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, you will want to use specific words in your searches to single out the primary source materials. These words are specialized "tags" added to the records to books by catalog librarians to provide accurate descriptions of books. Using the following keywords in your search will help you find the source material you seek:
correspondence | personal narratives |
literary collections | pictorial works |
diary or diaries | songs and music |
sources | documents |
Over 2 million images from around the world, covering many time periods, cultures, and disciplines; discoverable alongside JSTOR’s journals, books, and other primary sources.
Smithsonian Global Sound streaming audio database has more than 40,000 individual tracks of music, spoken word, and natural and human-made sounds from Smithsonian/Folkways and other record labels. Included are readings of literary and dramatic works, historic speeches, language instruction, natural sounds, environmental and mechanical sounds, sound effects, children's music, and traditional music from virtually everywhere in the world. Playlists can be created for personal or classroom use.
Virgina Center for Digital History
Several digital collections created by the University of Virginia including Valley of the Shadow and Virtual Jamestown projects.
Adams Family Papers
An electronic archive of the Adams Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society
Founders Online
Over 149,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from the authoritative Founding Fathers Papers projects.
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