Primary Sources

If you cannot find primary sources in a general internet search, try searching for museums, archives or libraries. 

Libraries, museums, and other academic and cultural institutions create and host troves of digitized primary source content.

These digitalized primary sources can include, art works, sculptures, fashion and clothing, pictures, posters and letters.

Akron Art Museum

Features regional, national and international exhibitions on loan from distinguished museums and private collections throughout the nation.

Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection of more than 30000 works of art ranges over 5000 years, from ancient Egypt to the present, and includes masterpieces from Europe, Asia, and Africa

Archives of American Art
Includes "papers of artists, dealers, critics and curators, comprising thousands of letters, photographs, diaries, sketches, writings, rare published materials, and other documents." From the Smithsonian Institution.

Art Project
Google Cultural Institute brings together millions of artifacts from multiple partners, with the stories that bring them to life, in a virtual museum.

Digital South Asia Library
The images fall into the broad categories of architecture, sculpture, terracotta, painting and numismatics.

Discover Islamic Art
With support of the European Union, this "Biggest Islamic Art Museum of the World" contains digitized images from more than 40 museums in 14 countries.

Institute of Egyptian Art & Archeology
This site contains an exhibit of ancient Egyptian artifacts and a virtual tour of ancient Egyptian cities.

Perseus Project
Perseus is a growing collection of online resources for studying the ancient world. Materials include ancient texts and translations, maps, articles, essays, and images from over 70 museums around the world.

Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution offers access to primary sources and other resources on a wide variety of topics, including military and political history.