LibGuides: Philosophy: Find Primary Sources

Resources for Finding Primary Sources in Philosophy

Finding primary sources can be tricky as most of them are housed in archives across the world. Only a small percentage of the existing primary sources have been digitized and made available online. Below are some good places to start when looking for primary sources.

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window Digital library created from the collections of major research libraries in the United States and around the world. Items range from medieval Arabic manuscripts to early modern European incunabula, from colonial American pamphlets to 19th-century treatises on natural history. Although a part of the collection is only accessible to members of participating/contributing institutions, many materials (particularly those no longer in copyright) are freely accessible.
Internet Archive This link opens in a new window Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, and more. Many entries include easily accessible raw text.
Perseus Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window A digital collection of over 25,000 books in English published in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America between 1473 and 1700. The books cover a wide range of content, including literature, philosophy, religion, politics, geography and science.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window This database includes every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom during the 18th century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas. The database contains more than 32 million pages of text and over 205,000 individual volumes in all.
Evans Early American Imprint Collection This link opens in a new window A digital collection of the entire collection of the American Antiquarian Society (AAS). It preserves the largest single collection of printed source material relating to the history, literature, and culture of the first 250 years of what is now the United States, and holds copies of nearly two-thirds of all books, pamphlets, and broadsides known to have been printed in this country between 1640 and 1821.

This is only a selection of the resources available for finding primary sources. If you need help, please make an appointment with me and I'd be happy to work with you.

Find Diaries, Journals, Memoirs, Letters, and Autobiographies at Wallace Library

Information on Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary Sources
Secondary Sources

Primary sources are records of events created as they occurred, or recorded by eye witnesses. They come in many formats, including letters and email; journals, diaries, and memoirs; audio recordings; photographs; audio recordings; and much more. Created by Shonn M. Haren, 2015. CC BY 4.0

Created by Shonn M. Haren, 2015. CC BY 4.0