Primary sources are the pieces of evidence that scholars use to create history. They consist of objects and texts created during the time you are studying.
A great resource for primary sources is the Jews Across the Americas Archive, where you will find both untranslated originals as well as supplementary materials related to the chapters.
If you would like to locate more primary source, you may find these collections helpful:
Other Databases on American Jews
- AJHS Archive
- Jewish Atlantic World Database
- U Washington Archive (also Sephardic Studies Digital Projects)
- Magnes Collection, UC Berkeley ( also Western Jewish Americana)
- JTS Digital Collections (marriage contracts and more)
- Jewish Heritage Collection, College of Charleston; College of Charleston Special Collections (digital); Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life
- National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia & US); More exhibits.
Jews in Early North America and the Caribbean
- Loeb Portrait Database
- Jewish Atlantic World Database
- Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica, U Penn
- John Carter Brown Library Digital Collections (by location) (Archive of early American images)
- Jewish Voices in the New World: The Song of Prayer in Colonial and 19th-Century America Origins and development of North America’s First Jewish Music
Latin and South America & the Caribbean
- Fotoarchief Stichting Surinaams Museum (Suriname)
- Biblioteca Digital del Patrimonio Iberoamericano (BDPI)
- SALALM Digitized Primary Sources (Latin American and Caribbean)
- Jewish Diaspora Collection (Florida, Latin America, Caribbean)
Food
- American Foodways: The Jewish Contribution.
- Jewish American Cookbooks, NYPL.
- The Jewish Cookery.
- The Settlement Cookbook.
- Converso Cookbook.
- General Digital Collections of cookbooks, not all Jewish: Historical Mexican cookbooks. Feeding America. Vintage Cookbooks. 10,000 Vintage Cookbooks.
Maps
Music
- Music & Prayer, Jewish Digital Collections
- Jewish Voices in the New World: The Song of Prayer in Colonial and 19th-Century America Origins and development of North America’s First Jewish Music
Newspapers
- Historical Jewish Press Collection (North America, Latin America).
- Jewish Digital Collections Newspapers & Magazines
- Jewish Newspapers, NYPL.
- Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876
- America’s Historical Newspapers
- Latin American Newspapers
Slavery
Synagogue Records
- Shul Records: a new finding aid directing you to over 500 American synagogue record collections housed in 50+ repositories or websites