LibGuides: Digital Collections at NMSU: Primary Sources

Featured Collections

ACES Historical Publications

Cover of New Mexico Extension News, May 1954, volume 35, issue 5

NMSU Board of Regents Minutes

Board of Regents minutes, April 18, 1889

NMSU Library Newsletters

Library Newsletter featuring the groundbreaking for the "New Library", January 1991

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Introduction

Digital collections of all types are an excellent resource for you to start research, conduct research, get inspiration, or just browse for fun. Digital collections allow you to have access to unique primary sources from all over the globe and in almost any subject.

The tabs below contain links and brief descriptions of many different digital collections. The "General" tab is a collection of digital collections that have many different subjects contained within them from history to fashion. There are also links to primary source sets that include teaching guides.

Primary Sources

Archive of Americana This link opens in a new window
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Restricted to NMSU users. Contains government documents, U. S. Congressional documents, ephemera and maps.

Digital Public Library of America Primary Sources
Developed by educators, it includes teaching guides for thousands of primary source sets containing cultural, historical, and literary content.
Europeana
Europeana is curated from archives, libraries, and museums from all over Europe.
Library of Congress Primary Sources
Primary sources ranging from African-American experience to sports and recreation to science and technology.
Smithsonian Institution
Search hundreds of collections spanning the Institution's 23 museums, galleries and gardens.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Online collection with over a million objects that range from Chinese ceramics to Alexander McQueen evening dresses.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Over 150,000 maps from North and South America from the 1500s-present day.
Library of Congress Maps
The Library of Congress has the largest, most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world. Find thousands of maps on a variety of subjects, including railroads, cities, towns, national parks, the military and much more.
New York Public Library --Digital Map Gallery
Over 50 collections of historical to contemporary maps from all over the globe.

Sanborn Digital Maps: New Mexico This link opens in a new window
Restricted to NMSU users. Essential for researchers interested in the history, growth, and development of American cities, towns, and neighborhoods. These maps are large-scale plans containing data that can be used to estimate the potential risk for urban structures. Users needing unrestricted access can find a limited number of Sanborn maps at the Library of Congress.

Chronicling America
Search selected American historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963. Includes 88 New Mexico newspapers.
Elephind.com
Search 4,395 of the world’s free digital newspapers.
Europeana
Explore the headlines, articles, advertisements, and opinion pieces from European newspapers from 20 countries, dating from 1618 to the 1980s.
New Mexico Historical Newspapers
Sixty-four newspapers from around the state published in the late 19th and early 20th century.

NewspaperArchive This link opens in a new window
Restricted to NMSU users. A good resource for historical and genealogical information. Spanning 400 years of family history, small-town events, world news and more.
New York Times, 1851-2019 This link opens in a new window
Restricted to NMSU users. Offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to 1851. The last five years are not available electronically.

Round Up
The NMSU student newspaper and its predecessor, The New Mexico Collegian, are a central source of material on the history of NMSU and the region. Published since 1893.

AP Images
Access the world’s largest collections of historical and contemporary photographs. Purchase required.
Getty Images
Images from the world’s largest privately held visual archive. Search thousands of images and video from world-renown collections, such as the BBC. Purchase may be required.
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Broad public access to these materials is available as a contribution to education and scholarship.
NMSU Archives Photographic Collections
The NMSU Library Archives and Special Collections houses over one million items in its photographic collections, with materials that cover more than 150 years of image making in New Mexico, the U.S./Mexico border region and the Southwest.

National Agricultural Library Digital Collections
Searching, browsing and retrieval of digital materials across many types of collections, including articles, publications, drawings, and art.
ACES Historical Publications
This collection contains issues of newspapers published by the Agricultural Extension Service of New Mexico State University from 1912-1974.
NMSU Extension and Experiment Station Publications
Access over 100 years of research-based information about agriculture, health, economics, family life and natural resources. Includes Circulars, Guides, Handbooks, Annual Data Reports, Research Reports and Bulletins, Technical Reports and Task Force Reports from 1890 to present.

Ad*Access
Over 7,000 advertisements from U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines. Covers five categories during the years 1911-1955: beauty and hygiene, radio, television, transportation, and World War II.
AdRespect
Since 1996 this site has tracked advertising representations of the LGBTQ+ community. Contains over 4,000 images from around the world and has extensive search features.
Amador Trade Catalogs
A free database of domestic and international merchandise catalogs and other materials from Las Cruces' Amador's mercantile store ranging from 1873-1942. The database does not contain images of the catalogs. It is merely an index to help patrons locate specific catalogs for research purposes. Any in-depth study or handling of the catalogs must to be done on-site.
Medicine and Madison Avenue
About 600 advertising items explore the relationships between modern medicine and modern advertising.

Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress
Selected primary sources from the Library of Congress for use in lesson plans for grades 3-12.
DocsTeach
Selected primary sources from the National Archives for use in teaching with documents. Also includes activities and tools for creating your own lesson plans.

Educator's Reference Complete This link opens in a new window
Database of academic journals, reports, and reference sources in the field of education, including content in administration, bilingual education, child development and psychology, funding, health education, technology, and testing. The majority of the full-text titles included are also found in the ERIC database.
ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) This link opens in a new window
Database containing research documents, journal articles, technical reports, program descriptions and evaluations, and curricular materials in the field of education.

U.S. Army Core of Engineers
Contains historical maps, drawings, reports, and photographs documenting the history of the Core.
National Transportation Library Online Digital Collections
Multiple collections from a variety of sources related to transportation engineering.
Transportation Photographs
The University of Washington offers this wide ranging photographic collection covering all modes of transportation.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers Archive and Artefact Catalogue
Charts the history of the Institution and of mechanical engineering. Includes railway engineering, manufacturing, power plant development and automobile development are represented through personal and company papers. Includes design drawings, photographs and models.
Science History Institute
Search 10,000+ digitized items including artifacts, photographs, advertisements, letters, rare books, oral histories, and more.

Performing Arts

Art Song Central
Free and printable sheet music for singers and voice teachers. The archive contains more than 1000+ songs. There are songs in French, German, Italian, and Latin; there is IPA transcription for the songs in another language. All of the music is all in the public domain in the United States.
Digital Resources for the Performing Arts
A curated website by the director of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. It has many resources pertaining to the performing arts including many digital humanities projects.
Library of Congress Digital Collections of Dance
Materials from various dance genres including American, European, ballet, modern, and many more. The digitized items and resources for dance include choreographic notes, photographs, musical scores, moving images, sound recordings, rare books, and artwork.
Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections
Over 35,000 items from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, including sheet music, moving images, correspondence, & ephemera.
MusicRef
A reference resource for music and dance. It contains 1000s of reference sources. It also has bibliographies, digital collections, ejournals, ebooks, and many other useful resources.
Oxford Music Online
Restricted to NMSU users. This is a comprehensive encyclopedia of all things related to all types of music.

Visual Arts

ArchNet
An international online community for architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, conservationists, and scholars, with a focus on Muslim cultures and civilisations.
Art UK
Online home for every public art collection in the UK.
Society of Architectural Historians Archipedia
An authoritative online encyclopedia of the U.S. built environment organized by the Society of Architectural Historians and the University of Virginia Press. It contains histories, photographs, and maps for over 20,000 structures and places.
The Getty Research Institute
The Photo Archive's two million photographs provide supplementary and original pictorial research for the study of fine arts from antiquity to the modern period, with a focus in the photographic reproduction of western art, architecture, and decorative arts.
Web Gallery of Art
A searchable database of European fine arts and architecture (3rd-19th centuries). Artist biographies, commentaries, guided tours, period music, and catalogue.

History

American Memory Project at the Library of Congress
The American Memory Project contains still and moving images, sound recordings, maps, sheet music, and many more primary source documents covering many aspects of American life, culture, and history.
New Mexico History Museum
New Mexico State University Rio Grande Historical Collections
Collections of manuscripts, photographs, and cultural heritage items that cover the southwest region and the borderlands.

Literature

Folger Library
Explore all things Shakespeare including access to the full texts of Shakespeare's plays, sonnets, and poems.
Google Arts and Culture
Impressive images from more than 2,000 art and museum collection from around the world.
PEN America Archive
An archive of recorded discussions from over 50 years of programming with artists, writers, and intellectuals.

Linguistics

American English Dialect Recordings: The Center for Applied Linguistics Collection
The Center for Applied Linguistics Collection contains 118 hours of recordings documenting North American English dialects. The recordings include speech samples, linguistic interviews, oral histories, conversations, and excerpts from public speeches.
OLAC: Open Language Archives Community
A worldwide virtual library of language resources created by an international partnership of institutions and individuals.

Theology and Philosophy

Atla Digital Library
Brings together digital collections of scholarly, historical, and cultural significance relevant to the study, teaching, and learning of religion and theology..
Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL)
A meta-site bringing together free access to religious books, newspapers, and journals. Contains links to nearly 200,000 items.
American Philosophical Society
Provides access to a wide variety of documents in Browse by collection or find specific items using the search bar.

Astronomy

Clyde W. Tombaugh Papers
Digital collection of the papers of Clyde Tombaugh the discoverer of Pluto. The collection includes his personal and professional correspondence with family members and world-renowned astronomers from the height of the Space Age, his findings and theories on the planets, comets, and asteroids, and much more.
NASA Image Library
Search or browse images of Earth NASA missions, and space.

Biology and Life Sciences

Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL)
The world’s largest open access, searchable digital library for biodiversity literature and archives.

Botany, Entomology, Ornithology

Botanical Society of America
The Botanical Society of America encompasses all areas of plant biology, including development, physiology, reproductive biology, evolution, phycology, genetics, mycology, ecology, systematics, molecular biology, and paleobotany.
Cornell Labs of Ornithology--Macauley Library
An audio collection of animal sounds.
Invasive.Org
Invasive and Exotic Species of North America including insects, plants, pathogens and other species.
SEINet
This data portal is a gateway to distributed data resources of interest to the environmental research community within Arizona and New Mexico. Browse or search specimens and images.

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Science History Institute
Search 10,000+ digitized items of artifacts, photographs, advertisements, letters, rare books, oral histories, and more.

Computer Science

Charles Babbage Institute
The Charles Babbage Institute Archives (CBIA) offers photographs from ACM and selected corporations. Also includes selected oral histories.
Computer History Musum
Chronicles the history and impact of computing and technological innovation on the human experience. Includes photographs and oral histories.

Geology

British Geological Survey (BGS)
Photographs of bore hole samples and other images.
Earthquake Sounds
A collection of 21 earthquake-related sounds
Geofacets
A web-based research tool that offers access to an extensive database of georeferenced geological maps.

Mathematics

NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions
Initiated to perform a complete revision of Abramowitz and Stegun’s Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables (1964) and updated for current needs.

Medicine and Nursing

History of Medicine Digital Exhibits
An extensive gateway to all things related to the history of medicine from alchemy & chemistry to women in science and medicine.
National Library of Medicine
Multiple collections covering various medical topics including over 70,000 images on the history of medicines and biographies of significant medical personnel.
Physician Assistant History Society
Dedicated to the history of the physician assistant profession through the identification and collection of appropriate papers, manuscripts, magazine and newspaper clippings, newsletters, reports, dissertations, oral histories, and visual artifacts, such as films, slides, videos, photographs, and digital images.
Pictures of Nursing
Over 500 postcard images related to nursing.

Physics

American Institute of Physics
Digital repository containing manuscripts, audiovisuals, photographs, oral histories, and more related to physics.

Anthropology

American Folklife Center
U.S. history and culture. Includes audio samples of music and stories, digital images of rare letters and photographs, and video clips.
Penn Museum
Collections of archaeological finds and ethnographic objects is organized in eleven curatorial sections documenting the peoples of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

Criminal Justice

John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Hundreds of images and documents capture the 20th and 21st centuries of criminal justice work.

Geography

GeoPlatform.gov
Database of over 50,000 geospatial datasets.

Government

Opensecrets.org
Reveals sources of campaign funding. The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics, and its effect on elections and public policy.
Project Vote Smart
A non-partisan, non-profit effort that provides "public independent factual information on over 13,000 candidates and elected officials. Voting records, campaign issue positions, performance evaluations by special interests, campaign contributions, backgrounds, previous experience, and contact information are available."
USA.gov
Executive Orders and Other Presidential Actions; Infographic: How a Bill Becomes a Law; How Federal Laws Are Made; Federal and State Laws, Regulations, and Related Court Decisions

Journalism and Mass Communications

Media History Digital Library
Digitized historic books and magazines about film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.

Psychology and Sociology

Archives of the History of American Psychology
Photographs, audio, artifacts, moving images and over 6,000 psychological tests.
Independent Voices
Open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals from the latter half of the 20th century chronicling the transformative decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
National Institute of Mental Health
Statistical datasets on the prevalence and treatment of mental illnesses among the U.S. population.
Sigmund Freud Papers
Finding aid with links to digitized content from the collection of Sigmund Freud's personal and professional papers held by the Library of Congress.