Browse Primary Sources
Locate primary sources, including images, objects, media, and texts. Annotations by scholars contextualize sources.
Ferreyra Sons v. Pedro Sueldo
After the Rosas regime ended in 1852, hundreds of families throughout Argentina hoped to make claims on property and wealth that had been taken away from them during the Rosas years. However, many heads of these families were elderly or deceased. This left the younger generation to continue their family's efforts.
How the Aztec (Nahua) Raised Sons as Warriors
Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún recorded this text in the mid-16th century as part of an effort to gather information about native Aztec history and customs. Sahagún went to Mexico in 1529 as one of the first missionaries assigned to the newly conquered territory of New Spain.
Advice of an Aztec Father to His Sons
Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún recorded this text in the mid-16th century as part of an effort to gather information about native Aztec history and customs. Sahagún went to Mexico in 1529 as one of the first missionaries assigned to the newly conquered territory of New Spain.
The Rules of the Thälmann Pioneers
As a state-socialist society, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) did not have the multitude of independent organizations or voluntary associations that characterize civil society in democratic countries. Rather, even children's associations in the GDR were organized under the auspices of the state and, therefore, the Communist Party.
The Trial of Stephen Arrowsmith (1678)
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey includes accounts of trials at London's most important court. These were published at the end of each session in an inexpensive form for a popular, rather than a legal, audience. They provide a reliable, although incomplete, account of events and do not record everything that was said.
The Violation of Virgins
W.T. Stead, an English newspaper editor and advocate of social reform, was an early exponent of "new journalism" focused on the sensational. In the 1880s, he turned the London newspaper The Pall Mall Gazette into a precursor of the modern tabloid. The series of articles from which this excerpt, "The Violation of Virgins," is taken was his tour de force.
Rejection of a Higher Age of Consent for Homosexual Acts
The European Commission on Human Rights was the vehicle by which individuals could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, an arm of the Council of Europe and an organization committed to European integration.
The Children Accuse - The Testimony of Łazarz Krakowski
In recent years, testimonies, diaries and memoirs of Holocaust victims have gained belated recognition as essential (not auxiliary) data for historical reconstruction. In spite of the sketchy nature of postwar children's testimonies, a critical analysis of this invaluable documentation provides a deeper understanding of the process of survival among Jewish children.
The Children Accuse - The Testimony of Eryk Holder
In recent years, testimonies, diaries and memoirs of Holocaust victims (those who perished and those who survived) have gained belated recognition as essential (not auxiliary) data for historical reconstruction.
Orphan Records, Early Modern France
Much of early modern Europe saw increasing numbers of abandoned children, and new institutions designed to care for them. Published notarial documents, such as the two excerpted here, allow a glimpse into the fortunes of individual orphaned children in early modern Europe.
Orphan Biographies, Early Modern France
Like much of early modern Europe, France saw increasing numbers of abandoned children, and new institutions designed to care for them. Orphanage records are one of a few rare types of sources available for historians to chart the histories of the abandoned children.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The years following World War II marked a key shift in international policy related to human rights. Few, however, connect the history of human rights to the children's rights movement. By the early 20th century, urbanization and industrialization led many reformers to focus on child welfare and on children's rights as separate from those of adults.
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Official interest in the rights of children has grown over the course of the 20th century. Urbanization and industrialization led reformers at the turn of the century to focus on child welfare and on children's rights as separate from those of adults. The American Congress responded by creating the U.S.
The Dolben's Act of 1788
The Dolben's Act of 1788 was proposed by noted abolitionist Sir William Dolben before the English Parliament. While it was meant to restrict the slave trade, it actually had an adverse effect on children. The act mandated that no more than two fifths of a ship's cargo be children, and it also limited the number of African men to 1 male per ship ton.
Request: Playden Onely to the Royal African Company, 1721
This excerpt is of a request made by Playden Onely to the members of the Royal African Company in 1721 for 130 children to be taken from West Africa to the West Indies for sale as slaves. The RAC commissioned the slave ship Kent for the task, and the operation was a success. As a result, Onely contracted the RAC to deliver 500 children annually to specifically designated ports.
Solidarity Election Poster, “High Noon, 4 June 1989”
This is probably the most famous image circulated by Solidarity in the run-up to the June 4 elections. Gary Cooper, the actor who starred in the film “High Noon,” is shown with a Solidarity insignia on his badge and a ballot in hand.
The Power of the Powerless
Vaclav Havel wrote this work in 1979. The essay begins the intellectual attacks that Havel, the future President of a democratic Czechoslovakia, made against the Communist regime controlling his country. Rather than rely solely on political arguments, Havel argues here that, in fact, cultivating an individual "sphere of truth" will ultimately destroy the totalitarian communist government.
Gunter Schabowski Press Conference
Schabowski, the spokesman for the East German Communist Party Politburo, played a vital role in the toppling of the East German Communist government in the fall of 1989. During a press conference on November 9, 1989, a reporter asked him about new travel regulations issued by the government that seemed to indicate the possibility of easier travel into West Berlin through the Berlin Wall.
Thälmann Pioneer's Shirt
This shirt is an example of the uniforms worn by children aged 6-14 who were members of the Young Pioneers in East Germany. Founded in 1948, the Young Pioneer movement was similar to the Boy and Girl Scout movements that originated in the United Kingdom at the turn of the century and spread around the world.
Vending Machine
In the United States coin-operated drink machines - generically called "coke machines" - are ubiquitous consumer objects regularly punctuating our everyday landscapes. We feed them our money and out roll individually packaged liquid refreshments. During the last years of the Cold War designers in the East Bloc developed their own regional version of the "coke machine".