What is a primary source?
A primary source is a document or record containing firsthand information or original data on an event, object, person, or work of art. Primary sources are usually created by individuals who experienced the event and recorded or wrote about it. Because of this, primary sources usually reflect the viewpoint of the participant or observer.
Common primary sources for U.S. slavery topics include:
- Slave narratives
- Diaries, letters, and biographies
- Newspaper articles written at the time
- Pamphlets
- Photographs
Primary Sources through the UHV Library
You can find primary sources in things like books and anthologies. Books can contain diaries, letters, and other types of primary sources. In our library catalog you can search the following keywords to find primary source material on U.S. slavery topics. Note that these are just ideas to get you started and not all of the keywords that might work:
- Slave narratives
- Slavery Personal narratives
- Slaveholders Diaries
- Slaves' writing
Primary Sources Online
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Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories - Library of Congress CollectionThe recordings of former slaves in Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine states. Twenty-three interviewees discuss how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom. Several individuals sing songs, many of which were learned during the time of their enslavement. The individuals documented in this presentation have much to say about living as African Americans from the 1870s to the 1930s, and beyond.
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Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 - Library of Congress CollectionBorn in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA).
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From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909 presents 396 pamphlets from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, published from 1822 through 1909, by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics. The materials range from personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports and legislative speeches.
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NY Historical Society Manuscript Collections Relating to SlaveryThe library of the New-York Historical Society holds among its many resources a substantial collection of manuscript materials documenting American slavery and the slave trade in the Atlantic world. They consist of diaries, account books, letter books, ships’ logs, indentures, bills of sale, personal papers, and records of institutions.
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James Birney Collection of Anti-Slavery PamphletsAs an abolitionist writer and publisher, James Birney recognized that books, pamphlets and newspapers were the lifeblood of anti-slavery agitation. In 1891, his son William presented his father's collection of over 1,000 books and pamphlets to The Johns Hopkins University. It contained materials gathered by James Birney in the course of his anti-slavery labors, and items gathered by William Birney while preparing a biography of his father. Over the years the collection has been augmented and now includes both anti- and pro-slavery material; printed speeches; African colonization; politics and campaign biographies; and black education.
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Frederick Douglass Papers - Library of CongressDouglass Papers, from the Library of Congress's Manuscript Division, contains approximately 7,400 items (38,000 images) relating to Douglass' life as an escaped slave, abolitionist, editor, orator, and public servant. The papers span the years 1841 to 1964, with the bulk of the material from 1862 to 1895. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches and articles.
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Anti-slavery Manuscripts Collection at the Internet ArchiveThe papers of William Lloyd Garrison and other historical figures central to the Boston anti-slavery movement can be viewed and downloaded for free. You can browse by subject or keyword.
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Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery CollectionNumbering over 10,000 titles, May's pamphlets and leaflets document the anti-slavery struggle at the local, regional, and national levels. Sermons, position papers, offprints, local Anti-Slavery Society newsletters, poetry anthologies, freedmen's testimonies, broadsides, and Anti-Slavery Fair keepsakes all document the social and political implications of the abolitionist movement.
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Black Abolitionist ArchiveThe Black Abolitionist Digital Archive is a collection of over 800 speeches by antebellum blacks and approximately 1,000 editorials from the period. The collection is searchable by keyword or you can browse by keyword, author, publication or organization.
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Quakers & SlaveryThe types of materials available at this website are photographs and lithographs, organization records, personal correspondence, and other publications. It is an online searchable database from Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges.
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North American Slave Narrativescollects books and articles that document the individual and collective story of African Americans struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. This collection includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of fugitive and former slaves published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920.
Made available by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Primary Sources at the Victoria Regional History Center
The Barry A. Crouch Collection is located in the Victoria Regional History Center in the UHV Library. This collection consists of Mr. Crouch's research notes, monographs, and historical records created or collected by Dr. Crouch throughout his career.
A large part of the Barry A. Crouch Collection consists of information on the Freedmen's Bureau, reconstruction and slavery.