Stetson's Archives are available for your research needs and another good place to go for primary sources.
Locating primary sources for historical research is an iterative process. It often involves consulting the secondary sources, tracking down primary sources used by others, going back to the literature as new names, events, and concepts emerge, then back to the tracking down potential primary documents.
For historians, some of the most fruitful searching happens when looking for books in OneSearch. When searching, keep the following in mind.
Search for authors - Individuals, organizations, and government branches/agencies can all be authors, and can be searched in library catalogs. Results might include autobiographies, published correspondence and diaries, interviews, government reports, hearings, and studies, periodicals and bulletins, and archival collections.
Know your subject headings - It helps to get to know how subject headings are used to describe your topic. For example, the subject headings Cuban Americans and Cubans--United States have slightly different meanings, and both could be useful for studying Americans of Cuban origin or Cubans in the United States, respectively.
Use publication date filter strategically - You can limit results by date of publication, such as the period you are studying. Keep in mind that some primary sources may be collated and reprinted in a later book that would not appear if this filter is used. Copies of primary sources may also be included in some secondary sources- esp. in scholarly books.
The library subscribes to many primary source databases. Here are a few examples:
A digital image library of collections of art, architecture, humanities, and science images with descriptive information. Artstor migrated to the JSTOR site in 2024.
Includes full page images of newspaper articles, including advertisements. Indexing is keyword. The library subscribes to the full package: New York Times 1851-2017, Wall Street Journal 1889-2003, Washington Post 1877-2004, Christian Science Monitor 1908-2007, Los Angeles Times- 1881-1996. For recent newspaper articles, see our Newspaper Databases.
This list is only a sample of the primary source websites online. Many universities, archives, & museums digitize their primary source materials and put them online for anyone to access. Consider Googling your topic + digital archives, collections, or library to look for websites that may be relevant to your project.
Historical News
Includes full page images of newspaper articles, including advertisements. Indexing is keyword. The library subscribes to the full package: New York Times 1851-2017, Wall Street Journal 1889-2003, Washington Post 1877-2004, Christian Science Monitor 1908-2007, Los Angeles Times- 1881-1996. For recent newspaper articles, see our Newspaper Databases.
The world’s first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, marking a revolution in journalism and news reporting. Presented a vivid picture of British and world events; all issues from 1842 to 2003 included.
Restricted to Stetson students, faculty, and staff. Includes all issues of Time Magazine from 1923 to 2000. Advertisements are included. PDF full text. Instructions for browsing. If you are looking for the records of Time Inc., visit the New-York Historical Society webiste at https://www.nyhistory.org/library/time-inc-archive
Recent News (roughly 1990s-today)
More than 350 newspapers, many with full-text. Coverage 1995 to present. The Major Newspapers collection includes The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more.
News, business and legal sources from LexisNexis. newspapers, magazines, and some journals. Coverage includes general news topics; foreign language news; company, industry, and market news; legal news; general health topics; accounting/tax info; government topics.
A collection of thousands of U.S. and global news sources.
Full-text access to New York Times. Requires account registration (see instructions).
1.Click the link above
2. Click "Create Account” and complete registration fields - be sure to use your Stetson email address
Find a specific newspaper, magazine, or journal: