Q. How can I find primary sources?

Finding primary sources using Database Search

Many primary source databases can be found through the Library Discover Database Search. Try searching for the Primary Source Collection name or enter a search term to find a specific collection.

Some example Primary Source Collections are:

Gale Primary Sources

Digital collections of historical documents, covering a wide range of topics including women’s studies, British Literary manuscripts, historical newspaper archives - UK & USA, political extremism and radicalism. Specific titles include:

Archive of Sexuality and Gender

Archives Unbound - British & European History, Law, Politics, and Radical Studies

Nineteenth Century Collection Online: Women and Transnational Networks

Punch Historical Archive

AM Explorer

Over 80 collections of primary sources spanning the 15^th - 21^st Centuries. Themes include Gender and Sexuality, Global History, and War and Conflict. Specific titles include:

Foreign Office Files for Southeast Asia: 1963-1980 Section II: Foundations of Economic Growth and Industrialisation, 1967-1980
Mass Observations Online

Mass Observation Project

Life at Sea: Seafaring in the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1600-1900
Victorian Popular Culture

Historical Texts: brings together:

UK Medical Heritage Library (UKMHL)

Early English Books Online (EEBO)

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)

C19: The Nineteenth Century Index

 Discover nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers and archives.

Off campus select United Kingdom (UK Access Management Federation for Education.)
Choose Liverpool John Moores University from the drop-down list.
Next login with your LJMU username and password

Digital National Security Archive‎ (DNSA)

Declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events. This includes military intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions from 1945 to date. Includes titles such as:

CIA Covert Operations: From Carter to Obama, 1977-2010
The Iran-Contra Affair: The Making of a Scandal, 1983–1988
Terrorism and U.S. Policy, 1968–2002
The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Analysis of the Soviet Union, 1947–1991
 

Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915

Southern and national plantation records including business records and personal papers.

History Commons: British Society, 1939-1951

Life on the British home front during World War II as told through official publications and the narratives and testimonies of ordinary citizens including groups often underrepresented in historical accounts, covering such topics as food, morale, crime, life in bomb shelters, trauma after air raids, racism, and economic hardships.

Find primary sources in LJMU Special Collections & Archives

LJMU Special Collections and Archives

This collection holds unique and distinctive primary sources for use by students, researchers and interested members of the public. The five Special collections by theme are:

• Arts, Photography and Fashion
• Liverpool Theatre and Writing
• LJMU History
• Popular Music and Counter Culture
• Special Collections

Please note, not all collections are fully catalogued. The online catalogue is updated on a regular basis, but if you cannot find what you are looking for, please see Special Collections and Archives for more information.

Access the LJMU Special Collections and Archives Catalogue or use the Library Discover Search and filter results by ‘Material Type': Archival Material / LJMU Collections on the left menu.