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French

Finding Primary Sources

Finding primary sources can be tricky. Some hints:

Use secondary sources to find titles, authors, etc., and then track those items down.
Use HoyaSearch or WorldCat to find published primary sources.
Use one of the digitized primary source databases listed below.
Try Georgetown's Special Collections Research Center.

Primary Sources

Archives de France
Provides direct or indirect access to a vast number of archival materials in national, regional, or municipal archives throughout France and overseas departments and territories. Resources are browsable by geographic region or material type and include parish registers, marriage records, photographs, urban planning documents, maps, etc.

ARTFL This link opens in a new window
French-language literary, religious, philosophical, political, and scientific works from the 13th through the 20th centuries. Genres include novels, verse, theater, journalism, essays, correspondence, and treatises. Standard scholarly editions were used in converting the text into machine-readable form.

EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
Links to European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. They shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history.

Gallica This link opens in a new window
Digital library of French and francophone culture maintained by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Contains electronic texts, images, maps, animation, and sound files of French and other publications in history, literature, science, philosophy, law, economics, and political science. Almost all "classic" works of French literature are represented.

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