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EU Historical Documents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 materials exploring the history of fifteen major commodities, examining how they have changed the world: chocolate, coffee, cotton, fur, opium, oil, porcelain, silver and gold, spices, sugar, tea, timber, tobacco, wheat, and wine and spirits.
China: Trade, Politics & Culture, 1793-1980 This link opens in a new window
English-language primary sources relating to China and the West, 1793–1980
East India Company This link opens in a new window
Collection of India Office Records from the British Library, containing royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, this resource charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1599 to 1947.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Material in the collection spans across the globe and over five centuries, from the explorations of Columbus and other Europeans, through to de-colonisation in the second half of the 20th century and debates over American Imperialism.
China, America and the Pacific This link opens in a new window
Manuscript sources, rare printed texts, visual images, objects and maps connected to the trading and cultural relationships that emerged between China, America and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries.

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
Complete coverage of Cabinet minutes and memoranda of UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s government.

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, 1765-2010 This link opens in a new window
Full-text replica of the premier British newspaper, including graphics and ads, searchable by article type.
New York Times, 1851-2020 This link opens in a new window
Full-text replica from 1851 to 2020 that includes graphics and ads.

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, 1941-1996.
Nexis Uni news sources This link opens in a new window
U.S. & foreign newspapers, 1980s to present (dates of coverage vary).
Current Digest of the Russian Press This link opens in a new window
A selection of Russian-language press materials in translation, 1949 to present. Formerly the Current Digest of the Soviet Press and the Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press.
African Newspapers, 1800-1922 This link opens in a new window
More than 40 fully searchable English- and foreign-language African newspapers published in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
One of the largest collections of news from the US, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia, many in full text, as well as news sites, blogs, and newswires from the 1980s to the present (dates vary by title).
Guardian and the Observer (UK), 1791-2003 This link opens in a new window
Digitized full-text of the British newspaper The Guardian (1821–2003) and its sister paper, The Observer (1791–2003).

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.