Examples of primary sources: interviews, diaries, letters, journals, original hand-written manuscripts, newspaper and magazine clippings, government documents, etc.
A guide to finding primary sources prepared by Tina Bebbington
Primary Sources
Aristoteles Latinus DatabaseContains critically-edited texts in the printed Aristoteles Latinus series and provides an integrated database of all the medieval translations of Aristotle's work. It's not identical to the printed edition.
Codex SinaiticusThe manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.
Digital Library of Classic Protestant TextsThe Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts gives researchers immediate, Web-based access to an extensive range of seminal works from the Reformation and post-Reformation eras.
Digital Library of the Catholic ReformationA bibliography that includes hundreds of seminal but often hard-to-find works, including papal documents, synodal decrees, catechisms, confessors’ manuals, biblical commentaries, theological treatises, liturgical works, inquisitorial manuals, preaching guides, saints’ lives, and devotional literature.
Early English Books Online (EEBO)Provides digital access to 100,000 of over 125,000 titles listed in - Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640) - Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and their revised editions- Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) collection - Early English Books Tract Supplement.
Early European BooksEarly European Books offers images scanned directly from the original printed sources, providing scholars with a wealth of information about the physical characteristics and provenance histories of the original artifacts.
Library of Latin Texts Series AContains texts from the beginning of Latin literature (Livius Andronicus, 240 BC) through to the texts of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
Library of Latin Texts Series BContains texts from the beginning of Latin literature (Livius Andronicus, 240 BC) through to the texts of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
Past MastersComprises 117 full-text humanities databases that make available cohesive collections of editions, in both original language and in English translation, of seminal figures in the humanities and social sciences.
Patrologia Latina DatabaseAn electronic version of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina, published between 1844 and 1855, and the four volumes of indexes published between 1862 and 1865. Comprises the works of the Church Fathers from Tertullian in 200 AD to the death of Pope Innocent III in 1216
Islamic Heritage ProjectThe Islamic Heritage Project (IHP) has cataloged, conserved, and digitized hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from Harvard’s renowned library and museum collections.
Based on the edition of the Greek New Testament (Editio Critica Maior or ECM)
Canadian Institute for Historical Micro-reproduction (CIHM)A vast collection of Canadiana from earliest times to the 1930s. The collection includes letters, diaries, books, manuscripts, speeches, newspapers, magazines, broadsides, pamphlets, posters, maps, and much, much more from all parts of Canada.
- Search for "Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproduction" in the Library catalogue to find titles available in Uvic.
- Less than 10% are also available to view online via Early Canadiana Online database.
Ask us