Don't worry, you can use this guide to identify primary source databases by time period, country/region or theme.
The vast majority of databases listed are only available to current students and staff at the University.
If you want to view an A-Z list of all digital primary source databases you can: Primary source databases A-Z
Click on the relevant tab to find primary sources sorted by time period.
Some databases will be found on more than one tab.
Click here to access archival news sources.
Timepieces (Solar System) - Katie Paterson, 2014.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Anglo-Saxon Charter Granting Lands to the Monks of Winchester, 854 A.D.
© The University of Edinburgh.
McBeath Gaelic Medical Manuscript, 16th century.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Anatomy Museum in the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Teviot Place. 1898.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Front cover of The Student, 2nd November, 1972.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Bomb damage to buildings near the Infirmary, Edinburgh, 2-3 April 1916.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Here are some more freely available resources related to the First World War.
C.H. Waddington (1905-1975) in Army Uniform, 1942.
© The University of Edinburgh.
The Basic Material is Not the Word but the Letter - Nathan Coley, 2018.
© University of Edinburgh Art Collections
Click on the relevant tab to find primary sources sorted by country or region.
Some databases will be found on more than one tab.
Click here to access archival news sources.
Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas, 1613.
© The University of Edinburgh
Insulae Albion et Hibernia cum minoribus adjacentibus, 1664.
© 2002 School of Scottish Studies, The University of Edinburgh
Modern Geography by John Pinkerton, 1802.
© The University of Edinburgh
Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas, 1613.
© The University of Edinburgh
Geographia, quæ est cosmographiæ Blauianæ by Joan Blaeu, 1662.
© The University of Edinburgh
Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas, 1613.
© The University of Edinburgh
Patrick Geddes Journey Around India by Jacqueline Tyrwhitt, 1947.
© The University of Edinburgh
Roslin Glass Slides, no. 1122. Photograph of the Late King of Burma's gilded barge on the moat in [Mandalay, Burma] in the late 19th or early 20th century.
© The University of Edinburgh
The Tsar Bell, Moscow, Russia.
Glass-plate slides collected by Stanley Cavaye (1915-2004)
© The University of Edinburgh
War Department Weather Map, October 21st 1879.
© The University of Edinburgh
The History of the Americas by William Robertson, 1777.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Voyage de la Corvette, L'Astrolabe by Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville, 1833.
© The University of Edinburgh
Click on the relevant tab to find primary sources sorted by theme.
Some databases will be found on more than one tab.
Click here to access archival news sources.
Details from the ceiling space of the McEwan Hall during the 2016 refurbishment of the building.
© The University of Edinburgh
Kenyan artists Patrick M Mazola and Stanslaus Shake Makelele, 1997. From Scotland Africa 97 Archive.
© The University of Edinburgh
Room being decorated for Revel, 1938 (approx.)
© Edinburgh College of Art.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, title page, by Adam Smith.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Certificate presented to Sophia Jex-Blake. As one of the Edinburgh Seven, she was one the first women to matriculate at a British university.
© The University of Edinburgh
Artwork from Royal Edinburgh Hospital patient Flora Masson. From Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA).
© LHSA, The University of Edinburgh.
A vast number of our primary source databases cover the theme of politics. So not to have a massive long list of databases, those databases that have been listed under any of the other themes are not included under "Politics".
Progress of aviation in the war period by Leonard Bairstow, 1919.
© The University of Edinburgh.
Detail of title page from a quarto of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Published in 1599 by T. Creede of London, this volume is one of the earliest examples of Shakespearean literature, as it dates to well within the author's own lifetime.
© The University of Edinburgh
Many of the databases the Library has access to are from the same platforms or publishers.
In these cases there may be options for you to cross-search across multiple databases at one time.
If you've never used digital primary source databases before this can be a good way to start.
Gale are a major publisher in primary source databases and the Library has access to a range of material from them including Archives Unbound, Archives of Sexuality & Gender, Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), two of the Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) databases, The Making of Modern Law, U.S. Declassified Documents Online and a wide range of newspaper archives.
Gale Primary Sources allows you to cross-search across all, or a selection of, the Gale primary source databases the Library has access to.
Tick/untick the boxes of the resources you do or don't want to search.
Archives Unbound, published by Gale, provides the Library with access to over 300 primary source databases, all of which are listed individually above.
However, you can cross-search all, or a selection of, the databases within Archives Unbound by accessing it directly.
AM Digital are a major publisher in primary source databases and the Library has access to a range of material from them covering the late Medieval period onwards.
AM Explorer allows you to cross-search across all of the AM Digital primary source databases the Library has access to.
It's quite a basic search but will help you locate material or relevant databases to do more advanced searching in.
ProQuest provide the University Library with access to over 300 databases (both for primary sources, newspaper archives and secondary sources).
ProQuest has a few different platforms it provides access to these databases through and it allows you to cross-search across all, or a selection of, the databases on a particular platform.
Click on "Databases" in the top menu to see full list of databases and then tick/untick the boxes of the resources you do or don't want to search.
ProQuest History Vault provides access to millions of primary source, cross-searchable, full-text/full-image documents on the most widely studied topics in 19th and 20th century American history. The content in History Vault is suitable for researchers in history, African American studies, women’s studies, political science, social sciences, sociology, and international studies.
Alexander Street, a ProQuest company, publishes more than 80 digital collections totaling many millions of pages, audio tracks, videos, images, and playlists. They particularly concentrate on building collections covering literature; music; women's history; black history; psychological counseling and therapy; social and cultural history; drama, medical, theatre, film, and the performing arts; religion; sociology; and other emerging areas.
Readex are a publisher of primary source materials for academic libraries. At the library we have access to their collections African Newspapers, African American Newspapers Series 1 and 2, Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800, Early American Newspapers, Series 2: The New Republic, South Asian Newspapers and and some modules from FBIS Daily Reports.
Readex AllSearch allows you to cross-search through all of, or a selection of, the databases the Library has access to from Readex at one time.