LibGuides: American Religious History: Primary Sources

Finding Books that are Primary Sources

To identify books that are primary sources:

1) Look for books written by people who were involved in the event or activity you are researching. (Tip: When you look at secondary sources, write down the names of people and then look for them as authors.)

2) In the Moody Library Online catalog, books that have been assigned subjects with the subheadings in the list below might be primary sources. Not all books that include primary sources will include one of these words or phrases in a subject heading.

--Diaries
--Correspondence
--Biography
--Sources
--Anecdotes
--Personal narratives
--Interviews

Examples:

Williams, Roger, 1604?-1683 -- Correspondence

Military chaplains -- United States -- Correspondence

Society of Friends -- History -- 18th century -- Sources

United States -- Religion -- Sources

Primary Source Novels

Ben-Hur: a tale of the Christ / by Lew Wallace
Call Number: Ebsco PS3134.B4 2009
Extremely popular novel completed while Wallace was governor of New Mexico. After meeting with the noted atheist Robert Ingersoll, Wallace was embarassed by his lack of knowledge of his faith. He launched years of study of Christian history, following which he wrote Ben-Hur.
Damnation of Theron Ware, or, Illumination / by Harold Frederic
Call Number: PS1707.D3 1986
In this early Progressive Era novel, a young Methodist minister if corrupted by his exposure to modern religious ideas.
In his steps / by Charles Monroe Sheldon
Call Number: PS2809.S55 I5 1962
In this novel, a progressive critique of Gilded Age society, Sheldon introduced the query: "What would Jesus do?"
Land of little rain / by Mary Austin.
Call Number: ebrary F866.A9318 2003
Uncle Tom's cabin, or, Life among the lowly / by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Call Number: PS2954.U5 1991b (also ebrary and Ebsco)
The abolitionist classic which aroused so much controversy that Lincoln is said to have commented that the author had started the Civil War. The library has several editions of this book.

Primary Source Religious Writings

Autobiography of Malcolm X / by Malcolm X
Call Number: E185.97.L5 A3 1973 and E185.97.L5 A3 1966
Book of Mormon : an account written by the hand of Morman upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi / by Joseph Smigh
Call Number: BX8623 1948 (and other editions)
Christianity and liberalism / by J. Gresham Machen
Call Number: BR1617.M3
Christianity and the social crisis / by Walter Rauschenbusch
Call Number: BR115.S6 R35
Common faith / by John Dewey
Call Number: Ebsco BL48.D4 (also ebrary)
God and man at Yale; the superstitions of academic freedom / by William F. Buckley
Call Number: LD6309.B8
Life of Rev. David Brainerd: chiefly extracted from his diary / by David Brainerd
Call Number: E98.M6 B786 1978
Moral man and immoral society; a study in ethics and politics / by Reinhold Niebuhr
Call Number: HM216.N5 1960
People of the lie : the hope for healing human evil / by M Scott Peck
Call Number: BF51.P43 1983
Protestant, Catholic, Jew; an essay in American religious sociology / by Will Herberg
Call Number: BR526.H4 1960
Rescuing the Bible from fundamentalism: a bishop rethinks the meaning of scripture / by John Shelby Spong
Call Number: BS511.2.S69 1991
Seven storey mountain / by Thomas Merton
Call Number: BX4705.M542 A3 1978
Stealing Jesus: how fundamentalism betrays Christianity / by Bruce Bawer
Call Number: BT82.2.B39 1997
Varieties of religious experience, a study in human nature / by William James.
Call Number: BR110.J3 2004 (also Ebsco, ebrary, and Psyc)
Will to believe, and other essays in popular philosophy, and Human immortality / by William James
Call Number: Ebsco B945.J23 W55 2010 (also ebrary and Psyc)

Primary Sources in the Reference Collection

American nation : primary sources / by edited by Bruce P. Frohnen.
Call Number: E173.A747 2008
ISBN: 0865977305
A collection of primary source documents on American history beginning with 1860 and ending in 1941.
American Republic : primary sources / by edited by Bruce Frohnen.
Call Number: ebrary E173.A7535 2002
ISBN: 0865973334
This single volume collection of primary sources includes documents, speeches, and essays covering the time of European settlement to the era just before the Civil War.
Annals of America
Call Number: E173.A793 vol. 1-21
ISBN: 0852299605
Covering Columbus to the 21st century, it now includes more than 2,000 primary documents—proclamations, speeches, poems, songs, newspaper and magazine articles, sermons, letters and editorials by the people who made history. In addition to such widely available texts as the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Gettysburg Address, it includes essential works by Jane Addams, Clarence Darrow, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Noah Webster, Walt Whitman and more than a thousand others.
Historic documents
Call Number: Ref. E839.5.H57 1972-2011
ISBN: 1568027249
The Historic Documents series makes primary source research easy by presenting in one volume key excerpts from documents relating to the important events of each year for the United States and the world. Each volume includes eighty to ninety documents from a particular year, from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and other opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, and testimony, and much more.
Milestone documents of American leaders : exploring the primary sources of notable Americans / by Paul Finkelman, editor in chief.
Call Number: Ebsco E173.M623 2009
ISBN: 097977585X
Offers a unique biographical approach to the study of primary source documents. The 120 entries cover notable Americans from the Revolutionary era to the 21st century, including presidents, senators, diplomats, Supreme Court justices, labor leaders, social activists, first ladies, and religious figures.

Primary Source Collections

Asian religions in America : a documentary history / by Thomas A. Tweed.
Call Number: BL2525.A85 1999
ISBN: 0195113381
This is a very helpful and original documentary history of Asian religions in America and the American encounter with them. Tweed (Univ. of North Carolina) and Prothero (Boston Univ.) have collected over 100 documents that trace interactions between Americans and Asian religions from 1784 to the present. These documents, along with careful editorial introductions, show a multifaceted engagement, from reports of travelers and missionaries, to the struggles of contemporary Asian immigrants to establish their religious traditions in the strange new religious world of the US. There are some familiar and expected selections in an anthology such as this, but many more that stretch conventional boundaries, especially concerning the interactions between various forms of American culture and Asian religions. For example, selections from the Tao of Pooh, Philip Glass, and the "Beastie Boys" are included. Well over half the selections are from the 20th century, which gives this work a fresh and inviting quality,appealing to students and scholars alike.
Debating the issues in colonial newspapers : primary documents on events of the period / by David A. Copeland.
Call Number: ebrary E187.C78 2000
ISBN: 0313309825
With this unique collection of primary source documents from colonial newspapers, students will be able to debate the issues of colonial America. Pro and con opinion pieces, letters, essays and news reports that were printed in colonial newspapers will help the reader to understand the differing viewpoints of colonial Americans on the key issues from 1690 to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Nearly 300 documents, organized chronologically by event, will help readers step back in time to debate the issues faced by 18th-century Americans.
Documentary history of religion in America / by Edwin S. Gaustad.
Call Number: BL2525 .D63 2003 vol. 1-2
ISBN: 0802822290
A selection of primary documents on religious practices and beliefs in North America, including representations of Native American and slave religions, Catholicism, Christianity, and Judaism. Each chronological section includes an introduction and suggestions for further reading.

Some Online Primary Sources

Constitutional debates on freedom of religion [electronic resource] : a documentary history / by John J. Patrick.
Call Number: ebrary KF4783 .C66 1999

The primary souce materials listed below are all located in either Ebsco E-books or ebrary digital collections of full-text e-books. HCU owns access to the books below and more than 90,000 more. Direct links to these books are provided in the online catalog record or you may go to the ebrary or Ebsco website for access.

American Religious History: Primary Sources