University Libraries: HIST 250: Crisis and Conflict in Depression Era America, 1929-1946: Primary Sources

Kimbel Library Primary Sources

Primary Source Databases in History
This link leads to a list of all primary source databases that Kimbel Library subscribes to.

Periodicals

Life Magazine
Complete run of all issues from the 1930's to 1970's. Excellent source for photographic images of what people actually wore.
Encyclopedia of Marxism: Periodicals
International list of marxist and left magazines and publications between 1917-1945.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains period journals reflecting the ideas and attitudes of the 1917-1945 period. Also had contemporary scholarly articles.

Archival Collections

History Vault This link opens in a new window
Women's Studies subcollection:
Struggle for Women's Rights, Organizational Records, 1880-1990
Records of three important women’s rights organizations: National Woman’s Party, the League of Women Voters, and the Women’s Action Alliance. Collection coverage 1880-1990.
Women at Work during World War II: Rosie the Riveter and the Women's Army Corps
Records of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, and Correspondence of the Director of the Women's Army Corps. Includes reports, records, speeches, articles, studies, interviews, and other research material.
Workers, Labor Unions, and the American Left in the 20th Century: Federal Records subcollection
Documents the American workers and labor unions in the 20th century, with a special emphasis on the interaction between workers and the U.S. federal government. 1900-1960.
Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle subcollection
Collection contains the NAACP Papers and federal government records, organizational records, and personal papers regarding the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century
American Politics and Society subcollection
Included are: FBI Reports of the Franklin D. Roosevelt White House; Civilian Conservation Corps Press Releases; Records of the Committee on Economic Security; Department of Treasury records; and a special set of documentary records on the Roosevelt Presidency covering 50 important episodes and themes of the Roosevelt presidency.
Literature, Culture and Society in Depression Era America: Archives of the Federal Writers' Project This link opens in a new window
Archives of the Federal Writers Project (FWP), a program of the Works Projects Administration (WPA). Publications from all participating states, including city guides, social-ethnic studies, original poems and plays, and many others. Dates of coverage: 1933-1943.
Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984 This link opens in a new window
Documents originated by the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation on operatives investigating politically suspect figures and organizations. Topics include A. Philip Randolph, the Black Panther Party of NC, the Committee for Public Justice, Malcolm X, Mississippi Burning, NAACP, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and many others. Dates of coverage: 1920-1984.

FRANKLIN: The FDR Library's Digital Collections
Documents include Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s New Deal and wartime correspondence with world leaders, government administrators, and regular Americans. Photographs include public domain images of subject areas like the Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II.
New Deal Network
Primary documents, images, and material relating to the Great Depression and the New Deal.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress
This collection from the Library of Congress includes a "Memory" section, which can be selected to view items on the Great Depression.
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"Memory" link features items from the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and The Depression.
Studs Terkel Radio Archive: The Geat Depression
This is a collection of radio interviews "in which Terkel's guests reflect on their or their family or friends' experiences during the Depression." Some of these interviews can be considered primary sources, while others are secondary.
George Meany Memorial Archive, University of Maryland
Contains digitized material of labor union content such as the CIO-News, The Carpenter Magazine, and Cigar Workers Official Journal.
Digital Tamiment: Tamiment Library’s digital collections
This collection contains oral histories, labor and radical magazines, films, and photography, among other things.
The Uprising of '34 Collection, from the Georgia State University Library
Interviews "conducted with former mill workers, their children and grandchildren, labor organizers, mill owners, and others who experienced or were affected by the" General Textile Strike of 1934.
Southern Labor Archives, from the Georgia State University Library
This archive is "dedicated to collecting, preserving and making available the documentary heritage of Southern workers and their unions, as well as that of workers and unions having a historic relationship to the region." Includes "organizational records, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, personal papers of labor leaders, oral histories, collective bargaining agreements, constitutions and bylaws, and convention proceedings from 1888 to the present."
South Carolina State Library Digital Collections
The South Carolina State Library Digital Collections is a set of online projects that expand the State Library's mission to provide equal access to information for all South Carolinians. These online collections create greater access to the State Library's unique historical resources and new digital projects.
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Within the Digital Collections are several distinct projects. The State Library is collaborating with public libraries across the state to increase access to local holdings. The South Carolina State Documents Depository is an online library of both current and historical state documents. The South Carolina Tombstone Project is a collaboration between the State Library and partner public libraries in the state to provide images and transcriptions of tombstones in local cemeteries.
South Carolina Digital Library
Provides access to digital collections related to South Carolina cultural heritage or created by South Carolina institutions. Also includes resources to guide institutions undertaking digital library projects. Features include...
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"South Carolina in the American Revolution" and "South Carolina Memory".
FBI Records: The Vault
The FBI's FOIA Library, containing 6,700 documents and other media. Searching can be done by topic or keyword. Original documents include people, events and occurrences such as...
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the American Nazi Party, Louis Armstrong, animal mutilation, Lucille Ball, "Machine Gun" Kelly, the Beatles, the Black Panther Party, Al Capone, Columbine High School, FBI undercover operations, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, the Hindenburg Disaster, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, the Ku Klux Klan, Marilyn Monroe, Will Rogers, Roswell, the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion, UFOs and Watergate.
The Online Books Page
Listing over 3 million free books on the Web. List maintained by the University of Pennsylvania.

Online Newspapers

New York Times, Historical, 1851-2020 This link opens in a new window
Full text of the newspaper from 1851-2017.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Searchable content of American historic newspapers from 1777-1963, as well as U.S. Newspaper Directory for finding information about American newspapers published between 1690-current.

Google Newspapers
Online newspaper archives from around the world. Coverage varies by title.

Historical Newspapers of South Carolina This link opens in a new window
Historical local and regional South Carolina newspapers from 1815

California Digital Newspaper Collection
"This collection contains 254,864 issues comprising 3,503,018 pages and 18,112,848 articles."
The Nation
1900 to present.
New Republic
1914 to present.

US Congressional Sources

Proquest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Indexes and abstracts of congressional committee publications, including hearings, committee prints, reports, documents, and public laws. It includes the full text of Congressional reports and documents (1789-1969), Executive branch documents (1789-1942), bills and resolutions (1789-present), hearings (1824-), Congressional Record (1985-1997), CRS Reports (1916-present), Statutes at Large (1789-), bill text (1989-), the Serial Set (1789-), Federal Register (1980-) and the current U.S. Code and the Code of Federal Regulations.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
The United States Congressional Serial Set (1817-1994) includes House and Senate documents, House and Senate Reports, and much more. The reports are usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. Documents cover a wide variety of topics, including reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations.