Research Guides: WGS 390: Feminist and Queer Inquiry: Primary Sources

What is a Primary Source?

"Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience." ~Library of Congress

Guide to Primary Sources at K
Guide created and curated by your librarians at K!
Primary Sources at Yale
Learn more about identifying and analyzing all types of primary sources

WGS Primary Sources

LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+ Life
Indexing to LGBTQ+ periodicals, journals, and books; includes abstracts and partial full text.
LGBT Magazine Archive (1950-2015)
Archival runs of 26 of the most influential serial publications covering LGBT interests. 1954-2015
Includes The Advocate and Gay Times. Chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community.
Independent Voices
Collection of open access alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals. Publications produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press, and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
LGBTQ+ Rights
Publications and documents relating to the history of the gay rights movement in America, including an interactive timeline, subject-coded court cases, scholarly articles, books, pamphlets, reports, and more.
Detailed Guide to this resource.
LGBT Thought and Culture
Books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements, through the 20th century up to the present.
Queer Pasts
Primary source document collections and curatorial essays. The digital exhibits on this platform are designed for students, teachers, and scholars of queer history.

LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive
Collection of online content covering LGBTQ+ history, scholarship, and culture in the United States and around the world. Includes primary sources, first-hand accounts, coverage of significant events, and essential artifacts of cultural memory.
LGBTQ+ Politics and Political Candidates Web Archive
Digital content related to LBGTQ+ political candidates, political issues, and topics at various levels of government, with a focus on lesser-known local and state politics.

Revolution and Protest Online
Explores protest movements, revolutions, and civil wars that have transformed societies and human experience from the 18th century through the present.
Revolutions, protests, resistance and social movements from the 18th century through the 21st century, documented through personal papers, organizations, government documents, journals, reports, monographs, images, video, and speeches.

The Empty Closet
One of the oldest continuously published LGBT newspapers in the United States. Full text of issues from 1971 - 2020.

North American Women

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Primary sources documenting women's movements and women activists in the US, with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include women and antislavery, women's suffrage, the Feminist movement, Equal Rights movement, and women's role in Civil Rights .
Women's Magazine Archive
Complete archives of consumer magazines published for a female audience, including Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home Journal. These magazines cover family life, home economics, health, careers, fashion, and culture, and provide canonical records of evolving assumptions about gender roles and cultural mores. Publications are in high-resolution color.
Women and the Law (Peggy)
Collection of books, biographies, and periodicals dedicated to women's roles in society and the law. Includes primary legal and political documents and secondary scholarly analysis of issues such as women's suffrage, women in the workforce, women's education, abortion, and more. These materials provide context on the progression of women's roles and rights in society over the past 200 years.
Also included are more than 70 titles from Emory University Law School's Feminism and Legal Theory Project, providing context on the effects of law and culture on the female gender.
North American Womens Letters and Diaries
Collection of women’s diaries letters, and correspondence spanning more than 300 years, covering the personal experiences of hundreds of North American women.
North American Women's Drama
Full text of plays written by over 100 women from the United States and Canada, spanning Colonial times to the present.

International Women

Women and Social Movements, International
Conference proceedings, organization reports, publications, and websites of women's non-governmental organizations. Also includes letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century, as well as photographs and videos of major events and activists in the history of women’s international social movements.
Detailed Guide to this resource.
Gerritsen Women's History Collection
Books, periodicals, and pamphlets on women's history and the evolution of feminism. Covers four centuries and 15 languages, with publications from the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and continental Europe.
Two collections in this database:
The Periodical Series: This segment represents about 25 percent of the material in the database. It comprises 265 titles, including The Suffragist (1913-21) and The Women's Protest Against Woman Suffrage (1912-18).
Monograph Language Series: These 4,471 monographs and pamphlets make up about 75 percent of the collection. Included are 2,336 titles tracing suffragism in the English-speaking world. The collection will soon include 929 German titles that document the history of organized movements in Germany and Switzerland, and 734 French titles that cover women's issues from Gallic times through World War II.
British and Irish Womens Letters and Diaries
Collection of diaries and letters of 500+ women's experiences, spanning more than 300 years.