LibGuides: Ohio State Newark: Archives for Research: Ethnic Group Archives

What are Archives?

Archives are collections of primary and secondary sources held and maintained by various institutions for their current and potential value for researchers. Digital archives are collections of either scanned hard copies or materials that are "born digital" (produced and published in digital format). Archives can contain documents (such as newspapers, letters, journals, advertisements, etc.), objects, photographs, videos, and other types of materials. In general, archives contain material that is not accessible in other ways, meaning that the items they contain are unique, rare, or otherwise special.

The collections might be thematic (like an archive of women's suffrage materials), regional (specific to a geographical area), organization-based (such as the records of a company or institution), or person-based (the correspondence and documents of an individual).

Archival search requires time an patience to sift through the materials as you as the researcher are often the one crafting a story or making sense of the materials unlike scholarly research where arguments are being presented.

African American Archives

African American Police League Records, 1961-1988 African American Police League Records, 1961-1988 contains annual and general reports, court files, fundraising items, historical information, minutes, correspondence, clippings, topical files, newsletters, police brutality files, and publications and flyers relative to the ongoing work of the African American Police League (AAPL) and its education and action arm, the League to Improve the Community (LIC). The collection also contains items on numerous law enforcement and civil rights organizations across the country; materials on the suspension of AAPL executive director Renault Robinson from the Chicago Police Department and related lawsuits; and materials pertaining to the National Black Police Association (NBPA).
African American Migration Experience In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience from the New York Public Library contains over 8,300 illustrations, 60 maps, and thousands of pages of primary and secondary texts focusing on the thirteen defining migrations that transformed the African-American experience and the United States as a nation, including the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Colonization, Haitian Immigration, the Great Migration, and more. Each section of the site includes full bibliographies and a plethora of related web links. Users can browser by migrations, by geography, or by a timeline of events. The site also includes educational materials and lesson plans for teachers.
African American Newspapers 1827-1998 African American Newspapers provides online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This collection features papers from more than 35 states—including many 19th century titles. Newly digitized, these newspapers published by or for African Americans are browseable and searchable.
African Diaspora, 1860-present Essential for understanding Black history and culture, African Diaspora, 1860-Present allows scholars to discover the migrations, communities, and ideologies of the African Diaspora through the voices of people of African descent. With a focus on communities in the Caribbean, Brazil, India, United Kingdom, and France, the collection includes never-before digitized primary source documents, including personal papers, organizational papers, journals, newsletters, court documents, letters, and ephemera.
African American Communities 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 African American culture and identity.
HistoryMakers Over 148,163 stories are assembled from life oral history interviews with 2,691 historically significant African Americans as of December 18, 2018.

Asian Archives

Asian Newsstream This database provides access to more than 60 national and regional sources of news and current affairs information in Asia and the Far East. Many titles are available in full text and are updated within 24 hours of publication. Publications include The Wall Street Journal Asia, China News and The Bangkok Post.
Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange Asia and the West (formerly known as Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange) features a range of primary source collections related to international relations between Asian countries and the West during the nineteenth century. These invaluable documents -- many never before available -- include government reports, diplomatic correspondence, periodicals, newspapers, treaties, trade agreements, NGO papers, and more, offering a look at the inner workings of international relations.

Hispanic American Archives

Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980, represents the single largest compilation of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. The distinctive collection features hundreds of Hispanic American newspapers, including many long scattered and forgotten titles published in the 19th century. It is based on the “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project,” a national research effort directed by Nicolás Kanellos, Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston.

Middle Eastern Archives

Middle Eastern and North African Newspapers From the Ottoman Empire to the Arab Spring, the countries of the Middle East and North Africa have witnessed their fair share of history. The Middle Eastern & North African Newspapers collection includes publications from across this dynamic region, providing unique insights into the history of individual countries, as well as broad viewpoints on key historic events from the late nineteenth century through the present. Key topics include the decline of colonialism, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Suez Crisis, the Cold War, the rise of the petroleum industry, twentieth-century pan-Arab movements, both World Wars, the establishment of the state of Israel, the Iran-Iraq War, and the recent Arab Spring. Researchers will find a wealth of unique content from the Middle East and North Africa, much of which has never been digitized or available as open access material. Content in the Middle Eastern & North African Newspapers collection is predominantly in Arabic, but also includes key titles in English and French.
Middle East and North Africa: Global Perspectives, 1958-1994 Middle East and North Africa: Global Perspectives, 1958-1994, is a resource that offers firsthand reporting and analysis on issues and historic events from Morocco to Egypt to Afghanistan. And with content not available anywhere else, it allows researchers opportunities to delve into the cultural, economic and political forces that are integral to interdisciplinary topics.
Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies, produced by NISC, is a non-evaluative bibliographic index of research, policy and scholarly discourse on the countries and peoples of the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa . This database contains more than 639,000 records and coverage spans from 1900 and earlier to present. Over 15,000 records of published and grey literature are added annually.