LibGuides: Policy and the Carceral State: Primary Sources: Documents & collections

Trial: Black Thought and Culture

Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
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This collection of writings by major American Black leaders covers nearly three centuries of history.
Black Thought and Culture is an electronic collection of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders covering nearly three centuries of history. It showcases the writings of teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures. In addition to the most familiar works, the collection shares previously inaccessible material, including letters, speeches, prefatory essays, political leaflets, interviews, periodicals, and trial transcripts.

Documents on the Web

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History & Diplomacy, Yale University
American Prison Writing Archive, Hamilton College
The American Prison Writing Archive is a place where imprisoned people and prison staff can write about and document their experience.
The Fire Inside newsletter
Newsletter of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners
The Freedom Archives
"contains over 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings 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."

Documents and collections

Let freedom ring: A collection of documents from the movements to free U.S. political prisoners
"Let Freedom Ring presents a two-decade sweep of essays, analyses, histories, interviews, resolutions, People’s Tribunal verdicts, and poems by and about the scores of U.S. political prisoners and the campaigns to safeguard their rights and secure their freedom."

Adam Matthew Digital This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to primary source collections from archives around the world on a wide variety of subjects
Adam Matthew publishes unique primary source collections from archives around the world on a variety of subjects including gender, slavery, race relations, medieval life, American history and culture, modern advertising, war and medical services, global economics, the Far East, the Middle East, women in America, and many more.
African American Communities This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to primary sources from the early 19th to the early 21st centuries
Early 19th century to early 21st century; focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this resource-presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.
Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 This link opens in a new window
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Provides primary sources on LGBTQ life, 1940-2014
1940-2014; with material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups, the documents in the Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940-present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. The archive illuminates the experiences not just of the LGBTQ community as a whole, but of individuals of different races, ethnicities, ages, religions, political orientations, and geographical locations that constitute this community. Historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals are featured, as well as publications by and for lesbians and gays, and extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis. The archive also contains personal correspondence and interviews with numerous LGBTQ individuals, among others. The archive includes gay and lesbian newspapers from more than 35 countries, reports, policy statements, and other documents related to gay rights and health, including the worldwide impact of AIDS, materials tracking LGBTQ activism in Britain from 1950 through 1980, and more.
NAACP Papers This link opens in a new window
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The complete digitized archives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 1909-1972.
1909-1972; the NAACP Papers includes the subcollections Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, Major Campaigns,Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Branch files, Youth Departmental Files, Organizational Records and National Staff Files. It is internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. It charts the NAACP's work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues: lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, and housing, among others. It provides a comprehensive view of the NAACP's evolution, policies, and achievements. With a timeline that runs from 1909 to 1972, users can examine the realities of segregation in the early 20th century to the triumphs of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and beyond.
Slavery & Anti-Slavery: a Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
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A primary source collection that provides access to books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, legal documents, court records, monographs, manuscripts, and maps from many different countries covering the history of the slave trade, 17th century - late 19th century
Slavery and Anti-Slavery provides access to Part I: Debates over Slavery and Abolition, Part II: Slave Trade in the Atlantic World, Part III: The Institution of Slavery, and Part IV: The Age of Emancipation. Slavery and Anti-Slavery includes collections on the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery, the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system, and the dynamics of emancipation in the U.S. as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
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A primary source collection for the study of slavery, the African American experience, and world history, 1490-2007.
1490-2007; Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice is a portal for slavery and abolition studies, bringing together documents and collections covering more than five centuries from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world and the Mediterranean with contextual essays by prominent scholars in the field. Close attention is given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continuing existence of slavery today.
Slavery and the Law This link opens in a new window
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A primary source collection featuring petitions on race, slavery, and free Blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867.
Slavery and the Law features petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867. The petitions provide testimony on a broad range of subjects by a variety of southerners - black and white, slave and free, slaveholder and non-slaveholder, man and woman.
U.S. intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009 This link opens in a new window
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A primary source collection documenting spying and analytic efforts by the U.S. intelligence community in the Arab world, 1945-2009.
1945-2009; since 1945, the U.S. intelligence community has had to cover a half-dozen major wars and several dozen smaller but equally bloody armed conflicts in the Middle East, as well as innumerable civil wars, border clashes, armed insurgencies, and terrorist attacks. This comprehensive document set sheds light on the U.S. intelligence communitys spying and analytic efforts in the Arab world, including the Middle East, the Near East, and North Africa. It covers the time period from the end of World War II to the-present day, up until the 2002-2003 Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) assessments, the Global War on Terror, the Iraq War, and Irans nuclear program.
Women's Studies Archive: Womens Issues and Identities This link opens in a new window
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Traces the path of women's issues through primary sources including manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more, 19th-20th century
As the first in the Womens Studies Archive, this collection traces the path of womens issues from the past to-presentpulling primary sources from manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more. It captures the foundation of womens movements, struggles and triumphs, and provides researchers with valuable insights. As a comprehensive academic-level archival resource, Womens Studies Archive: Womens Issues and Identities will focus on the social, political, and professional achievements of women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century. Topics include: the history of feminist theory and activism; domestic culture; lay and ordained church women; women in industry; women's sexuality and gender expression; womens education; womens movement; womens health and mental health; women and law; women and the control of their bodies; and womens roles and interactions within society.
Women, War, and Society, 1914-1918 This link opens in a new window
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A collection of primary sources documenting women's contributions to the First World War.
The First World War had a revolutionary and permanent impact on the personal, social and professional lives of all women. Their essential contribution to the war in Europe is fully documented in this definitive collection of primary source materials brought together in the Imperial War Museum, London. These unique documents - charity and international relief reports, pamphlets, photographs, press cuttings, magazines, posters, correspondence, minutes, records, diaries, memoranda, statistics, circulars, regulations and invitations - are published here for the first time in fully-searchable form, along with interpretative essays from leading scholars. Together these documents form an indispensable resource for the study of 20th-Century social, political, military and gender history.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000: Scholar's Edition This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women's reform activities from colonial times to the-present.
Women and Social Movements in the United States brings together books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women's reform activities. The resource, which examines perspectives on women's social movements from Colonial times to the-present, was developed by Thomas Dublin and Kathryn Kish Sklar of the State University of New York at Binghamton in an internationally-renown website of the same name.

Documents in Special Collections

Malana Krongelb zine collection, 1974-2018
The Malana Krongelb zine collection consists of administrative files and zines that focus on social justice and marginalized identities, dating from 1974 to 2018. Areas of strength include zines by and about people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer peoples, disabled people, interpersonal violence, sex and relationships, sex work, the prison industrial complex, self-care, feminism, and punk.
Christina Sharpe papers, 1989- 2018
This collection consists of the papers of Christina Sharpe, Professor of English at York University and notable Black feminist theorist. The collection documents Sharpe's professional life and research in racism, slavery, and feminism, consisting of correspondence, conference material, draft writings, writings by other authors, subject files, and print material, dating from 1989 to the present.
Cuban Slavery documents collection
This set of documents relate to the institution of slavery, the slave trade, and the use of indentured servants in Cuba during the 19th century. Cuba participated heavily in the slave trade to obtain cheap labor for the sugar plantations beginning in the 16th century. Cuba stopped officially participating in the slave trade in 1867 but the institution of slavery was not abolished on the island until 1886. The demand for cheap labor never abated of course, and plantation owners sought other ways of obtaining workers. They followed the lead of the British and the French by switching to importing contract laborers (indentured servants), called colonos. Free people, either voluntarily or through coercion, signed a work contract that stipulated the term of service and the pay they would receive. In theory, the colonos could leave the employ of their owners at the end of the term of service, but in practice the conditions for the colonos were not much different than those endured by the slave population. The majority of the colonos came from China (Chinese Coolies) but they also imported people from the Canary Islands, Mexico, and Africa. This collection contains official letters, death certificates, birth certificates, legal cases, work contracts, an autopsy report, and inventories relating to the institution of slavery, slaves, and indentured servants in Cuba. Many of the documents refer to the Chinese people brought to Cuba as indentured servants or contract laborers.
Elizabeth Buffum Chace and family, papers [ca. 1801-1900]
Quaker reformer Elizabeth Buffam Chace was a feminist, abolitionist, activist for prison reform, the rights of orphans, peace, and temperance and the author of "Anti-Slavery Reminiscences."
The collection includes her commonplace book and diary; family albums, scrapbooks, photographs; miscellaneous clippings and other material relating to the Buffums, the Chaces, the Cheneys, and the Tolmans. The collection also includes some correspondence.

Congressional documents

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to records and publications of the U.S. Congress, 1789-present.
1789-present; formerly LexisNexis Congressional, these are retrospective collections of the publications of the U. S. Congress, including:
U.S. Congressional Hearings, 1824-2003
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1789-2003
U.S. Congressional Serial Set Maps
U.S. Congressional Record, 1789-1997
U.S. Congressional UnPubished Hearings, Part A and B
For help getting started, see Quick Start Guide for ProQuest Congressional Digital Research Collection.