Guides: Social Justice Topics @ Pitt: Juneteenth Resources: Finding Primary Sources

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These materials are housed in the Archives & Special Collections Department at the University of Pittsburgh. Some collections featured here link to digitized content from these archival collections, so you can discover, read, and view from the comfort of a computer!

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African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania Digital Archive
The African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania (AACCWP) Digital Archive documents communication efforts and planned events carried out by the AACCWP. This includes Juneteenth event listings in the AACCWP 2015 & 2020 newsletters. This collection is fully digitized and online.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Pittsburgh Branch Records
The NAACP Pittsburgh Branch Records contain, in Box 46, Folder 3 Emancipation Proclamation, the Pittsburgh chapter’s plans to pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. This includes a Pittsburgh Mayoral proclamation of 1963 as Emancipation Centennial Year and suggested units for Pittsburgh Public School teachers on the history and meaning of the Emancipation Proclamation and abolition in the United States.
The Shooting Star Review
The Shooting Star Review was an international quarterly publication produced from 1987 to 1994 in Pittsburgh, PA. It was founded by Sandra Gould Ford, a graduate of Pitt's MFA program, and produced by Shooting Star Productions, Inc., whose mission was to explore the Black American experience through literature and art. Jubilee is the theme of Issue 22, Volume 6, No. 2. In her introduction to the issue, Gould Ford connects Jubilees in the United States to celebrations at the end of slavery, including Juneteenth and submissions to the issue explore related themes. This collection is fully digitized and online.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)- Juneteenth
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) aggregates over 40 million images, texts, videos, and sounds from libraries and archives across the United States. Here you can explore over 6,000 items related to Juneteenth, including video clips of Juneteenth celebrations, posters, programs, performances of poems, and photographs.
General Order No. 3, issued by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, June 19, 1865
On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s historic Emancipation Proclamation, this order informed the people of Texas that all enslaved people were now free. This day has come to be known as Juneteenth, a combination of June and 19th. It is also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and it is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. You can view a digitized version of the original order held by the National Archive as well as a blog post further contextualizing the order here.
Houston Public Library Digital Archives- Juneteenth
The Houston Public Library Digital Archives include archival material from the African American Library at the Gregory School, the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, and the Houston Metropolitan Research Center. Some collections are the result of collaborations with partner libraries, museums, and cultural heritage institutions. Here you can explore their holdings of Juneteenth and emancipation related materials including photographs of parade floats, oral history recordings, and more dating from the early 1900s into the later part of the 20th century.
Juneteenth: Fact Sheet by the Congressional Research Service
This fact sheet is created to inform United States congress people on the history, legislation, and additional resources. It also includes examples of congressional speeches and recognitions as well as Presidential proclamations and remarks. Upon the creation of this guide, the fact sheet was last updated in 2019.
Library of Congress- Juneteenth Historical Newspaper Coverage
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers searches historic newspapers from 1777-1963 or uses the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690 and the present. Here you can browse coverage of Juneteenth celebrations, actions, and campaigns in local publications throughout the United States. This includes papers such as the Dallas Express (TX), The Bryan Daily Eagle and Pilot (TX), The United Automobile Worker (MI), The Phoenix Tribune (AZ), and others.
Library of Congress- Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories
This site includes digitized oral histories at the Library of Congress and includes several interviews with formerly enslaved Texans.
Oxford University Press- Photo Essay: Emancipation and the Meaning of Juneteenth
This photo essay from Oxford University Press examines the meaning of emancipation for enslaved people during the Civil War and the ways their celebrations of that moment developed into the holiday Juneteenth.
Power Library: Pennsylvania’s Electronic Library- Juneteenth
Power Library allows you to explore over one million digitized photographs and documents from unique collections in institutions throughout Pennsylvania. Included here is local newspaper coverage of Juneteenth events throughout the commonwealth, including Sewickley and Swarthmore.
Umbra Search- Juneteenth
Umbra Search African American History brings together hundreds of thousands of digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the United States. Here you can view photographs, posters, flyers, programs, and other items documenting Juneteenth celebrations.
ProQuest News & Newspapers (Requires Pitt Login)
Here you can search historic newspapers including the Pittsburgh Courier, The Baltimore Afro-American, the Chicago Defender, and more.

Primary Sources are...

Original materials that provide direct evidence or first-hand testimony of a participant or eyewitness of an event or topic.

Primary sources can be contemporary sources created at the time when the event occurred (e.g., letters and newspaper articles) or later (such as, memoirs and oral history interviews).

Primary sources may be published or unpublished. Unpublished sources are unique materials (e.g., family papers) often referred to as archives and manuscripts.

What constitutes a primary source varies by discipline. How the researcher uses the source generally determines whether it is a primary source or not.

This information adapted from Finding Primary Sources @ Pitt.

Search for Primary Sources

PittCat
PittCat is the main searching tool for all of the materials owned by the University Library System (ULS), including articles, books, ebooks, journal articles, ejournals, audio and video, digital images, government documents, microfilm and movies.
University Library System (ULS) Digital Collections
Search both digitized material as well as finding aids for all of the ULS archival and manuscript holdings. A separate search on finding aids will provide you with background information and an inventory of the records found within our archival and manuscript collections.
Documenting Pitt
The University Archives documents the history and traditions of the University of Pittsburgh community, from its founding as the Pittsburgh Academy in 1787, through its re-chartering as the Western University of Pennsylvania, to the present. Documenting Pitt provides access to a sampling of these records detailing the administrative, academic and athletic pursuits and achievements of the University community which are a testament of what it means to be a Panther.
ArchivesGrid
ArchiveGrid includes over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
WorldCat
WorldCat.org lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

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Social Justice Topics @ Pitt: Juneteenth Resources

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Getting Started

This information adapted from Finding Primary Sources @ Pitt.

Search for Primary Sources