Often, the best work arises from close engagement with a primary source. As you read, you'll think of questions or begin to shape an argument. The hard part is to find a primary source that addresses the broad general area of interest. Here are some strategies for finding primary sources:
The primary sources for understanding world history -- newspapers, government documents, political pamphlets, personal memoirs -- were written in many languages other than English. You will find key documents and the memoirs of important people in translation, but by no means has all the relevent material been translated. So, If you only read English, you will need to look at your topic through the lens of an English-speaking country, likely the U.S. or Great Britain. Some places to start:
For news in translation see the Foreign Broadcast Information Service
U.S.government documents:
British government documents:
The best starting point is British documents on foreign affairs, the British equivalent of Foreign Relations of the United States. Check the primary source guide for the area of interest (e.g. Russia, Asia) for specific volumes and call numbers.
Searches across Adam Matthew digital collections of world history primary sources.
Cross-searching tool for Gale primary source collections (including Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Indigenous Peoples: North America, and Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture). Also allows users to analyze content using frequency and term-relationship tools.
Searches Proquests' historical databases.
Searches Readex's historical databases.
French Revolution Digital Archive
Ongoing project to produce a digital version of the key research sources of the French Revolution.
Actes royaux français, 1256-1794 (French Royal Acts, 1256-1794) Archives Unbound
"Approximately 16,000 pamphlets covering this important period in French history are available in this collection. One of the largest collections of its kind, it offers a wealth of information on the legislative history and governance of France, as well as other aspects of French life." From the New York Public Library.
Journal. (États généraux, France)
1508.358
7 reels
Printed guide: none
Description: avril, 1789 - septembre, 1791
[French government documents of the revolutionary period]
Journals des débats politiques et littéraires [microform]
RECAP Microfilm S00289
184 reels
Printed guide: none
Includes the parliamentary debates of the Etats généraux, Assemblée nationale constituante, Assemblée nationale legislative, Convention nationale, Corps legislatif. We have 1789-1944, but with a number of gaps. The title has changed over time:
Journal des débats
Rare Books Off-Site Storage 0850.363
(France. Corps legislatif. 1795-1814)
Documents électoraux [microform]
Microfilm 05957
4 reels
Printed guide: none
Documents of the Etats géneéraux from the Archives nationales (numbered ms. AN 1-19, 21-24, 26-38) for 1789.
Ancien regime in turmoil? [microform] : commerce, politics, and society in France, c. 1682-1793 : the Gazette manuscrite, 1775-1793, and related sources from the John Rylands University Library of Manchester
Microfilm 10295
9 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms HF3555 .A524
"This project brings together a variety of original manuscript sources from the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, dominated by the Gazette Manuscrite, a manuscript newsletter documenting the period 1775-1793. The period before and during the French Revolution is brought to life in ten volumes of letters (over 1,150 in total) sent on weekly basis from Paris to Rennes." See http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/ancien_regime_in_turmoil/Contents.aspx.
French Revolutionary pamphlets [microform]
Microcard: located in Firestone Microforms: Cabinet 1
c. 2,000 microcards
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms Z2179 .N47
This collection was published in the early 1960's by Falls City Microcards and sold by Microcard Editions, Inc. The microcard collection was based primarily on the Talleyrand Collection at the New York Public Library (see "Printed guide" above) and the Melvin Collection at the University of Kansas. There are records in the Main Catalog for about 2,000 items in this collection, and a title list on the microfiche at the beginning of the microcard set.
French Revolution collections in the Department of Special Collections
"The Library has a great quantity of material on the French Revolution. The most effective access to holdings is provided by the following publication: Pamphlets, Periodicals, and Songs of the French Revolutionary Era in the Princeton University Library: A Descriptive Catalogue together with Indexes compiled by Carla Hesse and Laura Mason with the assistance of Stephen Ferguson. (New York and Princeton, 1989) [(ExB) Z2178 .P76 1989]. This short-title catalogue lists the Library's 3000+ pamphlets from the French Revolutionary period." The component collections include Bord, Weaver, Chinard, and Rogers.
American Sources
Despatches from United States consuls in Archangel, 1811-1861 [microform]
RECAP 1096.795.92.4
1 reel
Printed guide: none
Originals held by National Archives as part of Record Group 59, General Records of the Dept. of State, Consular Correspondence. See http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/059.html#59.2.2
Despatches from United States consuls in Belgrade, 1883-1906 [microfilm]
RECAP 1096.991.92
1 reel
Printed guide: none
Originals held by National Archives as part of Record Group 59, General Records of the Dept. of State, Consular Correspondence. See http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/059.html#59.2.2
Despatches from United States consuls in Budapest, 1876-1906 [microform]
RECAP 1096.479.92
4 reels
Printed guide: none
Originals held by National Archives as part of Record Group 59, General Records of the Dept. of State, Consular Correspondence. See http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/059.html#59.2.2
Despatches from United States consuls in Revel, 1859-1870
RECAP 1096.795.92
1 reel
Printed guide: none
Originals held by National Archives as part of Record Group 59, General Records of the Dept. of State, Consular Correspondence. See http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/059.html#59.2.2
Despatches from United States consuls in Riga, 1834-1872, 1890-1906 [microform]
RECAP 1096.795.92.2
1 reel
Printed guide: none
Originals held by National Archives as part of Record Group 59, General Records of the Dept. of State, Consular Correspondence. See http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/059.html#59.2.2
The Russian Civil War and American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia, 1918-20 Archives Unbound "This collection reproduces important letters, reports, memorandums, cablegrams, maps, charts, and other kinds of records relating to the activities of the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia (hereafter, AEF in Siberia), 1918-20.Source Note: Record Group 395: Records of U.S. Army Overseas Operations and Commands, 1898-1942, American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia, Historical Files, M-917."
British Sources
Oriental question, 1840-1900 [microform]: files from the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle.
Microfilm 05589
38 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms DA550.L47
"The history of British foreign relations in the 19th century is a record of shifting strategies, policies, and alignments....One issue of great importance for the direction of British policy in these years was the Eastern, or Oriental, Question-the problems brought about by the decline of the Ottoman Empire. With the balance of power in Europe at stake, the Eastern Question was a continuing diplomatic concern, and its significance is clearly seen in the correspondence, memoranda, and policy analyses found in the Royal Archives."
British Foreign Office Russia correspondence [microform]
Microfilm 02266
See below.
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms DA47.65.B74
"The Russia Correspondence files of the British Foreign Office are fundamental sources for research on Russian/Soviet history and Anglo-Russian relations. These files contain the dispatches, instructions, reports, memorandums, and other communications that flowed between the Foreign Office in London and the British embassy and consulates in Russia and surrounding countries." Covers 1906-1917 (89 reels); 1922-1929 (96 reels); 1930-1940 (117 reels); 1941-1945 (96 reels); 1946-1948 (61 reels)
World War I and Revolution in Russia, 1914-1918 Archives Unbound
"This collection documents the Russian entrance into World War I and culminates in reporting on the Revolution in Russia in 1917 and 1918. The documents consist primarily of correspondence between the British Foreign Office, various British missions and consulates in the Russian Empire and the Tsarist government and later the Provisional Government." From FO 371.
British documents on foreign affairs---reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part I, from the mid-nineteenth century to the First World War. Series A, Russia, 1859-1914
Oversize JX632 .B74 1983q
British documents on foreign affairs is a multivolume printed edition of records from the British Foreign Office Confidential Print. These records are diplomatic papers and reports originally published for the British government. See the Main Catalog record for this title for a list of countries and dates of coverage in each volume. See also http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Isiaas/
BritishDocumentsForeignAffairs.asp
Alexander III and the Policy of "Russification," 1883-1886 Archives Unbound
This collection, as seen through the eyes of the British diplomatic corps in Russia, provides a unique analysis of this "retro-reform" policy, including the increase of revolutionary agitation, deepening of conservatism and changes from agrarian to industrial society, and spread of pan-Slavism, both in the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe. The British Foreign Office Records of General Correspondence for Russia, in record class F.O. 65, is the basic collection of documents for studying Anglo-Russian relations during this period of fundamental change.
Periodicals and Pamphlets
Central Asian serials from late Imperial Russia [microform]
Microfilm S01855
638 reels
Printed guide: none
From the Nationalities Division of the Russian National Library. Materials written in Russian and in various languages of the nationalities of Central Asian republics of the Former Soviet Union (Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen).
Menshevik collection of newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets and books related to the Menshevik movement
RECAP 1627.189.783.87
76 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms Z7164.S67S72
Microfilm of originals in the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. Text in Russian. "Includes over 200 separate titles and thousands of issues of journals and newspapers....Covers the entire period of 1903-1919."
Russian revolutionary pamphlets, 1860-1923 [microform]
Microfiche 1403
243 microfiches
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms Oversize DK188 .R877q
Material from the British Library of Political and Economic Science.
Anglo-Russian [microform]
Microfilm 11873
2 reels
Printed guide: none
From the larger collection "Business and financial papers, 1780-1939. Series 1, International trade." See http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/ business_and_financial_papers_series_one_parts_1and2/Contents.aspx
Free Russia [microform]: the organ of the English Society of Friends of Russian Freedom
Microfilm 11874
2 reels
Printed guide: none
From the larger collection "Business and financial papers, 1780-1939. Series 1, International trade." See http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/ business_and_financial_papers_series_one_parts_1and2/Contents.aspx