Prescott Library: US History Final Paper (Clark, Laffey): Find Primary Sources

What's a Primary Source?

Together, primary and secondary sources make up the key element of quality historical research.

Primary Sources

Primary Sources are original documents or accounts created at the time of an historical event or era. Memoirs, oral histories, and interviews are considered primary sources when they record direct eyewitness accounts to an event or era.

Types of primary sources include:

Letters & Diaries
Speeches
Interviews & Memoirs
Literary works
Buildings & Artifacts
Government Documents
Newspaper articles
Maps & Images
Sound Recordings
Works of Art
Research Data
Movies & Video

These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources comment upon, explain, or interpret primary sources. They may include scholarly books, journal and magazine articles, encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, reviews, and textbooks. Keep in mind that, like any good retelling, the closer a secondary source is to the primary information, the more accurate.

Source: ALA's Reference and User Service Association

Evaluating Primary Sources

Primary materials need to be carefully read and interpreted. Some questions to ask include:

Who created the source and for what original purpose?
Did the creator have firsthand knowledge?
What biases or hidden agendas did the creator have? Is the document meant to persuade or inform?
Was the source originally meant to be private or public?
When was the source created? Soon after the event, years later?

For more explanation on how to use and interpret primary sources see:

Librarian

US Primary Sources, by format

Thanks to technology, libraries, archives, and museums around the country are digitizing their collections—making it possible to view thousands of primary source collections formerly restricted in access. Here are a few worth exploring...

Audio

American Rhetoric & Speech Bank Index and full text of over 5000 audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events.
National Jukebox - Library of Congress National Jukebox contains over 10,000 historical sound recordings from the Library of Congress music collections. Sound content includes popular music, dance music, opera, jazz, speeches, poetry and humor.
The Studs Terkel Radio Archive Over the course of his 45 years on WFMT radio, Studs Terkel discussed every aspect of 20th-century life with movers, shakers, artists, and working folks. From civil rights to labor to jazz, his work spanned an impressive array of topics and figures. These enchanting, historically-significant interviews — which have been largely inaccessible to the public — are gradually coming to life in a new website hosting the comprehensive Studs Terkel Radio Archive.

Books & Monographs

Making of America - Books "is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The book collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books with 19th century imprints."

Government Documents

American Presidency Project The American Presidency Project (americanpresidency.org), was established in 1999 as a collaboration between John T. Woolley & Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The archives contain 110,046 documents related to the study of the Presidency.
Avalon Project - Major Document Collections Full text of a variety of important documents from ancient times to the 21st Century including accords and agreements around the world brought to you by the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale.
FBI -- The Vault "The Vault is our new FOIA Library, containing 6,700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies so you can read them in the comfort of your home or office. Included here are many new FBI files that have been released to the public but never added to this website; dozens of records previously posted on our site but removed as requests diminished; files from our previous FOIA Library, and new, previously unreleased files."
Foreign Relations of the United States Official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Back volumes are in process of digitization, with some searchable content available back to the 1950s and up to the mid-1970s. JMU has older volumes in print and/or on microform.
Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Part of the American Memory project from the Library of Congress. "Transcripts of interviews with U.S. diplomatic personnel capture their experiences, motivations, critiques, personal analyses, and private thoughts. These elements are crucial to understanding the full story of how a structure of stable relationships that maintained world peace and protected U.S. interests and values was built."
Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights "By providing access to the historical record of this important federal agency, the Thurgood Marshall Law Library [offers] scholars an opportunity to examine the efforts of the Commission more closely. A partnership of the United States Government Printing Office, The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Thurgood Marshall Law Library."

Milestone Documents in American History This link opens in a new window
Primary texts from documents related to key events in US history are included in this resource as well as document analysis. This site also makes Milestone Documents in World History available.

The National Security Archive, USA Housed at George Washington University, declassified US government files about foreign policy are made available here. The Archive collects documents from various institutions via the Freedom of Information Act.

Images

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Digital image bank that covers many time periods and cultures.
Image database containing over 1 million images from art, architecture, music, world history and more. Collections are made up of contributions from museums, libraries, artists' estates, photographers, and scholars from all over the world.
Registered users are able to save images as well as download them into a presentation slide format.
For home access, contact the library staff.

Flickr Commons Hidden treasures from the world's public photography archives. Use the search box at the top right to find an image you need, and check the copyrights.
Internet Archive: Moving Image Archive Internet Archive's library of films. Includes animations, newsreels, documentaries, public information films, and TV commercials.

Personal Accounts

Civil Rights Documentation Project Oral History Interviews on the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. The research was conducted in the fall of 1997 by the staff members at The University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage and at the Tougaloo College Archives. The work was funded by the Mississippi State Legislature through a grant administered jointly by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Mississippi Humanities Counci.
Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Part of the American Memory project from the Library of Congress. "Transcripts of interviews with U.S. diplomatic personnel capture their experiences, motivations, critiques, personal analyses, and private thoughts. These elements are crucial to understanding the full story of how a structure of stable relationships that maintained world peace and protected U.S. interests and values was built."
Veterans History Project The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.

Repositories

Cal State: Primary Sources on the Web An annotated list of various website with Primary Sources from California State University.
Historical Voices Browse the highlighted collections for information on specific topics available at different locations.
Repositories of Primary Sources "A listing of over 5000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar." Full text of these documents may or may not be available.

Mixed Collections

American Memory Digitized collections of primary source materials at the Library of Congress on American history and culture, including documents, photographs, sound recordings, and motion pictures.
Birmingham (Alabama) Public Library Digital Collections BPL's Digital Collections were created to preserve and make available the local history of Birmingham and the surrounding area. Resources include images, newspapers, documents, maps, scrapbooks, and oral histories. Collections include Booker T Washington, Mardi Gras, Coal mining, Gee's Bend, and more.
Dig DC
Digital Vaults - National Archives
Documenting the American South Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
Many Pasts - History Matters "primary documents in text, image, and audio about the experiences of ordinary Americans throughout U.S. history." From George Mason University and the American Social History Project.
National Archives Online exhibits The National Archives has worked to digitize more and more of its collection. Explore any of these online exhibits for a look into various items in their collection.
NYPL Digital Gallery Over 800,000 images gathered from New York Public Library's collection.

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. Drawing on the acclaimed Greenhaven Press series, the solution 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.
US History in Context This link opens in a new window

Specific Topics

African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
- Why search here?
  African American Studies Center provides a great collection of resources on people and events within African American History.
- What's included?
  This site includes primary sources.
"The online authority on the African American Experience" from Oxford UP.

Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive Mississippi was a focal point in the struggle for civil rights in America, and Hattiesburg, home of The University of Southern Mississippi, had the largest and most successful Freedom Summer project in 1964. The civil rights materials collected at the University document a local history with truly national significance. The Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive includes a selection of digitized photographs, letters, diaries, and other documents. Oral history transcripts are also available, as well as finding aids for manuscript collections.
Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics - Harvard Open Collections This online collection offers important historical perspectives on the science and public policy of epidemiology today and contributes to the understanding of the global, social–history, and public–policy implications of diseases.
Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 - Harvard Open Collections Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930, is a web-based collection of historical materials from Harvard's libraries, archives, and museums that documents voluntary immigration to the United States from the signing of the Constitution to the onset of the Great Depression. Concentrating heavily on the 19th century, Immigration to the US includes over 400,000 pages from more than 2,200 books, pamphlets, and serials, over 9,600 pages from manuscript and archival collections, and more than 7,800 photographs. By incorporating diaries, biographies, and other writings capturing diverse experiences, the collected material provides a window into the lives of ordinary immigrants. In addition to thousands of items that are now accessible to any Internet user, the collection includes contextual information on voluntary immigration and quantitative data. The site offers additional links to related digital resources on immigration to the US, including vital materials on the African diaspora.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database has information on more than 35,000 slave voyages that forcibly embarked over 12 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. It offers researchers, students and the general public a chance to rediscover the reality of one of the largest forced movements of peoples in world history.
Women Working, 1800–1930 - Harvard Open Collections Women Working, 1800–1930 is a digital exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression. Working conditions, workplace regulations, home life, costs of living, commerce, recreation, health and hygiene, and social issues are among the issues documented in this online research collection from Harvard University.

Newspapers & Magazines

Arizona Digital Newspaper Program The Arizona Digital Newspaper Program (ADNP) is a base for digitized historic newspapers in Arizona.
Chronicling America Search these digitized newpapers from the Library of Congress
Elephind: newspaper collections This source searches various digitaized newspaper collections. Some access may be restricted, but full views will be available when possible.
Google News Archive Using Google's news search feature, you can find original articles about your revolution from various newspapers throughout time.

Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Access archived articles from ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times with Index, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

LIFE Magazine Published from 1936 to 1972, this influential magazine chronicled world events and brought stunning images of the world to American readers.
The New York Times A great starting point to explore. The Politics section may prove most useful
The Silent Worker 1888 - 1929 The Silent Worker was a popular national newspaper among the deaf population of the United States during the end of the 1890's through the end of the first quarter of the 20th century. Originally known as the Deaf Mute Times, it was first published in February 1888 and renamed The Silent Worker on September 27 of the same year. The New Jersey School for the Deaf continued its publication monthly, except for July, August, and periodically September until it ceased in June 1929. Deaf American authors wrote almost all articles, although occasional contributions by deaf individuals from other countries were also printed. Gallaudet University Archives has converted their collection of The Silent Worker from 1888 to 1929 into digital format, and made it available on the World Wide Web for public research.
The Tundra Times - the voice of Alaska Natives from 1962-1997 The Tundra Times was the voice of Alaska Natives statewide from 1962 to 1997. At the time, the idea of a newspaper written by and for Alaska Natives was audacious. In the early 1960s, the state's indigenous residents were a disenfranchised people. With its first edition, the eight-page biweekly established a fascinating mix of articles ranging from politics and Native issues to coverage of the everyday experience of Native Alaskans. From the beginning, the paper sought to unify Natives. "Tundra," the basic ground cover of Alaska was chosen as its name. The masthead, designed by editor Howard Rock, an Iñupiat Eskimo from Point Hope, incorporated Eskimo, Indian and Aleut scenes that were flanked with "Iñupiat Paitot" (the people's heritage) in Iñupiat and "Dena Nena Henash" (the land speaks) in Athabascan. The paper's editorial policy was two-fold: to serve as the "medium to aid (Natives) in their struggle for just determination and settlement of their enormous problems...(and) to keep informed on matters of interest to all Natives of Alaska." In 1997 the Tundra Times ceased publication. The Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC) of Barrow acquired its archives and copyrights, including a photograph collection that consists of negatives and over 15,000 black and white prints. A year later the collection was turned over to the Tuzzy Consortium Library.