Autobiographies
An autobiography is a personal account of a person’s life written by that person whereas a biography is an account of a person’s life written by someone else. Autobiographies are primary sources and biographies are secondary sources. Memoirs (or “memories”) are autobiographies that reflect on a part of someone’s life. Memoirs are usually written by politicians and military leaders. Letters are also primary sources.
- General
- Canada
- United States
- Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
- Europe
- Latin America, Caribbean and Africa
For more instruction on searching the library catalogue for autobiographies, memoirs or letters click here.
The following list is a selection of online resources that can be used to find autobiographies, memoirs or letters. Consult the History research guide and other subject research guides for other tools to find primary sources.
General
In the First Person: One-stop starting point for historians, sociologists, genealogists, linguists, and psychologists who want to find, explore, and analyze human experiences. Includes English language personal narratives, including letters, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, and oral histories.
Canada
Champlain Society Digital Collection: Eighty-three volumes relating to exploration and discovery over a span of three centuries of Canadian history, including first-hand accounts of Samuel de Champlain’s voyages in New France as well as the diary from Sir John Franklin’s first land expedition to the Arctic, 1819-22.
Diaries of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King: Diary covers 1893-1950; browse by date or search by word or phrase.
Digital Library of Canada: History: Collections of diaries, photographs and other government documents on themes of art & photography, aboriginal people, ethno-cultural groups, exploration and settlement, military & peace-keeping and politics & government.
Early Canadiana Online: Digital library of primary sources from Canada’s early heritage. It covers the time period from the first European settlers to the early 20th century and includes government reports, letters, diaries, newspapers, magazines and church documents.
Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures and the Environment: Contains over 1400 authors and over 100 000 pages of primary works: letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts as well as images of early encounters.
In Pursuit of Adventure:The Fur Trade in Canada and the North West Company: Documents the age of the fur trade in Canada at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. Includes the full texts of 38 manuscripts that are known collectively as the Masson Papers and cover the period ca 1790-1820.
Moving Here, Staying Here: The Canadian Immigrant Experience: Includes voyage diaries, letters, passenger lists and advertisements that document the experience of Canadian immigrants from 1800s-1930.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories: Includes letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories of immigrants in Canada and the United States, 1840-present.
North American Women’s Letters & Diaries, Colonial to 1950: Includes the experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters from 17th century to the 20th century.
Our Roots:Canada’s Local Histories Online: Searchable full-text access to rare books and primary sources describing many aspects of Canadian history.
United States
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century: Digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century black women writers. A part of the Digital Schomburg, this collection provides access to the thought, perspectives and creative abilities of black women as captured in books and pamphlets published prior to 1920. Select the category “Biography and Autobiography”.
American Memory: A gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
Documenting the American South: Provides online access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives: Documents the evacuation and relocation of nearly 122,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry on the west coast of the United States in 1942;includes oral histories; personal narratives, notes, and letters; government documents, publications, circulars, and reports; and other types of documents
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories: Includes letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories of immigrants in Canada and the United States, 1840-present.
North American Slave Narratives: Includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of fugitive and former slaves published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920. Also included are many of the biographies of fugitive and former slaves and some significant fictionalized slave narratives published in English before 1920.
North American Women’s Letters & Diaries, Colonial to 1950: Includes the experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters from 17th century to the 20th century.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000: Includes letters, diaries, speeches and other sources documenting the history of women in social movements in the U.S.
Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries: Includes approximately 100,000 pages of published letters and diaries from individuals writing from 1500 to 1900
Defining Gender: A collection of various items written by men and women, including periodicals, letters, diaries and travel writing on politeness and conduct, domesticity and family, consumption and leisure, education and sensibility and the body from 1450 to 1910 in Britain and Europe.
Early English Books Online: Full-text access to the roughly 100,000 books printed in England from 1475 until 1700.
Eighteenth Century Collection Online: Allows full-text searching and presents images of original printed pages including all illustrations.
Empire Online: A collection of various items including travel writing and diaries focusing on Empire Studies such as cultural contacts, literature, religion, race, class, imperialism and colonialism in continents that include North America, South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean and Australasia from 1492 to 2007.
Making of the Modern World 1450-1850: A collection of books, serials, letters and memoirs on the study of early economics, politics, business and social history from 1450-1850.
Mass Observation Online: The collection is comprised of file reports, books, digitized microfilm, diaries, directives and photographs on the social history of Britain in the 1930s and 1940s.
Europe
Defining Gender: A collection of various items written by men and women, including periodicals, letters, diaries and travel writing on politeness and conduct, domesticity and family, consumption and leisure, education and sensibility and the body from 1450 to 1910 in Britain and Europe.
Empire Online: A collection of various items including travel writing and diaries focusing on Empire Studies such as cultural contacts, literature, religion, race, class, imperialism and colonialism in continents that include North America, South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean and Australasia from 1492 to 2007.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History: Provided inks connect to Western European (mainly primary) historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
Making of the Modern World 1450-1850: A collection of books, serials, letters and memoirs on the study of early economics, politics, business and social history from 1450-1850.
Latin America, Caribbean, Africa
Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures and the Environment: Contains over 1400 authors and over 100 000 pages of primary works: letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts as well as images of early encounters; including Caribbean, Central and South America.
Empire Online: A collection of various items including travel writing and diaries focusing on Empire Studies such as cultural contacts, literature, religion, race, class, imperialism and colonialism in continents that include North America, South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean and Australasia from 1492 to 2007.
South African History Online: Online encyclopedia of South African history and culture. Includes letters, speeches, public statements as well as prison letters written by Nelson Mandela
