Provided by NU Libraries
- North American Women's Letters and DiariesRich primary source database with over 150,000 pages of diaries and letters from 1,325 women, colonial to 1950. Keyword-searchable and with some pre-selected sub-collections of primary sources arranged around important historical events. Also includes author biographies an
- Women Writers OnlineEarly modern women's writings from 1400 to 1850. Includes searchable full-text of books, poetry, and speeches as well as browse by date, author, and title.
- Early English Books OnlineVirtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700, with digital facsimile page images.
Major Aggregators
- Europeana30+ million records from over 2,000 cultural institutions in Europe, constantly growing. Paintings, sketchbooks, manuscripts, journals -- almost any type of primary source.
- Digital Public Library of American (DPLA)Over 7 million records from 1,200 cultural institutions in the U.S., constantly growing. Paintings, sketchbooks, manuscripts, journals -- almost any type of primary source.
- Library of Congress Digital CollectionsIncludes historic U.S. Newspapers, links to international collections, photographs, early sound recordings, manuscripts, and former American Memory collections. Of course, very strong in U.S. history, but also with holdings from various historical eras in other countries.
- Hathi TrustMake sure to use the yellow log-in button and select Northeastern. Millions of digitized titles from around the world, covering the 15th to 21st centuries. A Google Books for academic libraries, with a good amount of full-text access for public domain items.
- British Library Virtual BooksSketches from Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare folios, the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Blake's notebooks, the Ramayana, and more. Also see their Digitised Manuscripts, Online Exhibits, and Highlights Tour.
- ICON: Newspaper Digitzation ProjectsInternational in scope, one of the largest directories of which newspapers have been digitized. Some may be paid access only -- if you need a particular title first check here to see if it's been digitized, and then contact the Northeastern library to see if we have access or can locate a local library with access.
- The Online Books PageA listing of over 35,000 free books on the web, maintained by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Also includes listings of online serials (magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, etc.)
- National Digital LibrariesOf China, India, France, Australia... always try a search for the national or regional libraries in your area of focus.
Open Web Resources
- Emory Women Writers Resource ProjectCollection of both edited and unedited texts by women writing in English from the 17th through the early 20th century. Browsable by author/title; full-text searching also available. Supported by the Beck Center at Emory University.
- English Literature: Early 17th CenturyFrom the Luminarium, an independent site with secondary sources as well as full-text works of English literature from the medieval and Renaissance periods and beyond, including Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, and Shakespeare. Each section will include extensive links to primary sources hosted at the Luminarium and elsewhere.
- ManuscriptoriumAttempts to provide access to "all existing digital documents in the sphere of historic book resources (manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books, maps, charters and other types of documents)". Indexes more than 5 million digital images at libraries all over the world, includes very sophisticated advanced search features and image viewer.
- Scriptorium: Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts OnlineManuscript miscellanies and commonplace books from c. 1450-1720, with accompanying descriptions, transcriptions and bibliographies. From the University of Cambridge.
- English Broadside Ballad ArchiveFrom the University of California at Santa Barbara, with over 60% of surviving ballads as of December 2014.