Library Research Guides: HIST 334: World Economic Orders, 1918-2008: Find Primary Sources

Primary sources search tip

One way to find translated and transcribed primary sources in books is to use the catalog to search for your topic AND (documents OR sources)

EXAMPLES:

neolib* AND (documents OR sources)

German* AND econom* AND (documents OR sources)

HathiTrust
Digital library by major research institutions & libraries, with freely searchable content as well as some "sneak-peek" (copyrighted) content.
EU Historical Documents
"Our collection of scholarly thematic ePublications on the European integration process: an analysis of a range of subjects based on an extensive and contextualised selection of relevant and enriched source material." Click a topic and look for the "resources" tab for primary sources.

Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration & Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
Broad range of primary sources exploring the history of fifteen major commodities: chocolate, coffee, cotton, fur, opium, oil, porcelain, silver and gold, spices, sugar, tea, timber, tobacco, wheat, and wine and spirits, but other food and textile commodities are also included. Materials include maps, photographs, advertisements, paintings, statistics, and more.
Dates: 1500 CE-Present
China: Trade, Politics & Culture, 1793-1980 This link opens in a new window
English-language primary sources relating to politics, war, trade, religion, and other interactions between China and the West, including images, letters, maps, and more.
Dates: 1793-1980 CE
East India Company This link opens in a new window
The primary sources of the East India Company and British colonial control of India. Includes royal charters, indenture records, correspondence, trading diaries, and more.
Dates: 1599-1947 CE
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Primary sources tracking forms of colonialism, empire, and imperialism, from the explorations of Columbus to recent decolonization, with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Dates: 1482-2003 CE
China, America and the Pacific This link opens in a new window
A primary source archive of images, writings, economic accounts books, maps, and more about the trading and cultural relationships between China, America and the Pacific region, with a heavy focus on the 19th Century.
Dates: 1648-1997 CE

Archives Direct
The collection of foreign office files and confidential print files for various world regions on trade, treaties, and diplomacy from the perspective of the British government.

EuroDocs
Rich array of digitized material organized by country, then chronologically
Gallica
The digital presence of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. It contains millions of digitized newspapers, magazines, images, and sound recordings relating to France and French history and culture. Check out the search tutorials at left, as well as new guide to French Historical News on Gallica above.
United Nations History Project Online Archive
Links to documents online from many areas of the UN, some links broken.

Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963 This link opens in a new window
Primary records of UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government including coverage of Middle East conflict, colonial independence movements in Africa, and the Cold War.
Dates: 1953-1963 CE

Margaret Thatcher Foundation
"This is the website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, the largest contemporary history site of its kind. We offer free access to thousands of historical documents relating to the Thatcher period."
British National Archives Resources
Many digitized resources from every period of British history, from imperialism to war, suffrage to advertisements.
Digital Library of the Caribbean
cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean

Times Digital Archive, 1785-2014 This link opens in a new window
Full text news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, historical photos, reviews, and advertisements from a premier British newspaper.
Dates: 1785-2014 CE
New York Times, 1851-2020 This link opens in a new window
All articles published since the first issue of the paper in 1851 available in full text and with all page images. Includes editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, photos, and advertisements.
Dates: 1851-2020 CE

The Economist
The leading magazine on the global economy.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) This link opens in a new window
Broadcasts, news agency transmissions, and government statements from around the globe translated into English, with a focus on Cold War issues and communist states.
Dates: 1941-1996 CE
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Legal, business, and news sources. Includes law journal articles, legislation, regulations, court cases, company information, SEC filings, U.S. and foreign newspapers, and more.
Current Digest of the Russian Press This link opens in a new window
A full-text primary source archive consisting of English translations of important Russian newspaper and magazine articles. Updated weekly.
Dates: 1949 CE-Present
African Newspapers, 1800-1922 This link opens in a new window
Full text of more than 60 newspapers from across Africa, in English and other languages.
Dates: 1800-1922 CE
Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
News from the US, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia, many in full text. Mostly in English, with a variety of other languages including Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German.
Dates: 1990 CE-Present
Guardian and the Observer (UK), 1791-2003 This link opens in a new window
Full-text archive of two British newspapers, covering all aspects of British and world news.
Dates: 1791-2003 CE

BBC Monitoring: International Reports
Foreign news broadcasts in translation, 1979-present

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Enormous historical map collection searchable by keyword, geographic area, subject, and time period.
Colonial Film
"Welcome to Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire. This website holds detailed information on over 6000 films showing images of life in the British colonies. Over 150 films are available for viewing online." Asian and Oceanian films include Burma, Malaysia, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand.
EU Screen
Films from Europe on many topics. Most films not in English.

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Digitized images of art, architecture, and other forms of visual culture from around the world, from museums, archaeology, photo archives, slide collections, and art reference works, dating from B.C.E. to present.

Requires creation of an Artstor account to download images. This account also grants you off-campus access for 60 days. If your account is inactivated or you need to create an account, make sure to use a library link (such as this one) to get to Artstor so that you will be recognized as a Wellesley user.

Perry Castañeda Library Map Collection
Over 44,000 map images of the Library's 250,000 map collection have been scanned. From the University of Texas.
Persuasive Cartography at Cornell
This is a collection of “persuasive” cartography: more than 800 maps intended primarily to influence opinions or beliefs - to send a message - rather than to communicate geographic information. Browse categories and try a keyword search.

World Development Indicators
Includes more than 500 time series indicators for 207 countries plus regional and income groups; retrieves and exports the data in popular spreadsheet formats. 1960+ .
IMF Historical Data
IMF time series data for GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, payments balances, exports, imports, external debt, capital flows, commodity prices. Data available from 1948.
Direction of Trade Statistics
Clapp Docs CD-ROM HF 1016 .I652
Statistics on the value of imports from and exports to a country's most important trading partners; 1948-present.
Penn World Tables
Data on about 30 variables for about 189 countries over some or all the years 1950-2017.