{"id":9707,"date":"2022-08-23T15:44:39","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T15:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/?p=9707"},"modified":"2023-06-30T18:43:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T18:43:15","slug":"finding-primary-sources-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/2022\/08\/23\/finding-primary-sources-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Primary Sources Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>With so many primary sources available online researchers don&#8217;t necessarily have to travel to an archives to find what they need. Academic and cultural heritage institutions have spent the last many years scanning large swaths of their collections and making them available in digital repositories, or have highlighted their collections in online exhibitions. Given the vast amount of primary sources held in the institutions\u2019 physical spaces the resources that are available online are often just a drop in the bucket, but for many researchers the materials now available online have been as helpful as if they had made the trek to the research institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These databases are some of the best we know to provide primary sources to any researcher: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to find archival materials in the UConn Archives:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>UConn Library digital repository<\/strong> holds holds scanned items from the archives. Note that while there are over 1,000,000 scanned items from the UConn Archives this represents only a small percentage of our overall collections:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/11134\/20002:UniversityofConnecticut\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/11134\/20002:UniversityofConnecticut<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Information about all of our collections, some of which may be digitized but most of which are not in the digital repository:&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farchives.lib.uconn.edu%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401022166&amp;sdata=cvHNQunwkX%2BQJEJ%2FYDhrVAh6EisXQtuW%2Fnr6V1C%2B5UU%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu\/&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UConn Library&#8217;s catalog, which provides information about published sources in the UConn collection but also leads to primary sources, at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprimo-pmtna01.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com%2Fprimo-explore%2Fsearch%3Fvid%3D01UCT%26lang%3Den_US&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401042154&amp;sdata=%2BKq8bBJ4HOntpqKGxyvQwNls6uk6Otlm5j6Zh5Dd4YE%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/primo-pmtna01.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com\/primo-explore\/search?vid=01UCT&amp;lang=en_US<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re not finding what you&#8217;re looking for from the UConn Archives please contact us directly, at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:archives@uconn.edu\" target=\"_blank\">archives@uconn.edu<\/a>, to discuss your research with our staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to find sources in other archives in Connecticut:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Connecticut Digital Archive<\/strong> has digital collections from dozens of  cultural heritage institutions in the state (including the UConn Library), at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fctdigitalarchive.org%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401022166&amp;sdata=CC0%2Bn3eY%2FXG5QZa3hDUXcEQkcnlkYQVpx7b8SWdPY5o%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/ctdigitalarchive.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Connecticut Archives Online<\/strong> is a searchable database of the finding aids to collections in the state, at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farchives-library.wcsu.edu%2Fcao%2Fsearch%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401032166&amp;sdata=vtKD%2BYbrbKAQyEs%2BOhLXgS9hABnnnN3e8CI8jpOap50%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/archives-library.wcsu.edu\/cao\/search\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Connecticuthistory.org<\/strong>, at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fconnecticuthistory.org%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401032166&amp;sdata=nv7LnMaZPQBixc2p6ykbWsMkkfrCmDXbdLszQrBQXAs%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/connecticuthistory.org\/<\/a>, provides stories on Connecticut topics, often illustrated with archival sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Connecticut History Illustrated<\/strong>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fconnecticuthistoryillustrated.org%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401042154&amp;sdata=Ap3UIGtqs0u03yJp0QbiuOkQsumtYbp%2FFvQ6PNKBmic%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/connecticuthistoryillustrated.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Connecticut State Library Digital Collections<\/strong>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcslib.cdmhost.com%2Findex.php&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401052150&amp;sdata=hAAsylTMUvO0rE546Xw5ZGN%2ByPfsG4ijgDRclWLH3bs%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/cslib.cdmhost.com\/index.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yale digital collections<\/strong>,&nbsp;&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.library.yale.edu%2Fdigital-collections&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401052150&amp;sdata=gm4rirLEhAwXZ21cVMzGX0YR2sDipnED98HnJl1c538%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/web.library.yale.edu\/digital-collections<\/a>&nbsp;and &nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.library.yale.edu%2Fdigital-collections%2Fall&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401062144&amp;sdata=mB3pdHbJg7mw1qWopAsN9%2FDZRu744x0nny6Avfi5Dzg%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/web.library.yale.edu\/digital-collections\/all<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to find finding aids and research guides, with information about collections in the United States:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ArchiveGrid<\/strong>, which provides access to over 5 million finding aids of collections across the United States and internationally, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/researchworks.oclc.org\/archivegrid\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/researchworks.oclc.org\/archivegrid\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Online Archive of California<\/strong>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/oac.cdlib.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/oac.cdlib.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to find archival collections at archives in the United States:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Digital Public Library of America<\/strong> provides access to digital collection across the United States,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdp.la%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401062144&amp;sdata=%2BVpTtW5VKClPLGFDgYJQm8kCezSjVGnmz0K1fOsBrNw%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/dp.la\/<\/a>. It also provides themed primary source sets and online exhibits at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdp.la%2Fprimary-source-sets&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401072136&amp;sdata=U2dojXiEbMFqp1Jd72ieZ5jgXBQ4fuTlubhyvdHIXHg%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/dp.la\/primary-source-sets<\/a> and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdp.la%2Fexhibitions&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401072136&amp;sdata=1HpR2yvViSsX2AWDL0ap2hl87VVyqbw6gvmAeQfdGp0%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/dp.la\/exhibitions<\/a>. If there is any one source to go to for comprehensive information about digital collections this is it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>National Archives catalog<\/strong>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.archives.gov%2Fresearch%2Fcatalog%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401092128&amp;sdata=jAJJ4a2tq0wqytgfAXGVVXCntQ5129WlawjeMfDP1rg%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.archives.gov\/research\/catalog\/<\/a>, their resources for students and teachers, <a href=\"http:\/\/docsteach.org\/\">DocsTeach.org<\/a>, and their online research tools:&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.archives.gov%2Feducation%2Fhistory-day%2Fonline.html&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401092128&amp;sdata=iYYc8AKnw1k67nmwIM0G4EimPzEOc6uSKOicHIHvKpE%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/education\/history-day\/online.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Smithsonian Institution<\/strong>, at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/library.si.edu\/collections\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/library.si.edu\/collections<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Library of Congress digital collections<\/strong>, at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.loc.gov%2Fcollections%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401082131&amp;sdata=TyKi05tbOmUj%2BHvuFwXvaRg43z14J%2BOp8ae3altSZwU%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/collections\/<\/a>&nbsp;and their digital newspapers, at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fchroniclingamerica.loc.gov%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401082131&amp;sdata=1FusvFUXDPkD73GuvV4%2B6%2BG1yjgFawbzbc0hf7%2FH1rY%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Digital Commonwealth<\/strong>, which provides access to digital collections in Massachusetts, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalcommonwealth.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.digitalcommonwealth.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Calispere<\/strong>, of the University of California system,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/calisphere.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/calisphere.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New York Public Library<\/strong>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New-York Historical Society<\/strong>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/digitalcollections.nyhistory.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/digitalcollections.nyhistory.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Avalon<\/strong>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Favalon.law.yale.edu%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401102125&amp;sdata=kmgwotb%2FzXbpGy1VlDHhAFt6i3wmdUohXgwFUglToRA%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/<\/a>&nbsp;provides access to documents in law, history and diplomacy from ancient times to the present<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UConn Library has a guide to eResources available primary to members of the UConn community, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/news\/new-eresources-at-the-uconn-library\/\">https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/news\/new-eresources-at-the-uconn-library\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Published historical resources, which can often be used as primary sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HathiTrust<\/strong>&#8212;&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hathitrust.org%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Claura.katz.smith%40uconn.edu%7C573df99c73d94dbef80b08d8504ebda5%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637347646401112117&amp;sdata=crGYIfsLSK8tgP6zozKoD77s54zV0Y2PHyXRfZojrRI%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.hathitrust.org\/<\/a>&nbsp;&#8212; provides access to millions of historical books and journals online<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google books<\/strong>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/books.google.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Research guides to help you get the most from primary sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Primary and Secondary Sources Overview, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/guides.lib.uconn.edu\/primary\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/guides.lib.uconn.edu\/primary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is a Primary Source?, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/guides.lib.uconn.edu\/primary_source\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/guides.lib.uconn.edu\/primary_source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Latin American &amp; Caribbean Studies Guide &#8211; Primary Sources, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/guides.lib.uconn.edu\/lacarib\/primarysources\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/guides.lib.uconn.edu\/lacarib\/primarysources<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With so many primary sources available online researchers don&#8217;t necessarily have to travel to an archives to find what they need. Academic and cultural heritage institutions have spent the last many years scanning large swaths of their collections and making &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/2022\/08\/23\/finding-primary-sources-online\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NKyO-2wz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9707"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9833,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9707\/revisions\/9833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}