Primary Sources
Below are links to databases and websites containing a huge quantity of primary sources of all types that are available online that might be useful for your research for this class. Choosing where to search can be overwhelming - start by thinking about what type of source you're looking for, then read the description below each link.
This list also contains examples of printed volumes in Randall Library's collection containing primary sources (in this case, on the Armenian genocide). There are many more, both in the library collection and via WorldCat that you can borrow using Interlibrary Loan.
Remember that this list is not exhaustive.
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American Politics and SocietyFeatures Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administration records as well as Thomas A. Edison Papers and immigration records. Part of the History Vault database. Find more information.
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The Armenian Genocide
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ISBN: 9781782381433Publication Date: 2013-12-01In 1915, the Armenians were exiled from their land, and in the process of deportation 1.5 million of them were killed. The 1915-1916 annihilation of the Armenians was the archetype of modern genocide, in which a state adopts a specific scheme geared to the destruction of an identifiable group of its own citizens. Official German diplomatic documents are of great importance in understanding the genocide, as only Germany had the right to report day-by-day in secret code about the ongoing genocide. The motives, methods, and after-effects of the Armenian Genocide echoed strongly in subsequent cases of state-sponsored genocide. Studying the factors that went into the Armenian Genocide not only gives us an understanding of historical genocide, but also provides us with crucial information for the anticipation and possible prevention of future genocides.
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British Library NewspapersA comprehensive range of regional and local newspapers in Britain between the mid-eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, providing a range of publications to reflect the social, political and cultural events of the times. The British Library Newspapers' collections feature London national newspapers, English regional papers, home country newspapers from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and titles in specialist areas such as Victorian radicalism and Chartism.
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Current Digest of the Russian PressThe Current Digest provides comprehensive coverage of national news, current events, economic developments and cultural events in Russia. Find more information.
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Digital National Security Archive - (DNSA)This resource consists of expertly curated, and meticulously indexed, declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events – including their military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions – from 1945 to the present. Find more information.
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Documents on British Policy OverseasA fully searchable collection of primary source documents from Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), shedding light on diplomatic history throughout the 20th C. It is based on three print series which form a record of British peacetime diplomacy since the end of the 19th C: British Documents on the Origins of the War 1898-1914, Documents on British Foreign Policy 1918-1939 and Documents on British Policy Overseas. DBPO is produced in collaboration between ProQuest and the FCO.
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EuroDocs: Online Sources for European HistoryResource for documents related to Western European history including many primary historical documents. Documents are transcribed or translated if needed.
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Forced into Genocide
by
ISBN: 9781412865524Publication Date: 2017-03-03This memoir recalls Yervant Alexanian's death-defying experiences in the center of the Armenian Genocide. Like other Armenians of his generation, he was an eyewitness to the massacre and dislocation of his family and fellow countrymen in Ottoman Turkey during World War I. Alexanian was conscripted into the Turkish army--but unlike others so conscripted, he survived. Alexanian was forced to become an onlooker while he watched the atrocities unfold. His story of resourceful action and fateful turns is a suspenseful "insider's account" of a Genocide survivor. From his singular position, Alexanian was able to document the tragedy of his people in his journals and diaries, but he also offers us a behind-the-scenes look into the motivations and actions of Turkish military officials as they committed the atrocities. His story continues after the war as we follow the trail of his journey through Europe and finally to America, where he found solace and was able to start anew with fellow survivors. No comparable account exists in the literature of the Armenian Genocide. This edition, translated from Alexanian's hand-written Armenian-language chronicle, includes never-before-seen documents and photos that the author preserved. Through his eyes we relive the astonishing cruelty of the Genocide's perpetrators--but also rare, unexpected acts of humanity between victim and oppressor.
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Foreign Relations of the United StatesResource provides access to U.S. foreign relation documents from 1861 to 1996.
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German Propaganda ArchiveResource for studying visual and audio propaganda materials.
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Historical NewspapersThis collection of historical newspapers provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
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Internet Modern History SourcebookGuide of primary sources related to modern history.
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Making Of The Modern WorldProvides digital facsimile images of primary sources that track the development of the modern, western world through the lens of trade and wealth. Full-text searching across millions of pages of works from the periods 1450-1850, 1851-1914, and 1890-1945 provides researchers access to material for research in the areas of history, political science, social conditions, technology and industry, economics, area studies and more. Includes books, serials, pamphlets, essays and more.
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News, Policy & Politics Magazine ArchiveAn archival collection comprising the backfiles of 15 major magazines (including the Newsweek archive), spanning areas including current events, international relations, and public policy. These titles offer multiple perspectives on the contemporary contexts of the major events, trends, and interests in these fields throughout the twentieth century. The collection will provide valuable primary source content for researchers in fields ranging from history and political science, through to law and economics.
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Political Science DatabaseCovers the literature of political science and international relations, including such topics as comparative politics, political economy, international development, environmental policy, and hundreds of related topics. This database provides access to hundreds of leading political science and international relations journals, providing full-text of many core titles indexed in Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. In addition, over a thousand recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics are included, together with working papers, conference proceedings, country profiles, political news and other sources. Part of ProQuest Central. Find more detailed information.
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Times Literary Supplement Historical ArchiveThe complete online fully-searchable edition of the TLS from the first edition in 1902 onwards. An important resource for studying and researching literary activity and critical opinion makers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
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USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History ArchiveUSC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive allows users to search through and view more than 54,000 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide. Initially a repository of Holocaust testimony, the Visual History Archive has expanded to include testimonies from the Armenian Genocide that coincided with World War I, the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China, the Cambodian Genocide of 1975-1979, the Guatemalan Genocide of 1978-1983, the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the ongoing conflicts in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, and anti-Rohingya mass violence. It also includes testimonies about contemporary acts of violence against Jews.