Research Guides: Pacific Islander Studies: Locating Primary Sources

Primary Source Databases

Ethnic NewsWatch
Why search here? Search here for full text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles, dissertations and theses, conference proceedings, blogs
Coverage dates: 1959-present
Includes unique community publications as well as top scholarly journals on ethnicities and ethnic studies.
Language: English, Spanish, French, etc.
Keywords: News Watch
Anthropological Fieldwork Online
Why search here? Search for digitized primary sources and archival materials from North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific written by anthropologists in the 20th century.
Content type: Ethnographies, field notes, manuscript drafts, letters, ephemera
Coverage dates: 1900-1960s
Language: English
eHRAF World Cultures
Why search here? Search here for ethnographic information on cultural, ethnic, religious, and national groups, focusing on pre-industrial cultures from around the world
Content type: Ethnographies
Coverage dates: 1991-present
Language: English
Keywords: Collection of Ethnography

Search for Historical Newspaper Articles

Chinese Newspapers Collection, Historical
Why search here? Explore full page scans of historical English language newspapers published in China.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1832-1953
Includes major historical English newspapers published in China, such as North-China Herald (1850-1941), The Chinese Recorder (1868-1941), and Shanghai Times (1914-1921).
Language: English
Keywords: ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Ethnic NewsWatch
Why search here? Search here for full text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles, dissertations and theses, conference proceedings, blogs
Coverage dates: 1959-present
Includes unique community publications as well as top scholarly journals on ethnicities and ethnic studies.
Language: English, Spanish, French, etc.
Keywords: News Watch
Gale NewsVault
Why search here? Explore articles, advertisements, and images with full page scans of selected newspapers from the United States and the United Kingdom from the 17th to the early 21st century.
Content type: Newspaper articles, advertisements, images
Coverage dates: 1600s-2010
Includes content from the Economist Historical Archive (1843-2010), Times Digital Archive (1785-2008), Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive (1902-2009), Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection, Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals, and American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society.
Language: English
Keywords: News Vault
Global Newsstream
Why search here? Discover news from the top news sources around the world.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Includes titles such as, The Bangkok Post, El Norte, Financial Times, The Guardian, Jerusalem Post, South China Morning Post, The Daily Telegraph, Asian Wall Street Journal, and the BBC Monitoring series of publications.
Language: English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Urdu‎, etc.
Keywords: News Stream International Newsstand Stand
Japan Times Digital Archive
Why search here? Explore Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper for articles on Japan's social structure, internal politics, economy, military and foreign relation, as well as Japanese perspectives on news, history and world affairs.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1897-2016
Cross searchable with Japan Advertiser Digital Archive (1913-1940).
Language: English
Korea Times, Historical
Why search here? Access Korea's oldest English-language newspaper for news coverage of business, economics, finances, politics, and sports in Korea and the world.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1956-2016
Leading daily newspaper from South Korea, with general, political and business news.
Language: English
Keywords: ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Los Angeles Times, Historical
Why search here? Good for tracking the development of Southern California through news articles in full page scans of this important newspaper.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1881-1997
Full page digitization of the newspaper, including all articles, illustrations, and advertisements.
Language: English
Keywords: ProQuest Historical Newspapers
New York Times, Historical
Why search here? Access full page scans of the print edition of The New York Times newspaper complete with advertisements.
Content type: Newspaper articles, advertisements
Coverage dates: 1851-2012
Language: English
Keywords: NYT ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Proquest Historical Newspapers
Why search here? Search digitized historical newspapers from around the world.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1791-2016
Contains: Atlanta Daily World, (1931-2003); Baltimore Afro-American, (1893-1988); Boston Globe (1872-1986); Chicago Defender, (1909-1975); Chinese Newspaper Collection (1832-1953); Cleveland Call and Post, (1934-1991); The Globe & Mail (1844-2014); The Guardian & The Observer (1791-2003); Korea Times (1956-2016); Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals‎ (1845-2015); Los Angeles Sentinel, (1934-2005); Los Angeles Times, (1881-1993); New York Amsterdam News, (1922-1993); New York Times, (1851-2013); Norfolk Journal and Guide, (1916-2003); Philadelphia Tribune, (1912-2001); Pittsburgh Courier, (1911-2002); and the San Francisco Chronicle, (1865-1922). South China Morning Post (1903-1998); Times of India (1838-2008)
Language: English
Rafu Shimpo Digital Archive
Why search here? Explore the longest-running Japanese American newspaper for historical and contemporary coverage of news, community history, and announcements of births, marriages, and deaths concerning Japanese Americans in California, especially in the Los Angeles area.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1914-present
Contains all obtainable issues of The Rafu Shimpo from 1914 on. Publication was suspended during the incarceration of Japanese American citizens from 1942-1945. Includes a link for full access to current issues via institutional subscription to rafu.com.
Language: English, Japanese
Sunday Times Digital Archive
Why search here? Explore full page scans for this well-known British newspaper, including images and advertisements.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1822-2021
Includes coverage of business, sports, and the arts, as well as weather reports, and public notices of births, marriages, and deaths
Language: English
Times Digital Archive
Why search here? Access full page scans of this daily, national British newspaper, including images and advertisements.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1785-2019
Includes coverage of business, sports, and the arts, as well as weather reports, birth and marriage announcements, death notices, and obituaries.
Language: English

Primary Sources on Asian Pacific Available at The Claremont Colleges Library

Primary Sources on Historical Hawaii
Materials focus on Hawaii from early missionaries to post-annexation.
Pacifica Collection of Austronesian Languages
The Pacifica Collection of Austronesian languages contains linguistic texts, primers, and dictionaries mainly from Western Indonesia, the Philippines and Polynesia. These volumes came to The Claremont Colleges Library from the personal library of Dr. Enrin Asai, a world-renowned ethnologist on the South Pacific.

Please note: the Pacifica Collection is still under processing. Please contact the Special Collections and Archives if you have any questions.

Finding Primary Sources Locally (and Beyond)

Special Collections at The Claremont Colleges Library
Special Collections is a treasure trove of primary sources covering a wide range of formats and time periods. Visit the Special Collections homepage to search and discover materials. Contact Special Collections for additional guidance.

Claremont Colleges Digital Library
Why search here? Explore the Library's digitized archive of material representing over 70 collections of historical and visual resources created both by and for The Claremont Colleges community.
Content type: Primary sources, images, artworks, photos, videos, rare books
Language: English

Calisphere
University of California freely available digitized archive of California History. Includes all types of primary source materials including images. This is an example of a collection that is part of the Online Archive of California.
Online Archive of California (OAC)
The Online Archive of California (OAC) provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses.
The Freedom Archives
The Freedom Archives contains over 10,000 hours of audio and video tapes which date from the late-1960s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements.
Library of Congress American Memory Project
"American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience."

Finding Primary Sources Using Library Search

Primary sources of all types can also be found in our regular, circulating books, in Special Collections, and beyond. Here are few ways to find primary texts and sources by using Library Search.

Use the author search to find books we have by a particular author, politician, journalist or another type of historical witness
Do an advanced keyword search in The Library Search and then limit by publication year under “limit your search”) (note: you can also limit by language and many other ways)
Do an advanced keyword in Library Search and then limit to the word "sources" in the subject field (by using the dropdown menu), for example:

"asia or Japan* in the keyword field

"united states" in the subject field

occupation in the keyword field

sources in the subject field.

This brings us the Library of Congress Subject subheading “sources” which is sometimes used to designate primary source collections of different kinds — as in

Japan--History--Allied Occupation, 1945-1952 -- Sources