Research Guides: English Language & Literature: Find Primary (Literary) Sources

What Are Primary Sources?

In literature, the most important primary sources are the literary work(s) which is the focus of your research: novels, plays, poetry, etc..

Literature-Specific Primary Source Databases

African American Poetry This link opens in a new window
Poems by African American poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Includes the earliest published African American poems to the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, the first African American poet to achieve national success and recognition.
Black Short Fiction and Folklore This link opens in a new window
Stories and folklore from Africa and the African Diaspora.
Caribbean Literature This link opens in a new window
Poems, drama, novels, stories and related material produced in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries. Features works in English, Spanish, French, and Dutch as well as various Creole languages.
Latino Literature This link opens in a new window
Novels, short stories, poetry and plays by Chicanx and Latinx authors working in the US. The majority of the works are in English. 19th century to present.
New Oxford Shakespeare This link opens in a new window
Electronic access to complete Shakespeare works in a modern critical edition (modern spellings), critical reference edition (original spellings), and authorship companion (essays of authorship and chronology); complete texts, notes, and scholarly resources; words can be searched across the set of editions
Past Masters Full Text Humanities: Women Writers This link opens in a new window
Full text books, correspondence, diaries by a selection of major pre-20th-century British women writers.
Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement This link opens in a new window
Baraka's poetry, organizational records, print publications, articles, plays, speeches, personal correspondence, oral histories, and personal records from 1913-1998.

Find Books at the Claremont Colleges Library and Beyond

Library Search This link opens in a new window
Provides access to resources owned by the Claremont Colleges Library, and to millions of resources from libraries worldwide that we do not own. In addition to physical materials housed in the library, Library Search also provides access to online sources (e-books, articles, dissertations, and streaming video and audio).