use many of the same questions to brainstorm digital collections that may exist for your topic. Keep these especially in mind:

Is your subject associated with a particular place (state, house, university, town, etc.)? Does that place have an archive or history museum?
- An example is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Many museums and colleges in the Mid-Hudson Valley in New York have his papers and correspondence. He lived much of his life in that area and his presidential museum is located at his family's former residence in Hyde Park. Marist College in nearby Poughkeepsie, NY hosts the digital collections.
Are they associated with a particular movement or ideology? Does that movement have a digital collection or museum? Is the movement associated with a place (state, university, town, etc.)? Does that place have an archive or history museum?
- Take Quakerism as an example. Haverford College in Pennsylvania has an extensive digital collection of documents that document Quaker life and theology.
Do a quick Google or other web search for the person's name plus "papers" or "collection" or "archives." This can sometimes lead you to the institution that holds their papers, but beware that their papers might not be digitized and readily available to you.
If it's an organization or institution that you're researching to find more about the context of your subject's life, search for the name of the organization plus "records."

You can also use your secondary sources to get an idea of where primary sources might exist. Take a look at the references in the bibliography and see where the author(s) found their primary sources.

HIST 344: The Age of Industry in America

Finding Primary Sources at the Library!

Online archival research tips

Primary sources at Tomlinson Library

Primary Source Collections in the Wild Web

How to find primary sources online