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Introducing Essential Primary Sources, our landmark collection of over 2,500 primary sources specially selected to support courses of study across U.S and world history, ethnic and gender studies, American government, and religious studies. Essential Primary Sources serves a dual purpose: Students can use it as a research and reference tool, and instructors can use it as a course materials solution, assigning content directly on their syllabus.

In today's information age, fostering critical engagement with the past is paramount. Essential Primary Sources on the Schlager Digital Library addresses the unique needs of librarians and electronic resource managers seeking to empower researchers and students with primary sources.

Go Beyond Aggregation: We differentiate ourselves from large primary source collections by offering selectively curated landmark primary sources. Our resources are scholar-curated and accompanied by expert commentary, enriching the learning experience.

Champion Diverse Voices: Schlager Digital Library prioritizes elevating marginalized voices, ensuring a comprehensive and inclusive portrayal of history. This enriches student understanding and enriches the research process.

Maximize Value for Your Users: We empower librarians by providing easily assignable e-texts and unlimited access for students. Additionally, our downloadable, DRM-free content simplifies integration into research workflows.

Essential Primary Sources provides librarians and electronic resource managers with a powerful tool to enhance historical research and education while addressing the evolving needs of faculty and students in the digital age.

The content is designed for courses in undergraduate US History, World History, Ethnic/Gender/Identity Studies, American Government, World Religions, and English composition. It is also useful as supplemental curriculum resource for high school and AP courses in History and American Government.

To view the LibGuide for the Schlager Digital Library, click here.

 


More Information

 

Our Series

How It's Used

About Our Platform

Pricing

Title List

Let's Meet!

LibGuide

 

Our Series

Featuring varying levels of commentary and analysis, our content is divided among 3 main series:

  • Milestone Documents: Extensive commentary and analysis of individual landmark primary sources
  • Schlager Anthologies: Briefer commentary, carefully abridged texts, more accessible to a wider range of students
  • Historic Documents: Documents presented without commentary; suitable for additional research and exploration. The titles in this series are exclusive to the Schlager Digital Library and not available through any other platform or wholesaler.

Scroll below for our complete title list.

How It's Used

Essential Primary Sources on the Schlager Digital Library can be used in 2 primary ways:

  1. Research and reference: Our titles are ideal for high school and undergraduate research projects and writing assignments. Whether they're investigating slavery in America, writing about contemporary Hispanic American life, or researching the ancient world, students will find essential documents to assist them.
  2. E-texts: Thanks to the flexible nature of our platform, with DRM-free ebooks available for unrestricted access and downloads by students, instructors can assign our titles as classroom e-texts. This allows libraries to support institutional efforts to lower textbook costs and increase student access to course materials.

About Our Platform

The Schlager Digital Library offers 24/7 access in the library, in the classroom, and at home. Users can download titles DRM-free, allowing faculty to assign the content as required course reading or for research purposes. Built by NewGen Knowledgeworks, which has worked with many academic and educational publishers around the globe, the platform offers an array of authentication and reporting tools. Key features include:

 

  • 24/7 access in the classroom, in the library, or remotely
  • DRM-free, unlimited user access, and unrestricted PDF download of titles
  • Search, read, and download entire books or individual articles/documents
  • Search across titles, by broad subject, or by series
  • COUNTER5-compliant user statistics
  • Free MARC records
  • Available via purchase (perpetual access) or subscription. No annual maintenance fees.

Authentications

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Pricing

Please contact us for pricing: Email us at [email protected], or make your request in the trial form below. Pricing is based on FTE for academic institutions and number of schools purchasing at the K12 level. In some cases, consortial members will find additional savings.

Note: Discounts will be applied for any titles already in your collection, whether purchased directly through Schlager or through Gale, EBSCO, or ProQuest.

Title List: Essential Primary Sources Collection

2024 Academic Year

 

Milestone Documents series

 

Milestone Documents in American History 2nd ed.

Milestone Visual Documents in American History

Milestone Documents of the Supreme Court

Milestone Documents in World History 2nd ed.

Milestone Documents of U.S. Slavery

Milestone Documents of Christianity

Milestone Documents in African American History 1st ed.

Milestone Documents of World Religions 1st ed.

Milestone Documents of American Leaders 1st ed.

Schlager Anthologies series

 

The Schlager Anthology of Black America

The Schlager Anthology of Hispanic America

The Schlager Anthology of Women's History

The Schlager Anthology of the American Revolution

The Schlager Anthology of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era

The Schlager Anthology of Westward Expansion

The Schlager Anthology of Early America

The Schlager Anthology of American Wars & Conflicts

The Schlager Anthology of the Ancient World

 

Historic Documents series

 

Historic Documents of the Great Depression and New Deal

Historic Documents of the Medieval World

Historic Documents of the Renaissance

Historic Documents of the Enlightenment

Historic Documents of the Middle East

Historic Documents of Asia

Historic Documents of Africa

Historic Documents of Latin America

The Schlager Manual of Primary Sources

Let's Meet!

Would you like to discuss the Essential Primary Sources collection in more detail? Just fill in the form below, and we'll schedule a meeting. Demos, faculty training sessions, and institution-wide trials are all available.

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New and Forthcoming Ebooks

Edited by Eric Cunningham
4 vols, 2,100 pages
February 2024

The new edition of our landmark reference set, now updated for the first in 15 years, deepens the original edition's coverage of major themes in world history with more than 40 new entries across 4 volumes. These include excerpts from ancient classics such as the Analects of Confucius and Rig Veda, sacred texts such as the Koran, Enlightenment sources from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Catherine the Great, and influential documents of the modern era such as Nelson Mandela's iconic speech “We Have Waited Too Long for Our Freedom" and the Paris Climate Accords. Like all installments in the “Milestone Documents" series, Milestone Documents in World History features in-depth scholarly commentary alongside each primary source, guiding students and researchers through a critical analysis of the source and its importance in world history.

3 vols, 1,000 pages
Edited by Paul Finkelman
April 2024

The era of slavery in the United States is the subject of this scholarly 3-volume reference set. Covering some 250 years in the nation's history, Milestone Documents of U.S. Slavery includes 100 critical primary sources, from essays, speeches, and letters to government documents such as legislation and court opinions. In each case, the primary source is paired with in-depth commentary from numerous scholars and historians. Edited by acclaimed slavery scholar Paul Finkelman, Milestone Documents of U.S. Slavery is an essential resource for anyone researching the development, features, and eventual abolition of slavery in the United States.

Edited by Joseph T. Stuart
3 vols, 900 pages
August 2024

From iconic Biblical texts to influential essays and papal opinions, Milestone Documents of Christianity explores nearly 80 primary sources about the world's largest religion. This 3-volume installment in the acclaimed “Milestone Documents" series of reference sets pairs the text of each document (in English or English translation) with in-depth scholarly commentary and analysis, guiding students and researchers to a better understanding of the document's historical context.

Edited by Kelli McCoy
3 vols, 832 pages
November 2023

The Schlager Anthology of Women's History offers a modern, original library reference set covering women's history from ancient times to the present day. This 3-volume set traces women's history through more than 200 critical historical documents: speeches, letters, court opinions, interviews, legislative documents, and more. Designed for high-school and undergraduate college students as well as general researchers, this set features carefully excerpted document texts, brief introductions to each source, and short-answer questions designed to facilitate skills related to analyzing primary sources and using historical evidence.