What Are Primary Sources?
Primary sources are first-hand accounts, original manuscripts, records, or documents produced from the time period at hand.
Some examples of primary sources include:
- Photographs or artwork
- Maps
- Letters
- Personal narratives, memoirs, or diaries
- Interviews
- Speeches
- Government documents
- Historical records
- Court cases
These may be available in their original form or they may be reproduced or reprinted in a book, digital repository, or other source.
Other LibGuides about Primary Sources
Websites with Primary Sources
- National Archives' DocsTeach DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.
- National History Education Clearinghouse's TeachingHistory.org TeachingHistory.org is designed to help K–12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom.
- Rochester Public Library Digital Collections Includes digitized manuscripts, civil records, scrapbooks, newspapers, and much more.
- NYPL Digital Collection Free and open access to over 700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
- Library of Congress The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.
- Making of America Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection contains books and journal articles across the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
- Digital Public Library of America DPLA includes millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country available to all in a one-stop discovery experience.
- The World Digital Library The World Digital Library of the U.S. Library of Congress makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures and significant historical documents on one site, in a variety of ways. Content on the WDL includes books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, journals, prints and photographs, sound recordings, and films.
- EuroDocs A large repository of online primary source documents throughout Europe's history.
- Avalon Project The Avalon Project will mount digital documents (Ancient to Modern/Present) relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy, and government.
Library Databases with Primary Sources
- Gale in Context: Elementary This link opens in a new window Gale in Context: Elementary meets the research needs of students in Kindergarten through Grade 5. It features a developmentally appropriate, visually graphic interface, a subject-based topic tree search and full-text, age-appropriate, curriculum-related magazine, newspaper and reference content for information on current events, the arts, science, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
- Gale in Context: Middle School This link opens in a new window Created specifically for middle-schoolers, Gale in Context: Middle School combines the best of Gale's reference content with age-appropriate videos, newspapers, magazines, primary sources, and much more. Students will find outstanding support to complete assignments in core subjects including literature, science, social studies, and history.
- Opposing Viewpoints In Context This link opens in a new window Opposing Viewpoints In Context is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues. The database features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
- Democrat & Chronicle (ProQuest Newspapers) This link opens in a new window Search and access Democrat & Chronicle newspaper issues from 1871 to the present! Articles are images of the original paper in PDF format. The most recent issue is 21 days behind the current date to allow time for digitization and hosting.
Teaching with Primary Sources
- Getting Started with Primary Sources Library of Congress manages a series of webpages, including Teacher's Guides; Finding Primary Sources; Distance Learning and Primary Sources; Primary Sources and Standards; etc.
- Ideas, Activities, and Plans Library of Congress' Teaching With Primary Sources Eastern Region manages a searchable database of teacher-created resources.
- Engaging Students with Primary Sources This Smithsonian reference guide is designed to highlight the benefits of using primary source materials in any classroom and to provide you, the teacher, with practical suggestions and examples of how to do this. It also includes a bibliography and links to other sites on the Internet that feature primary source materials.
- Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium Journal Archives Between 2008 and 2016, the Library of Congress' Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Consortium members contributed their knowledge to 15 issues of the TPS Consortium Journal – a publication dedicated to support the use of Library of Congress digitized primary sources to teach a number of topics in the K-12 curriculum.
Citing Primary Sources
Specific Considerations for Citing Archival Materials and Collections
- Use square brackets to indicate information that does not appear on the document.
- Use “ca.” (circa) to indicate an estimated date (see Example 5).
- Use italics for titles of archival documents and collections; if the work does not have a title, provide a description in square brackets without italics.
- Separate elements of the source (e.g., the name of a repository, library, university or archive, and the location of the university or archive) with commas. End the source with a period.
Librarian
Becky Leathersich
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