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First People Studies primary sources and newspapers

Primary Sources

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented.

Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later.

Primary Source Databases

Indigenous Peoples of North America - Primary source database containing manuscripts, monographs, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, images of artwork, and more, document the impact of invasion and colonization on Indigenous Peoples in North America from the 19th and 20th centuries. Database also includes the complete papers of the first organization to address Native American interests and rights: the Indian Rights Association (1882-1986)

Early Candiana Online - primary source database containing books, periodicals and government documents from early Canada, from the 17th to 20th centuries

Early Encounters in North America - primary source database containing narratives, diaries, journals, and letters from peoples in North America, including traders, ensalved peoples, missionaries, colonists, soldiers, and Indigenous Peoples, from 1534 -1850.

North American Indian Thought and Culture - primary source database containing autobiographies, biographies, Indigenous publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files. 

Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters -  primary source database containing document pertaining to the frontiers of North America, Africa and Australasia, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Major themes include: settlement, law, relations with indigenous peoples, trade and commerce, missionaries and boundaries.

North American Indian Drama - text of 261 plays by 49 American Indian and First Nation playwrights of the twentieth century.

Indigenous Peoples of North America: History, Culture & Law (HeinOnline) - primary source database containing documents related to Indigenous American life and law, including treaties, federal statutes, federal case law, tribal codecs, constitutions.

Current Newspaper Databases

Canadian Newsstream - Canadian English daily newspapers, including the Globe & Mail, Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star, National Post and many regional and local papers.

Eureka.cc - Canadian/Quebec newspapers and magazines in French and English, includes La Presse, Le Devoir, and L'Actualité.

CPI.Q: Canadian Periodical Index - English and French language journals and magazines, Canadian focus.

US Newsstream - Major US daily newspapers, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall street journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Boston Globe, LA Times, USA Today and many more regional and local newspapers.

International Newsstream - news content from outside the U.S. and Canada, in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Danish, See the Title List.

Historical Newspaper Databases

Indigenous Newspapers in North America - Indigenous print journalism from the US and Canada, 1828-2016. National, community and student publications.

Historical Newspapers: Globe and Mail (1844 - 2016)

Historical Newspapers: Toronto Star (1894 - 2016)

Canadiana Online - Periodicals - works from the first European settlers up to the early 20th Century

Google News Archive - Historical archives in digital format of newspapers from Canada, including Quebec, and the United States.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers - archive of major U.S. newspapers: New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post

Times Digital Archive 1785 Onwards - The London Times (UK), 1785-2006. 

Paper of Record - historical newspapers from Canada, the US, Latin America, Europe and Australia, with coverage mostly from the 1800s to early/mid 1900s.

Indigenous Newspapers and Magazines

Clean Water, Broken Promises (APTN news, Collaborative investigation involvng Concordia’s Institute for Investigative Journalism)

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