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What Is a Primary Source?
A primary source is direct evidence or firsthand testimony of an event or time period. Letters, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, photos and videos, data, and physical objects are all examples of potential primary sources.
Watch this video for a brief overview:
Types of Primary Sources
A primary source is direct evidence or firsthand testimony of an event or time period. Primary sources are not solely handwritten; like letters and manuscripts. They could also be objects, artifacts or even videos.
For more information on how to locate primary sources, visit: How to...Find Primary Sources.
Suggested eBooks & Databases to Find Primary Sources
Daily Life Through American History in Primary Documents by See primary sources of Abigail Adams, Black Hawk, Dorothea Dix, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Nat Turner as well as other events throughout American history.
American Eras: Primary Sources Vol. 3 Westward Expansion, 1800-1860 by Includes essays on events, publications, lifestyles and individuals important to the Westward Expansion Era in U.S. history.
American Eras: Primary Sources Vol. 2 Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877 by Includes essays on events, publications, lifestyles and individuals important to the Civil War and Reconstruction Era in U.S. history.
- African Americans and Jim Crow: Repression and Protest, 1883-1922 (Readex) This link opens in a new windowThis collection offers +1,000 fully searchable books, pamphlets, and speeches from the beginning of Jim Crow to post-World War I that provide insights into African American culture and life during this period of segregation and disenfranchisement. Topics include African American identity, relationships with peoples of other nations, and literature. (VIVA)
- African Americans and Reconstruction: Hope and Struggle, 1865-1883 (Readex) This link opens in a new windowThis collection offers roughly 1,400 fully searchable printed works, books, pamphlets, and speeches from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of Jim Crow. It includes documents related to African Americans and citizenship, voting rights, literacy, land rights, employment, and more, including the gaps between written law and practice. (VIVA)
- Indigenous Peoples of North America (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new windowA collection of manuscripts, monographs, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, images of artwork, and more that increase understanding of the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political status of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada. (VIVA)