Includes records of major civil rights organizations and personal papers of leaders and observers of the 20th century Black freedom struggle, as well as federal government records. Includes the records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
This database includes "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century" and "NAACP Papers."
The nature of a research project will determine what can serve as a primary text. Literary critics will use literary works as primary texts, in order to find passages that will support their arguments about the meaning of literary works and their place in literary history. Historians will use documents like diaries, newspaper articles, letters, and personal narratives as primary texts, in order to create a fresh interpretation of an historical event.
When you are looking for primary sources, start by searching the Library Catalog. Search by an author from the time period or enter a subject in combination with any of the subject headings used to define primary sources:
Autobiographies
Correspondence
Diaries
Documents
Early works to…
Government documents
Interviews
Legal documents
Letters
Manuscripts
Memoirs
Narratives
Pamphlets
Photographs
Reminiscences
Sources
Speeches
In WorldCat, you may use any of the above strategies or limit your search to “archival materials.”
Depending on the focus of your research, the University Archives & Special Collections may have relevant primary source materials. Check out their Research Guides.