Locating openly accessible digital collections may seem tricky at first, but once you learn what to look for and how, it will be a skill that will serve you well.
Many academic libraries, archives, non-profit institutions, and government resources are good places to begin looking for digitized content and collections. These publicly-available digital collections make excellent places to discover primary sources.
(Note: For Kentucky-specific digital collections see "Researching UK Special Collections & Archives" tab.)
Try searching Google with one of the following search strings:
digital collections site:.edu
This search will look for the keywords "digital collections" among .edu (educational) institutions.
digital collections site:.gov
This search will look for the keywords "digital collections" among .gov (government) institutions.
You can also try adding a topical keyword to the search string such as:
digital collections japanese site:.edu
digital collections american west site:.edu
These are just a few examples of the many ways you can search the web for credible, scholarly, digital content.