Visual and oral sources can provide primary source evidence. For example, try searching ArtStor for "day dress," and limiting the date range to 1880-1900.
Artstor is a digital library of over 2 million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes. The library is constantly growing with new collections added monthly, continually expanding areas of reference and study. All images are accompanied by comprehensive metadata and are rights-cleared for educational use. Detailed Artstor-produced Library Guides are available as well as a Artstor-produced Library Guide for Copyright and Image Use in the Artstor Digital Library.
ARTSTOR IS MOVING TO THE JSTOR PLATFORM ON AUGUST 1, 2024.
Historical newspapers and periodicals are great resources for finding out about details of a historical period that might not make it into the history books. How did people advertise for a wet nurse? How were early electrical appliances marketed?
The Chicago Tribune (1849-1999) offers full page and article images with searchable full text. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
The New York Times (1851-2020) offers full page and article images with searchable full text. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
When pursuing primary source research, it's often helpful to go to look at digital collections at libraries from the area you're researching, as they will often have the most substantial collections on their area. The collections below might be especially helpful for research on Saratoga Springs.