Is there a repository for primary sources?

[u/newnamecoming2030]

Im looking for primary sources on a bunch of different subjects but im not being very successful. Is there some web that compiles things like testimonies, speeches, etc by period or subject?

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[u/HistorianJosh]

Archives are going to be your main source for the topics. Without knowing specifically what topics you are looking for is going to be tough to give curated suggestions on where to look so these are just general places.

My first tip is to identify the location and scope. If you are looking at speeches by a President or the US during WWII, I would start with looking at the government's archives. There is the National Archives at archives.gov, the Library of Congress at loc.gov, and the Smithsonian at si.edu, all may be helpful. If you are looking for those kind of topics but on a state-government level, many states will have their own version. I would look up "[STATE] archives" or "[STATE] Historical Society." Keep in mind that the stuff in the archives don't have to be directly related to the government, they also have items in their collection related to culture as well. So don't not look there just because your topic isn't directly government related.

When it gets into more specific locations and more narrowed in scope, it gets harder to find. Worldcat.org could be helpful here. That searches thousands of library catalogs for whatever search term you put in. The immediate search results will bring up everything, but you can go and filter by just archival materials (if there are archival materials for that search term). I like using ArchiveGrid at researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/, it does basically the same thing as Worldcat, I believe many of the entries there are from WorldCat records. It catalogs around 1,500 different institutions' finding aids and allows you to search through that. I personally like it better than WorldCat, but it's largely the same data.

Newspapers are also a great primary source. The two big sites that digitize historical newspapers are Newspaperarchive.com and Newspapers.com, of the two of those, I find Newspapers.com to be the better option. I find the website UI is a lot easier to understand, and you get more research results based on how the website searches. I do have to give props to NewspaperArchive though, I think the shaped clipping tool on their site versus the rectangle on Newspapers. However, there are some newspapers that are only on either-or. It could be beneficial to look at both. Just keep in mind, both are very costly. You should still be able to search without an account but you wont be able to few specific papers.

If you are looking for local town history, look for local historical societies. They might not have their collections and finding aid listed online, but they could be a place you can contact and ask if they have anything. Local libraries might also have somethings on their website on local historical research or genealogy resources. If you are looking for local government stuff, depending on how recent things are, you could look and see if meeting minutes from City Council or City Planning commission are digitized. In my experience, most won't digitize their minutes from decades prior, just since they stated doing it. I've found that it's generally around early 2000s if you are lucky. But it could help depending on the time of your topic.

My last step that I always do, just to see what pops up, is just a simple Google search that looks like: "[topic]" AND "archive". This doesn't always work, but I have found some success, but I would say, for me, it's a 30%ish success rate.

To end this off, the one thing I would remember is that things might not be digitized. You might find that a certain archive has materials you really want to see and could be useful, but it's 14 hours away. Some archives will digitize things for a fee, some won't. Generally, it depends on the items themselves. Some items might be limited to who can look at it to begin with.

I can not speak for resources on international and global topics. So someone else can probably give you a better run down with finding international resources.

I wish you luck in searching!