Library Research Guides: WRIT 165: China Past and Present: Find Primary Sources

Primary sources search tip

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

EXAMPLES:

China AND travel AND (documents OR sources)

Qing AND (documents OR sources)

Tibet* AND (documents OR sources)

Resources

Leisure, Travel & Mass Culture: The History of Tourism This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials from American and British travel agencies as well as travelers. Covers leisure travel as well as the opening of American national parks, medical tourism, religious travel, and more.
Dates: 1850-1980 CE
Food and Drink in History This link opens in a new window
Documents from the 16th to early 21st centuries, including cookbooks, advertising ephemera, government reports, films, and illustrated content, from across the globe. Includes Western cookbooks of Chinese food and includes fascinating impressions of culture, gender, and more.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Enormous historical map collection searchable by keyword, geographic area, subject, and time period.
Historical Photographs of China
"This project locates, digitalizes, archives, and disseminates online photographs from the substantial holdings of images of modern China."

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new window
Including more than 36,000 printed works, this database contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America during the 17th and 18th centuries. Try searching China, Chinese, Canton, or Mandarin to start.
Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History This link opens in a new window
Western women's diaries, correspondence, photographs, etc. from global travel. Topics covered include art and architecture, politics, race, religion, science, and more.
Dates: 1818-1972 CE
American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I, 1760-1900 This link opens in a new window
This database offers full-color, high-resolution facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed 1820–1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed 1760–1900. Try searching China, Chinese, Canton, or Mandarin to start.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
The diaries and letters of over 1300 North American women, mostly white and elite. Common topics include health, relationships, religion, politics, economics, home life, and travel.
Dates: 1600-1950 CE

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Includes current, historical, thematic and regional maps of the Americas, as well as many other regions.

America's Historical Imprints This link opens in a new window
Monographs published in America up to 1819, including books, pamphlets, broadsides, and ephemera, covering every conceivable topic. Try searching China, Chinese, Canton, or Mandarin to start.
J. Walter Thompson: Advertising America This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents consisting of publications, reports, research, memoranda, correspondence, meeting minutes, creative briefs, scripts, speeches, newsletters, artwork and advertisements from one advertising agency.
Dates: 1887-2014 CE
Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
EEBO contains searchable and browsable page images of virtually every work printed in the English-speaking world from 1473 to 1700, as well as some items printed after 1700. Try searching Chinois, Chinese, and so on.
Medieval Travel Writing This link opens in a new window
Primary sources describing real and fictitious travel in the Middle Ages, with accompanying scholarly essays and brief biographies of travelers. The main geographic focus is the Holy Land, central Asia, India, and China. Most documents are in English, French, and Latin.
Dates: 1300-1600 CE

America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Full text of more than 1,000 historical U.S. newspapers. Contains Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922, and African American Newspapers, 1827-1998.
Dates: 1690-1998 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
Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
A complete searchable archive of American Vogue, reproduced in high-resolution color page images.
Dates: 1892 CE-Present

Ling long Women's Magazine
Published in Shanghai from 1931 to 1937

Church Missionary Society Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Primary sources like reports, news, letters, diaries, and more from British missionary societies serving as employer and community to Christian missionaries in the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Asia.
Dates: 1804-1957 CE

Life Magazine (1936-1970)
Treasure trove of American viewpoint, culture & advertising.

Periodicals Index Online (PIO) This link opens in a new window
Find articles published in over 6000 scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and other publications in the humanities and social sciences in over 60 languages, reaching back to 1665.
Dates: 1665 CE-present
Women's Magazine Archive, 1883-2005 This link opens in a new window
Full text of six leading women's magazines focused on social issues, women's health, family and the home, politics, and fashion.
Dates: 1883-2005 CE
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
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
Covering 1606 to 1822, this collection consists of the original correspondence of the American colonial governments with the British government, and addresses 17th- and 18th-century American history and the early-modern Atlantic world. Many full text newspapers are available as well.

Eighteenth Century Journals
Bringing together rare journals printed between c.1685 and 1835, this resource illuminates all aspects of eighteenth-century social, political and literary life. Topics covered are wide-ranging and include colonial life, provincial and rural affairs, the French and American revolutions, reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe, political debates, and London coffee house gossip and discussion.
Internet Archive Periodicals
Dozens of digitized newspapers and magazines like Scientific American (1845-2014), The Economist (1843-2016), The Illustrated London News (1842-2003), Leslie's Weekly (1855-1922), Saturday Evening Post (1829-2014), and more.

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
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
China: Culture and Society This link opens in a new window
Primary source pamphlets on China and the Chinese in the Western world, mostly in English. Topics covered include travel, immigration, education, religion, literature, and more.
Dates: 1750-1929 CE
Age of Exploration This link opens in a new window
Primary sources from and about European and American "explorers" to other continents in search of colonial opportunities and economic gain. Materials include diaries, maps, oral histories, and more.
Dates: 1420-1920 CE
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
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
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980 This link opens in a new window
British government files on events and issues dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, from the imperial system through Communism and the Cold War.
Dates: 1919-1980 CE
British History Online This link opens in a new window
Full text of core British primary and secondary sources for medieval to modern history (with primary focus on 13001800 CE). Primary sources focus on government records and include parliamentary records, land transfers, privy council papers, and more.
Dates: 11th Century CE - 20th Century CE
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
Records on colonial America from the British Archives from initial European settlement through the early republican period.
Dates: 1606-1822 CE