Research Guides: Primary Sources: Home

Resource Highlight!

Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)
SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Context) is a free, online resource that helps users discover biographical and historical information about persons, families, and organizations that created or are documented in historical resources (primary source documents) and their connections to one another. Users can locate archival collections and related resources held at cultural heritage institutions around the world.

SNAC is an international cooperative including, but not limited to, archives, libraries, and museums, that is working to build a corpus of reliable descriptions of people, families, and organizations that link to and provide a contextual understanding of historical records.
more...less...
"NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC), is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource will be developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress. An NEH award program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories."

A Republic of Scoundrels by David Head (Editor); Timothy Hemmis (Editor)
ISBN: 9781639364077
Publication Date: 2023-12-05
The Founding Fathers are often revered as American saints; here are the stories of those Founders who were schemers and scoundrels, vying for their own interests ahead of the nation's We now have a clear-eyed understanding of Founding Fathers such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton; even so, they are often considered American saints, revered for their wisdom and self-sacrificing service to the nation. However, within the Founding Generation lurked many unscrupulous figures--men who violated the era's expectation of public virtue and advanced their own interests at the expense of others. They were turncoats and traitors, opportunists and con artists, spies, and foreign intriguers. Some of their names are well known: Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr. Others are less notorious now but were no less threatening. There was Charles Lee, the Continental Army general who offered to tell the British how to defeat the Americans, and James Wilkinson, who served fifteen years as a commanding general in the US Army, despite rumors that he spied for Spain and conspired with traitors. The early years of the republic were full of self-interested individuals, sometimes succeeding in their plots, sometimes failing, but always shaping the young nation. A Republic of Scoundrels seeks to re-examine the Founding Generation and replace the hagiography of the Founding Fathers with something more realistic: a picture that embraces the many facets of our nation's origins

Definitions

A Primary Source is an original record such as a document, image, or artifact that provides a first-hand account or direct evidence of a historical event or topic. In other words, original material created or witnessed at the time of the event in question or under study.

In contrast, a Secondary Source is one created by someone who did not witness or experience first-hand the events in question. Often these provide analysis or interpretation of events and may use or quote from primary sources to support their ideas.

Searching Tips and Tricks for Primary Sources

Add the word "source" to a subject keyword search to find primary sources.
Other subject keywords that help indicate primary sources:
- Correspondence
- Diaries
- Interviews
- Notebooks
You may also try these search terms:
- Narratives
- Oral History
- Photographs
- Recordings
- Archive
Look at the bibliography / references of secondary sources on your chosen topic - they generally show what primary sources they used and where they found them.

Evaluating Primary Sources

For tips on evaluating and using primary sources, please see the Society of American Archivists "Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy."

Examples of Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources

Primary source examples include:

Diaries
Speeches
Letters / Correspondence
Literary Works (collections, poetry, folklore, mythology, etc.)
Articles or essays (historical)
Manuscript facsimiles (digitized copies of the original, access-copies of fragile documents, etc.)
Autobiographies
Oral Histories / Interviews (includes transcriptions of)
Government documents
Official records (birth, marriage, death, census, etc.)
Translations or excerpts of original documents

Secondary source examples include:

Books or articles that interpret or provide analysis of events (histories, biographies, literary criticisms, etc.)
Reviews of other works (film reviews, book reviews, etc.)
Documentary films (generally presenting an interpretation of events, individuals, or ideas)
Reviews of laws and legislations (political analyses and commentaries)

Books on Using Primary Sources

Analyzing and Writing with Primary Sources by Wendy Conklin
ISBN: 9781425897512
Publication Date: 2015-08-01
Engage students with intriguing and authentic primary sources! This classroom resource provides detailed instructions and pedagogical tactics on teaching with primary sources. Students will learn to critically analyze various kinds of primary sources while developing their close reading and comprehensions skills and responding to text-dependent questions. This standards-based manual is tailored for specific grade spans. Chapters are divided by the type of primary source including Paintings, Photographs, and Prints; Official Documents; Personal Documents; Posters, Signs, and Advertisements; Political Cartoons and Comic Strips; Maps; Artifacts; and Oral Histories, Interviews, Audio, and Video Recordings.
Historical Research by Bill Mcdowell
ISBN: 9780582294592
Publication Date: 2002-03-25
This is the first practical guide to cover the various stages of a history research project, from the selection of the topic and the organization and interpretation of source material, through to the completion of the written-up record.Whether it is for a dissertation, thesis article or, indeed, full-length book, Historical Research deals with the purpose of research, and the implications, limitations and benefits of different research methods, as well as the effective presentation of the finished result.
Going to the Sources by Anthony Brundage
ISBN: 9781119262831
Publication Date: 2017-04-27
It's been almost 30 years since the first edition of Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing was first published. Newly revised and updated, the sixth edition of this bestselling guide helps students at all levels meet the challenge of writing their first (or their first "real") research paper. Presenting various schools of thought, this useful tool explores the dynamic, nature, and professional history of research papers, and shows readers how to identify, find, and evaluate both primary and secondary sources for their own writing assignments. This new edition addresses the shifting nature of historical study over the last twenty years. Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing includes: A new section analyzing attempts by authors of historical works to identify and cultivate the appropriate public for their writings, from scholars appealing to a small circle of fellow specialists, to popular authors seeking mass readership A handy style guide for creating footnotes, endnotes, bibliographical entries, as well as a list of commonly used abbreviations Advanced Placement high school and undergraduate college students taking history courses at every level will benefit from the engaging, thoughtful, and down-to-earth advice within this hands-on guide.