LibGuides: Primary Sources about Women: Digital Primary Sources

Select Digital Primary Sources - UVA only

See "What are primary sources?" from Yale University. See also the University of Wisconsin's Women's History Research in Archives guide.

North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Searchable full text database of American and Canadian women's letters and diaries written from the colonial period until 1950.
Women and Social Movements This link opens in a new window
Women and Social Movements in the United States is a resource for students and scholars of U.S. history and U.S. women's history. Organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000, this collection includes 108 document projects and archives with almost 4,300 documents and more than 150,000 pages of additional full-text documents, written by more than 2,200 primary authors. It also includes book, film, and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools.
American Periodicals Series (1740-1940) This link opens in a new window
Full text of over 1000 magazines and journals published in the US between 1740 and 1940. NOTE: Use alphabetical title list to browse for and limit searches to titles related to women's interests, e.g. L for Ladies, H for Home, etc.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Letters, diaries and memoirs from the American Civil War, many still in manuscript form. Also includes selected biographies, a bibliography and a chronology of the War.

Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915. Plantation Records, Part 1 (History Vault)
Consists of two major components: records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, and plantation records from Emancipation to the Great Migration. The primary source documents cover business and day-to-day labor operations, as well as the roles of women, racial attitudes, slave-master relations, and social and cultural life on the plantations.
Proquest Historical Newspapers
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post . See also the databases Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers and America's Historical Newspapers.

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
A wealth of material, e.g. Congressional documents back to 1789 and Congressional Research Service reports back to 1916, and much more. Search on terms related to women's issues, e.g. "suffrage", "birth control", "single mothers", "equal pay".

Select Free Primary Sources and Featured Digital Libraries

Here are a few featured digital libraries that are available to anyone (not just UVA affiliates). There are a wealth of sites like this on the internet. Ask a Librarian if you need help finding an appropriate digital library for your project.

Women's History Resources for Research
A wealth of resources from the Women's Studies Library at the University of Wisconsin. Includes "Megasites," Oral History Within the United States, and more.
Women's History Collections at the Library of Congress
American Memory Project, from the Library of Congress. Strong in suffrage materials, many photographs.
Valley of the Shadow
Details life in Augusta County, Va. and Franklin County, Pa. during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Contains letters, diaries, newspapers, speeches, census records and church records.
Women Working 1800-1930
The collection features approximately 500,000 digitized pages and images. From Harvard University.

Primary Sources about Women

Select Digital Primary Sources - UVA only

Select Free Primary Sources and Featured Digital Libraries

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