Research Guides: Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies: Find Primary Sources

Primary Sources via Library Databases

Archives of Sexuality & Gender This link opens in a new window
A unique fully-searchable collection, Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940 brings together approximately 1.5 million pages of primary sources on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world. Rare and unique content from microfilm, newsletters, organizational papers, government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, and other types of primary sources sheds light on the gay rights movement, activism, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and more. Also includes "Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century," though the majority of the database's coverage is 1940s-1980s.
Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000 , Scholar's Edition This link opens in a new window
US history and US women's history. Primary documents, books, images, scholarly essays, book reviews, web site reviews, the biographical dictionary Notable American Women, and all publications of local, state, and national commissions on the status of women since 1963. Coverage: 1600-2000.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Collection of databases devoted to disciplines in history and the social sciences. See titles of individual databases for further information. Coverage: Varies by database.
Films On Demand This link opens in a new window
Educational titles in all subject areas. Streaming video from Films Media Group. Coverage: Varies by title.**All films have public performance rights.** Check out the quick start guide for more information.
Women's Issues and Their Advocacy within the White House, 1974-1977 This link opens in a new window
The progression of womens rights through documents presented to President Ford from The Special Assistant to the President for Women. Meeting minutes, briefing papers, correspondence, talking points, speeches, news clippings, etc. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1974-1977.
Everyday Life & Women in America This link opens in a new window
This digital collection provides access to rare primary source material on American social, cultural, and popular history from the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History, Duke University and The New York Public Library. It comprises thousands of fully searchable images (alongside transcriptions) of monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides addressing 19th and early 20th century political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes, emphasizing conduct of life and domestic management literature, the daily lives of women and men, and contrasts in regional, urban and rural cultures.
Homophile Movement: Papers of Donald Stewart Lucas This link opens in a new window
Collection of documents from the activist and professional activities of Donald S. Lucas. Contains an abundance of material relating to the early homosexual civil rights movement (the homophile movement) and the San Francisco manifestation of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Includes: correspondence, meeting minutes, constitutions and by-laws, newsletters, manuscripts, financial documents, reports, statistics, legal decisions, surveys, counseling records, funding proposals, and subject files. An Archives Unbound database, with materials scanned from archives of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Historical Society. Coverage: 1941-1976.
Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin and the Daughters of Bilitis This link opens in a new window
The first US lesbian rights organization. Correspondence, manuscripts, organizational papers, constitutions, flyers, legal & financial documents, etc. An Archives Unbound database. Materials scanned for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society collection in, San Francisco, California. Coverage: 1955-1984.
In Response to the AIDS Crisis This link opens in a new window
Collection of briefing books, hearing and meeting transcripts, reports, and press clippings documenting the activities of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1983-1994.
Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
A searchable archive of ~20 leading women's interest magazines, dating from the 19th century through to the 21st, including Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Good Housekeeping, and Town & Country. Subject coverage includes consumer culture, economics/marketing, family life, fashion, gender studies, health and fitness, home/interior design, popular culture, and social history. This database provides access to the complete archives of several 19th and 20th-century women's magazines. Coverage: 1883-2005.
Women's Wear Daily Archive This link opens in a new window
Searchable and browsable archive of "Women's Wear Daily," which claims to be "the ‘Wall St Journal' of the fashion industry," from the first issue in 1910 to material from within the last twelve months. It provides high-resolution, full color images. Key moments in the history of the industry, as well as major designers, brands, retailers and advertisers are all covered. Covers 1910-Present
Vogue Archive (1892 to Present) This link opens in a new window
The Vogue Archive contains the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names.

Find Additional Primary Sources

How to Search for Primary Sources:

1. Primary Resources - Click to view a guide to primary sources.

2. Primary sources include diaries, letters, official documents, interviews, newspaper articles and magazine articles of the time period, etc. Ask at the Research Desk for help in identifying ways to search for these.

For example, many primary source materials might have been published as collections of letters (or "correspondence"), diaries, autobiographies, etc.

To search Swem Library's catalog or other catalogs and databases for these types of primary source materials, try search strategies such as these:

A. (diaries or letters or correspondence or journals or interviews) and women

B. women and autobiography

Swem Library's Special Collections

Primary Source Resources available via the Web: Just a Few

Discovering American Women's History

Library of Congress's American Women website

African-American Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century

American Women's History: Research Guide

American Memory (Women) - Library of Congress

Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World

Civil War Women

Index to Women's History EText