Primary Sources
From the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American
Library Association
What are Primary Sources?
Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events
occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary
sources may include:
1. letters
2. manuscripts
3. diaries
4. journals
5. contemporary newspaper articles
6. speeches
7. interviews
8. pamphlets
9. government documents
10. photographs
11. audio recordings
12. moving pictures or video recordings
13. research data
14. objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and
weapons
15. and other documents of the time.
These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when
historians use them along with previous interpretations, they provide the
resources necessary for historical research.
More about primary sources:
Primary Sources Online (from the University of Berkeley Library)
•Milestone Documents: Teaching with Primary Sources : Milestone Documents is
your primary source for historic texts and expert analysis. We pair the most
significant primary documents of all time with award-winning analysis by our
global network of 300 historians and scholars. Whether you’re writing a paper,
preparing for an exam, or looking to take your history study or instruction to the
next level, your success starts here.
•NARA 100 Milestone Documents (from the National Archives and Records
Administration)
•Teaching with Primary Sources (Library of Congress)
•Using Primary Sources on the Web (RUSA): Reference and User Services
Association (a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
•Why Study History Through Primary Sources? (Fordham University)
•Historical Thinking Matters : A website focused on key topics in U.S. history, that is
designed to teach students how to critically read primary sources and how to critique and
construct historical narratives.
•Benchmarks for Historical Thinking: The Historical Thinking Project aims to provide
social studies departments, local boards, provincial ministries of education,
publishers and public history agencies with models of more meaningful history
teaching, assessment, and learning for their students and audiences.
•Distinguish Between Primary and Secondary Sources (from University of California
Santa Cruz)
•Smithsonian Source (lessons, documents, more)
•Smithsonian Education
•American Memory Timeline for Teachers (from the Library of Congress)
•U. Washington History United States
National Security Archive: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books
provide online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S.
national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence
policy, and more. Updated frequently, the Electronic Briefing Books represent
just a small sample of the documents in our published and unpublished
collections (from George Washington University).
Remember, when searching for primary sources the language of our time may
not serve you well. For instance, documents written during World War I would
have referred to the conflict as "The Great War." The term "African American" is
relatively modern in usage. Primary sources are often biased. As you analyze
them, try to understand the lens through which you view them.
Related Primary Source Pathfinders
Library of Congress Thumbnails (from Joyce Valenza)
Political Cartoons (from Joyce Valenza)
Primary Source Thumbnails (from Joyce Valenza)
The pathfinders below are from Wikispaces:
Primary Sources
Doing the Decades
US Documents
Presidents
Court Cases
Maps and Images
Newspaper Archives
World Documents
Speeches and Interviews
PHOTOGRAPHS
AP Images
Life Magazine Image Archive
Library of Congress Photo Stream on Flickr
Copyright-friendly images and sound (from Wikispace)
Some Major Portals
Some sources for Primary Sources and Learning Strategies:
Artifact and Analysis The Smithsonian’s Artifacts and Analysis Idea Lab show you how to
incorporate artifacts and documents into the teaching of U.S. history. Designed as a
companion to the Advanced Placement Program U.S. History course, it is also effective
in any instructional setting that emphasizes analytical thinking and writing.
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln: (The University of Michigan Library)
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Collections of primary resources
compatible with the Common Core State Standards — historical documents, literary
texts, and works of art — thematically organized with notes and discussion questions.
U. Washington History United States: A research guide to primary and secondary
sources for American history.
U. Washington Primary Sources by Type: A research guide to primary and secondary
sources for American history.
100 Terrific Sites to Find Primary Source Documents
Calisphere: World of Primary Sources and More (University of California)
Discovering American Women's History Online: (Middle Tennessee State University)
Collection of Military Records: Fold3 provides convenient access to US military records, including
the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served.
Library and Archival Indexes on the Web: (Smithsonian Libraries)
Library of Congress (Flickr collections)
Museum of Online Museums
National Archives and Records Administration's Digital Classroom
National Archives and Records Search
Picturing America (art galleries and resources) Picturing America, an exciting new
initiative from the National Endowment for the Humanities, brings masterpieces of
American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide. Through this innovative program,
students and citizens will gain a deeper appreciation of our country’s history and
character through the study and understanding of its art.
Prologue: Pieces of History Top 10 National Archives Web Sites
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
National Security Archive
Our Documents (primary sources and teaching resources)
Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Navigating Primary Sources on the Internet
Primary Source Documents: An Internet Hotlist > Primary Sources and Document-Based
Questions
Ready, 'Net, Go! (Archival indexes from Tulane University Library)
Show us the Data The most wanted Federal government documents—This website is
collecting examples of government documents and data that are unclassified and should
be easily available to the public online, but are not.
VADS: Free Art and Design Images for Education (Read Terms of Use): VADS is the
online resource for visual arts. It has provided services to the academic community for 12
years and has built up a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over
100,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning,
teaching and research in the UK.
Voice of the Shuttle: History (from the University of California, Santa Barbara)
Links from LibGuides @Madison College
AmericanMemory Library of Congress
AmericanFolklife Collection Primary source
collections from the Library of Congress National Digital Library Program.
Art of the Americas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy A collection of documents in
history and law from ancient civilizations to the present.
Chronicling America - The Library of Congress American newspapers 1860-1922.
Civil War in America from The Illustrated London News : (from Emory University in
Atlanta, Georgia) Digital archive of the Illustrated London News during the Civil War
years.
Digital Collections & Programs (Library of Congress)
Access to print, pictorial and audiovisual collections and other digital services
Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture digitized primary materials
significant to the decorative arts and material culture of early America including electronic
texts and facsimiles, image databases, and web resources.
Documenting the American South Documenting the American South is a collection of
sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the
first decades of the 20th century from the University of North Carolina.
Early American Paintings Worcester Art Museum
Founders' Constitution An online anthology of documents from the 17th century through
the 1830's related to constitutional history. From the University of Chicago and the Liberty
Fund.
Google Book Search Now includes magazines. If you do an advanced search, you can
limit your search by date and type of content. Not printable, but you can read the issues
on screen.
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of world art
Historical Census Browser From the University of Virginia Library, this census browser
helps describe the people and the economy of the U.S. for each state and country from
1790 to 1970.
Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 Harvard Open Collections Program: Digital
collection of selected historical materials documenting voluntary immigration to the US.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project Full-text historical documents and links for ancient,
medieval, and modern history. Paul Halsall/Fordham University.
LIFE photo archive Millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, hosted by
Google, stretching from the 1750s to today.
Making of America From the University of Michigan, this digital library of primary
resources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction
including sociology as well as education, psychology, American history, religion, science
and technology.
Manuscript Collections Relating to Slavery from New York Historical Society.
Mike Wallace Interview In the early 1960’s, broadcast journalist Mike Wallace donated
65-recorded interviews made in 1957-58 from his show The Mike Wallace Interview to
the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. The bulk of these were 16mm
kinescope film recordings.
NYPL Digital Gallery New York Public Library Digitized Collections
Office of the Historian U.S.Department of State Access to official historical documentary
records of U.S. foreign policy.
Picturing the thirties The Depression, The New Deal, The Country, Industry, Labor, The
City, Leisure, and American People." This features artwork, photos, newsreels, and other
material about 1930s history. (from The Smithsonian Institute)
Prelinger Archives "Ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films
made from 1927 through the present. Its goal remains to collect, preserve, and facilitate
access to films of historic significance that haven't been collected elsewhere. Included
are films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit
organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational
institutions.
Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institutions website with exhibitions, images, and
information
Smithsonian Institution Collections Search
The March On Milwaukee Civil Rights History
Project Primary source digital collection from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Libraries and the Wisconsin Historical Society - 1960s civil rights history
The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War (from the
University of Virginia)
Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869: Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and
Letters, 1846–1869 is a collection of the original writings of 49 voyagers on the Mormon,
California, Oregon, and Montana trails who wrote while traveling on the trail. Some diarists speak
with uncommon eloquence and others with maddening brevity, while telling their stories of
persistence and pain, birth and death, God and gold, dust and debris, bugs and buffalo, love and
laughter, and trail tedium. Accompanying the original diary images and their searchable
transcripts are 43 contemporary maps; seven trail guides; 82 photographs, watercolors and art
sketches; four essays on the Mormon and California trails, maps and trail guides.
Women Working - , 1800–1930
Harvard Open Collections Program; approximately 500,000 digitized pages and images
focused on the role of women in the U.S. economy.
WGBH the Open Vault Series and Collections: Welcome to Open Vault, the home of
WGBH Media Library and Archives (MLA). We provide online access to unique and
historically important content produced by the public television and radio station WGBH.
The ever-expanding site contains video, audio, images, searchable transcripts, and
resource management tools, all of which are available for individual and classroom
learning.
Repositories of Primary Sources (from the University of Idaho)
What is a secondary source? A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary
sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. A secondary
source is something written about a primary source. Secondary sources include
comments on, interpretations of, or discussions about the original material. You can think
of secondary sources as second-hand information. If I tell you something, I am the
primary source. If you tell someone else what I told you, you are the secondary source.
Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book
or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate
someone else's original research. Secondary sources may also have pictures, quotes or
graphics of primary sources in them.
Some types of secondary sources include:
•PUBLICATIONS: Textbooks, magazine articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries,
and encyclopedias
•A journal/magazine article that interprets or reviews previous findings
•A history textbook
•A book about the effects of WWI