William & Mary libraries have access to a wide array of primary sources, both physical and digital. See below for information on accessing the Libraries' subscription primary source databases, visiting the Special Collections Research Center to access sources within their collections, and finding primary source collections outside of W&M.
You don't have to come into Swem to find primary sources!
Below is a sampling of some of the primary source databases W&M Libraries provide access to. When exploring all of your options, we recommend taking a look at our list of primary source collections and/or newspaper collections, or to search for collections by keyword.
Swem Library is also home to the Special Collections Research Center, which has a large and varied collection that can add unique angles and perspectives to your research. You will need to make a separate appointment with them to view the material, and none of it circulates. However, in some cases there are digital versions available via the W&M Digital Archive, and in most cases they do allow photography of their material.
Special Collections has made individual research guides of specific subjects covered in their holdings. Check out the guides for topics such as:
Also, if your research involves doing oral histories, make sure to check out the SCRC's guide for doing Oral History.
Collections at other libraries and archives are often accessible to the public (as long as you're willing to travel to them), and in some cases may even be digitized for researchers to review remotely. The following resources can help you get started.
If you haven't had success using ArchiveGrid to find collections pertinent to your search, search engines like Google are usually pretty useful for finding where archival collections on your research subject may be housed.
Searching for "[subject] AND archive AND collection" typically yields results leading you to institutions (whether federal, educational, or private) that hold archival collections.
Adding keywords like "online" or "digital" or "digitized" may bring you to online collections that you can view remotely (assuming they exist in a digital format at all!). Note that digitized archival collections are typically not comprehensive; in many cases, the items that could be digitized represent merely a sampling of the whole.
When in doubt, make a research appointment - I'd be happy to discuss your search for archival materials and point you in new directions.
