What is a Primary Resource?
Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence created by participants and/or observers of a historical event or time period enabling researchers to get as close to the truth of what actually happened. Often, these materials are created at the time when the events or conditions occured. However, primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs and oral histories that are written or recorded later.
Primary sources are characterized by their content not their format. Therefore, primary sources can be found in published books, on microfilm/microfiche, in digital form or in their original format.
The following types of materials are generally considered primary resources:
Search LibrarySearch to find primary sources in books and ebooks. When searching the catalog, you will want to use specific subject headings in your searches to single out the primary source materials. These subject headings are specialized "tag" added to the records to books by catalog librarians to provide accurate descriptions of books. Using the following subject headings in your search will help you find the source material you seek:
| correspondence | literary collections |
| personal narratives | pictorial works |
| songs and music | sources |
| diary or diaries | documents |
| interviews |
This database provides you access to the complete content of the Minneapolis Tribune, the Minneapolis Star and the Minneapolis Star Tribune (1867 – 2001) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
The digital collections and indexes listed below can help you locate period magazine and journal articles published in the United States and Great Britain from the 18th through the 20th centuries.
With this database you have access to several popular women’s magazines published in the United States and Canada dating from the from the late 1800s through the 20th century.
Use the Readers' Guide Retrospective index to locate articles published in popular press magazines and journals dating from 1890 to 1982.
This database is a digital collection of American magazines and journals dating from 1684 – 1912.