- St. Olaf Libraries
- Research Guides
- Music 345B: American Music
- Primary Source Databases
Music 345B: American Music
Karen Olson
LibKey Nomad
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
What is a Primary Resource?
Primary resources are materials -- artworks, books, maps, letters, concert reviews, blogpost, etc. -- created during the time period you are investigating. They are eyewitness accounts of the events at hand.
Primary Resources in Databases
Many of the databases provided by the St. Olaf Libraries include primary resources.
Navigate to the A-Z database list and click the "Database Types" menu. Archives, images, and news databases are excellent places to look for primary sources for humanities research.
Historical Newspaper Databases
Newspaper databases can include interviews, concert reviews, and other information useful to musicology. These historical newspaper databases are useful sources to find out what people thought about music in the past.
- African American Newspapers (1827-1998) This link opens in a new windowDigitized Black newspapers published in the United States between 1827 and 1998. Searchable by date range, era in US history, place of publication, and article type as well as by keyword.
- African American Periodicals, 1825-1995 This link opens in a new windowFull-text periodicals by and about African Americans. Searchable by date range, era in US history, place of publication, and article type as well as by keyword.
- America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowDigitized newspapers published in the United States between 1690 and 2000. Searchable by date range, era in US history, place of publication, and article type as well as by keyword.
- Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowFull-text from The Atlanta Constitution (1896-1945), Chicago Defender (1910-1975), Los Angeles Times (1881-1987), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), and The New York Times (1851-2007).
- Historical Newspapers: New York Times (1851-Current File) This link opens in a new windowDigitized version of The New York Times from its first issue in 1851 to present.
Image Databases
There is a close connection between music and the visual arts. Image databases include paintings, sculptures, cartoons and comics, architectural photographs, and the like.
- JSTOR Images This link opens in a new windowDiverse digital image library covering architecture, decorative arts, design, painting, photography, and sculpture from many cultures. Use the filters to limit your searches to the correct geographical region and time period.
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowFull-text scholarly art encyclopedia covering artist biographies, works, traditions, media, techniques, and concepts in art history and theory. Includes a searchable collection of images.
Databases for letters, diaries, and other materials
The digital archive databases will often contain letters, diaries, news reports, and other materials. The list below is only a fraction of the available databases, so be sure to visit the full A-Z database list to find the best option for your project.
- American Race Relations: Global Perspectives, 1940-1996 This link opens in a new windowThousands of commentaries on African American, Hispanic American, Asian American and Native American history covering foreign reactions to America's struggles with racial justice from the Jim Crow era to the Civil Rights movements and beyond.
- History Vault: NAACP Papers-Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files This link opens in a new windowThe NAACP Papers collections contains internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. It charts the NAACP's work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues. With a timeline that runs from 1909 to 1972, the NAACP Papers document the realities of segregation in the early 20th century to the triumphs of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and beyond.
- Native American Archives This link opens in a new windowPrimary source materials on Native American history, including photos, census documents, and treaties.
- Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new windowDigital archive of primary sources from popular culture in Britain and America, spanning 1950-1975.