HIST116S: Sex and Gender in the Age of High Imperialism (Andrews): Where to Find Primary Sources

A collection of primary documents on colonial history, politics, culture, and society. The type of documents includes letters, periodicals, exploration journals, government documents, travel writings, maps, exhibition catalogs, etc.  The collection is organized around five thematic sections introduced by scholars in the field. There is a strong emphasis on the British Empire, but the database includes primary documents related to other empires as well.  Time coverage is from early explorations right through decolonization in the second half of the 20th century. 

Collection of primary sources relating to women's international activism since 1840.  Includes conference proceedings, reports of international women's organizations, publications and web pages of women's non-governmental organizations, and letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since 1840.

Articles from the time period of the events you are researching are also primary sources.  If you are researching a topic related to the British Empire, you may wnat to look at the following newspaper archives:

The library also has print copies of the "Illustrated London News" from 1840 to 1910.  This wonderfully illustrated newspaper is very useful if you are studying the representation of empire. 

The following collection provides primary sources related to European History in the 19th and 20th century, or primary sources on imperialism in general.    As with any collection of primary sources on the web, evaluate them carefully.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook (Fordham University)
Primary Sources from the Fordham History Sourcebook

European History Primary Sources
The purpose of EHPS is to provide an easily searchable index of scholarly digital repositories that contain primary sources for the history of Europe.

Euro-Docs:  Online Sources for European History

17th-19th Century British Religious, Political, and Legal Tracts (from the University of Missouri)

The Cabinet Papers 1915-1986
"Digitized  UK  Cabinet Papers for 1915-1977. Papers can be downloaded for free from the National Archives."  

Imperialism
Primary sources related to Imperialism from the Fordham History Source Book

Images of Colonialism
"this collection of more than 700 images offers insight into European perspectives on varying aspects of colonial experience by documenting how popular perceptions of Asia and Africa were created and disseminated".

Digital Colonial Documents (India)

South Asian Literature:  The Colonial Period (Primary Sources)

Gallica
Gallica is a digital library of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.  It  "provides access to all media: print (monographs, periodicals and newspapers) in image mode and text mode, manuscripts, sound recordings, graphic materials, maps and plans". (in French)

You can  use the library online catalog, OSCAR, to find  published primary sources or books including primary documents    If you are interested in the writings of a specific individual, just do an author search.  If you are looking for primary sources on a specific topic, just enter your keywords and add one of the following words, depending on what you are looking for:  correspondence, papers, speeches, memoirs, personal narratives, documents, sources.  
For example: British empire  and sources