LibGuides UFV: British & European History: Primary Sources

About Primary Sources

Primary sources are original sources that first report on research or an idea. In other words, they are documents or records that contain firsthand reports or original data on a topic. Examples of primary sources include:

newspapers
interviews
research reports
scholarly journal articles
conference proceedings
diaries
letters
memoirs
original manuscripts
photographs
drawings
film footage
sheet music

Selected Primary Sources Books in the UFV Library

Milestone Documents in World History by Brian Bonhomme (Editor-In-Chief); Cathleen Boivin (Consultant Editor)
Call Number: D 5 M55 2010
The Lisle letters
Call Number: DA 335 L5 L57 1981
Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns
Call Number: HQ 125 G7 J67 2003 v.1-5
Sources of twentieth-century Europe
Call Number: D 411 S65 2000
British Family Life, 1780-1914
Call Number: HQ 613 B75 2013 V.1-5
Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795
Call Number: HQ 1616 W65
Civilization of the Italian Renaissance
Call Number: DG 445 C57 2011

Licensed Primary Sources

Adam Matthew Digital Collection
Includes historical primary source material: manuscripts, rare documents, maps, photographs, drawings, paintings, letters, diaries, notebooks, and more.

British History Online
British History Online is a digital library of key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800. We aim to support the learning, teaching and research of our users from around the world.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
Facsimile editions of over 136,000 books, plays, essays, broadsides and more published in the 18th century.
Points to the Past
Nearly 200 million pages of searchable primary source materials, including maps, photos, newspapers, manuscripts, pamphlets, portraits, sermons, poems. It is freely available to residents living in British Columbia. Contains 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers.
InteLex Past Masters
Full text books or collections by seminal figures in the humanities and social sciences, including: Aquinas, Aristotle, Austen, Behn, Betham, Bronte, Calvin, Darwin, Dewey, Dickens, etc., in both original languages and English translation; including their published and unpublished works, articles and essays, and correspondence.
Times Digital Archive, 1785-1985
The Times (of London). Includes every page of the newspaper, including articles, editorials, advertisements, birth and death announcements, photos and illustrations.

Quick Search Guide to the Times Digital Archive & Points to the Past
Discover some of the best ways to search and make use of the digitized newspaper collections.