LibGuides: History Resource Guide: Primary Sources

How to Find Primary Sources

Use background sources (encyclopedias and textbooks) to put your topic in a historical context and find related information on events, characters, key issues, and dates. Additional resources such as academic books and articles from scholarly journals may also be useful in gathering information. Don't forget that descriptive terms for places, activities, and occupations as well as other things may have changed over time.

This set of modules from the University of Illinois will walk you through the difference between a primary and secondary source, and provide examples of primary sources.

Search Tips

Combine events, individuals, issues, and dates with known types of primary sources to search HCC's online Library Catalog, article databases, and the open web. An example would be "diary" and "Gideon Welles." For tips on how to search the Library Catalog, click on the Books & eBooks tab above.

Image: Photo by Ireland Rose on Unsplash

These resources offer free online access to primary sources.

Library of Congress (LOC)

Finding Primary Sources-Library of Congress
Quick links to LOC primary resource collections
Chronicling America- Library of Congress
Digitized newspapers from across the country covering various time periods in the mid 1800's to early 1900's
Digital Collections-Library of Congress
Explore the digital collections available through the LOC, including maps, photographs, documents, and historical newspapers

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Home- National Archives and Records Administration
Home page for the National Archives
DocsTeach- National Archives
Search for a specific document or view collections of documents grouped by era.
Presidential Libraries- National Archives
Links to 13 Presidential Libraries and additional resources, including advice on how to research presidential documents

Additional Resources

Avalon Project
A collection of international primary documents ranging from 4000 bce to the 21st Century, presented by Yale's Goldman Law Library.
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
Browse this collection of historical newspapers, correspondence, pamphlets, diaries, and more focusing on critical people and moments in African American history.
Digital Public Library of America
View online exhibits, browse the primary resources collections, and more.
The Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History
From the University of Oklahoma, this collection provides access to transcripts of interviews with people from native tribes in Oklahoma regarding histories of their nations, culture, ceremonies, and more.
EuroDocs Online Sources for European History
A collection of websites with access to transcribed, facsimile, or translated primary sources.
Govinfo- United States Government Publishing Office
Free public access to publications from all three branches of the US Federal Government.
Iranian Oral History Project
From Harvard University, this oral history project contains personal accounts of individuals who were a part of or witnesses to major politcial events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s. Materials are mostly in Persian, but some in English.
Office of the Historian-United States Department of State
Documents and government records regarding U.S. Foreign Policy and the Department of State.
National Security Archive
From George Washington University in DC, the National Security Archive compiles a source of recently declassified records that cover US foreign policy, national security, intelligence policy and military history.
University of Washington WWII Primary Sources Guide
A compiled list of resources from the University of Washington that include both primary and secondary sources about WWII.
Wilson Center Digital Archives
Digital documents covering international relations and diplomacy.

Primary Sources

Examples of primary sources include, but are not limited to:

Letters

Reports

Government records

Diaries

Interviews

Images or photographs

Cartoons

Posters

Videos

Sound recordings

Emails

Maps

Speeches

Eyewitness accounts

Contemporary magazine or newspaper articles

Autobiographies

Personal narratives

Memoirs

History Resource Guide: Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are documents or media created during the time period under study. They are frequently physical items, but many are born-digital or have been digitized.

Autobiographies and memoirs are usually considered primary sources, but they may not be as reliable as more contemporary materials since they are typically written much later.