LibGuides: History: Primary Sources

What is a Primary Source

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented.

Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later.

Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are available in original format, or some other published format.

Determining if a Source is a Primary Source

A primary source is a document, speech, or other sort of evidence written, created or otherwise produced during the time under study. Primary sources offer an inside view of a particular event. Examples include:

Original Documents

Autobiographies, diaries, interviews, letters, news film footage, official records, photographs, raw research data, speeches

Creative Works

Art, drama, films, music, novels, poetry

Relics or Artifacts

Buildings, clothing, furniture, jewelry, pottery

Other Primary Sources

Chronicling America - Digital Repository of Historic American Newspapers
Manuscript Collection from the State Historical Society of Missouri
LaBudde Special Collections at the University of Kansas City Missouri
American Memory by the Library of Congress
Making of America Journals (Cornell)
American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Subject areas include education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
Making of America Journals (Michigan)
American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. Subject areas include education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
Americans
Americans is a stunning digital exhibition created by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian to accompany the museum's physical exhibition by the same name, which is currently on view in Washington, D.C. until 2022.