The primary purpose of this database is to help researchers locate physical archival materials, which can be found in museums, libraries, and archives around the country and the world. You can also use ArchiveGrid to find digitized primary materials by adding some simple code to your search; an explanation follows.
To find archival materials that have been digitized, use the search technique below, which limits results to collection descriptions that include links to digital content ("has_links:1" is librarian code for any item within a search record that includes the sequence "http," indicating content that exists on the Internet, including images, sound recordings, and other online materials).
To narrow search results to those that have links to digital content, add " has_links:1" to your search.
For example: 1918 influenza has_links:1
WorldCat searches for books, articles, and many other resource types, but you can use it specifically to find digitized primary materials following the directions below:
To narrow WorldCat results to digitized materials, click "Show More" under the Format option (in the left margin) and choose "Downloadable Archival Material" (a subset of Archival Material). An archival resource may also be a "Downloadable Image" (a subset of Internet Resource), or "Downloadable Visual Material" (a subset of Visual Material).
If you're having trouble finding a digitized copy of a print item, try the Internet Archive -- you'll be surprised by the range of materials you can find there.
