Databases

165 databases found Primary SourcesX

Provides original materials on the political, social, and cultural history of Native Peoples from the 16th century well into the 20th century, including rare books and monographs, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, census records, legal documents, maps, drawings and sketches, oral histories, photos, and videos from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Major contributors include the University of Alberta, U.S. National Archives, Library of Congress, Princeton University, Moravian Archives, and Gonzaga University.  Titles in this database are also listed in the library catalogue.

This collection was created to consolidate information available on United States and Indigenous Law, and also to share the influence that Indigenous American cultures have had on modern society.  It contains U.S. federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence, and includes:

  • 418 treaties between the United States and Indigenous peoples
  • 25 serial titles, including the American Indian Law Review, Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture and Resistance, and NARF Legal Review
  • Over 770 works related to the constitutions and laws of Indigenous peoples in the United States
  • Landmark Indigenous cases, congressional hearings, government reports, the Model Tribal Probate Code and more

For over the past 200 years, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, and deforestation, have caused the concentrations of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" to increase significantly in our atmosphere. This collection documents the U.S. response to the threat posed by climatic change and global warming. The research behind the studies, reports, and analyses represents an exhaustive review of the facts, causes, and economic and political implications of a phenomenon that threatens every region of the world.

Coverage: 1939 to 1944

Digitized from originals held by the Library's Research Collections.  David Diamant is the pseudonym of David Erlich, a Jewish communist and committed member of the underground resistance during World War II. This collection consists of original documents collected by Diamant over a period of approximately 30 years dealing primarily with the Jewish segment of the French underground resistance; many of the documents originate with communist groups, and some deal with Polish groups. Most of the documents are in French, while some are in Yiddish.

Coverage: 1944 to 2000

Full page and article images with searchable full text back to 1944 of this French language newspaper from France covering leading issues and events, like World War II and the Fifth Republic, to French, European and international politics, society and business.

Coverage: 1845 to 2015

ProQuest Leftist Newspapers and periodicals is a collection of English-language publications spanning beyond the 20th century (1845-2015) covering Communist, Socialist and Marxist thought, theory and practice. Issues covered include workers’ rights, organized labor, labor strikes, Nazi atrocities, McCarthyism’s rise after WWII, Civil Rights, and modern-day class struggles which give rise to renewed interest in alternative social organizations. This collection includes 145 titles with over 150,000 digitized pages.

Coverage: 1954 to 2015

Archival runs of 50 of the most influential, longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. Includes the pre-eminent US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay Times, respectively. Chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community. In addition to LGBT/gender/sexuality studies, this material also serves related disciplines such as sociology, political science, psychology, health, and the arts.  Subject coverage includes gay rights, gay culture, gay literature and art, the gay rights movement, gender identity, gender studies, lesbianism, LGBT activism, LGBT studies, social history and transgender community.

Coverage: 1900s to the present

Includes materials ranging from texts, letters, periodicals, speeches, interviews, and ephemera covering LGBT political, social and cultural movements to memoirs, biographies, poetry, and works of fiction that provide insight into the lives of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual individuals and the community. Content partners include the Kinsey Institute Archive and Library, Windy City Media Group, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archive, and notable LGBT publishers Alyson Books, Cleis Press, and Firebrand Books as well as mainstream trade and university publishers.

Coverage: 1937 to 1967

The Mass Observation project collected information about everyday life in Britain during the mid-twentieth century, reflecting attitudes, behaviors, and public opinion. Created by three British researchers as a personal research project, its focus changed as it served the government during the Second World War and then emerged as a market research organization. The findings continue to be valued for their insight into British society, although sometimes criticized for the self-selecting methodology used to collect the data.

The online database provides over 2,000 File Reports (top-level summaries), Day Surveys from 1937-38, Diaries from 1939-67, and a range of Topic collections including: Household Matters and Household Budgeting, 1939-1950; Juvenile Delinquency; Korea, 1950; Radio Listening, 1939-1948; World Outlook, 1945-1950, Film; Reading Habits; Dreams; Religion; Victory Celebrations, and Capital Punishment.

Coverage: 1200 to 1500

This primary sources database presents manuscripts of some of the most important works of European travel writing from the later medieval period. The chief focus is on journeys to central Asia and the Far East, including accounts of travel to Mongolia, Persia, India, China and South-East Asia; it also includes accounts of travel to and through the Holy Land.

Coverage: 1867 to 2 weeks ago | Recent covers January 3, 2011 to 2 weeks ago | Historical covers June 3, 1867 to December 31, 2010

Search or browse issues (full page and article images in PDF) of the Montreal Gazette from 1867 to 2 weeks ago.

The most current issues of The Montreal Gazette are available online (plain-text) via Factiva and  Nexis Uni.

The official archive of the UK government. Facilitates search across archive catalogues held throughout England and dating from the eighth century to the present day. Holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country.  Over 9 million records are available for download.

Coverage: 1888 to 2020

National Geographic and Gale have partnered to bring vast resources to digital life with National Geographic Virtual Library. This collection bring together an archive of National Geographic magazine--every page of every issue--along with a cross-searchable collection of books, maps, images, and videos.

Coverage: January 3, 2011 to 2 weeks ago

Search or browse issues (full page and article images in PDF) of the National Post from January 1, 2011 to 2 weeks ago.

The most current issues of the National Post are available online (plain-text) via Factiva, Nexis Uni and other databases.

Coverage: 1851 to 1 month ago; Recent covers January 1, 2008 to 1 month ago; Historical covers September 18, 1851 to December 31, 2019

Provides full page and article images (PDF) with searchable full-text back to the first issue. Includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.

The most current issues of The New York Times are available online (plain-text) via  Factiva, Nexis Uni and other databases

Coverage: 1841 to 1962

Provides full page and article images (PDF) with searchable full-text of New York Tribune / Herald Tribune.  Useful for researching key events of the 19th and 20th centuries, from pre-Civil War tensions and U.S. internationalism to the fight for women’s rights and the completion of the Panama Canal. In addition to politics and reform, this newspaper also reports on the arts, New York society, sports, business, finance, and more.

Coverage: 1918 to 2015

An archival collection comprising the backfiles of 15 major magazines (including Newsweek), spanning areas such as current events, international relations, and public policy. The titles offer multiple perspectives on the contemporary contexts of the major events, trends, and interests in these fields throughout the twentieth century.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online provides full-text, fully searchable content from a wide range of primary sources. Archives published in the program include works in Western as well as non-Western languages and are sourced from rare collections at libraries and other venerable institutions from around the globe. McMaster currently has access to these collections: Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; British Politics and Society; British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection and Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture 

Coverage: 1840 to the present

Contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives provide a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950. Includes 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information, and in selected cases, the actual audio voices of the immigrants.

Includes biographies, auto-biographies, personal narratives, speeches, diaries, letters, and oral histories, with over 119,000 pages of text and images. Full-length reference works also are included to give background and context to the narratives.

The largest collection of women's diaries and correspondence ever assembled, spanning more than 300 years, and bringing the personal experiences of some 1,325 women to researchers, students, and general readers.

Subjects include what women wore, the conditions under which they worked, what they ate, what they read, and how they amused themselves; how frequently they attended church, how they viewed their connection to God, and how they prayed; their relationships with lovers, family and friends.

Contains 150,000 pages of published letters and diaries from individuals writing from Colonial times to 1950, more than 6,000 pages of previously unpublished materials, drawn from more than 600 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings, and 300 biographies. All age groups, life stages, and ethnicities, many geographical regions, the famous and the not so famous are represented.

Oral History Online is a landmark database of English language oral histories. It contains at present more than 30,000 pages of full-text content that is available nowhere else in electronic format, much of which is available nowhere else in any format. This full-text material includes Ellis Island oral history narratives, exclusive Black Panther Party interviews, and other oral histories. With each quarterly update of Oral History Online, the publisher will add more of such proprietary (in-copyright) full-text interviews.

Coverage: 1845 to 2010

Search or browse issues (full page and article images in PDF) of the Ottawa Citizen from 1845 to 2010.

The most current issues of Ottawa Citizen are available online (plain-text) via Factiva

Coverage: 1945 to 1959

The documents in this collection on Palestine and Israel are sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. This archive traces the vitally important period that saw the end of the British mandate in Palestine. Documents address the role of the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations and that of the United States in the creation of the state of Israel. Included here are the Palestine Reference files of Dean Rusk and Robert McClintock, as well as documents from the Mission of the United States in Tel-Aviv. The years 1955-1959 contain instructions and correspondences of the U.S. Department of State. Most of the State Department's internal documentation as well as correspondence between the State Department and other federal departments and agencies, in addition to documents from private individuals and organizations, are included in the central files.

Coverage: 1939 to 1949

The Palestine Statehood Committee Records, 1939-1949, "Concerning the campaigns for a Jewish Army; to save the Jewish people of Europe and the establishment of a Hebrew Republic in Palestine" consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports, publications, advertisements, and clippings related to five committees active in the United States from 1939 to 1949: the American Friends of a Jewish Palestine, the Committee for an Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews, the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, the American League for a Free Palestine, and the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation. Among these papers are selected materials spanning the years 1939-1942 on the activities of similar groups in Great Britain and France: the British League for a Free Palestine, and the Ligue francaise pour une Palestine libre. The Committee's goals included the creation of an independent Jewish army to fight the Axis powers, the rescue and repatriation of European Jews in Palestine, and the re-establishment of a Jewish nation in an independent Palestine.

Coverage: 1848-1851

The collection is comprised of over 100 pamphlets and periodicals from the French Revolution of 1848 held by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL).

Provides full-text scholarly editions of selected philosophers and English literary writers. Works include published and unpublished texts, articles, essays, and correspondence, in both the original language, and, where required, in English translation. Contents include classical works in philosophy, history of political thought and theory, education, religious studies, economics, classics, history, and German studies.

Coverage: 1939-1945

Digitized from originals held by McMaster University Library's Research Collections. This primary source collection consists of newspapers and periodicals; broadsides; leaflets; and books and pamphlets and other documents produced by or relating to the underground resistance in France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy.

Interactive database linking texts and translations of major works covers the history, literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world. 

Produced by Coherent Digital, Policy Commons is the world’s largest database for public policy, with more than 3.2 million reports, working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and media drawn from a directory of more than 24,000 IGOs, NGOs, think tanks, and research centers. It includes over a million pages of premium content from leading publishers and restored from organizations that have disappeared.

The Policy Commons interface offers fulltext searching in addition to 3,400 topics tags and filters for document type, organization name and type, publication language, country of publication, and publication date. It also provides a searchable database of more than 16,000 policy organizations worldwide.