What are Primary Sources
Primary sources are first hand accounts of people or events of a topic being studied. These sources may vary based on focus of the specific project or article being written. These sources should bring the researcher as close to the topic of study as possible through the study for original documents and first hand accounts.
Examples of Primary Sources
Primary sources may include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, speeches, memoirs, results of experiments, statistical data, creative writing, unpublished manuscripts and archives, and audio and video recordings, among other documents. Interviews, surveys, and digital communications, including blogs and emails are also primary sources. Reports of direct observation from research, field studies, or experiments are also primary sources.
In the case of organizations, primary sources are documents created by the organization in the course of its operation. These documents can include annual reports, internal memorandums, letters, audio or video recordings, promotional material, and artifacts.
Primary sources help modern researchers interpret events in the context of the period in which it took place. They can also offer insight into the personal, social, religious, and political views of individuals who experienced the event.
For organizations, primary sources can provide a glimpse into the decisions taking place behind the scenes which affected the direction of the organization. They can also illustrate the history of the organization and its development over time.
Preparing for Primary Source Research
Secondary resources such as biographies and topical articles are useful in compiling names of significant figures and dates when events took place. This type of information is essential when planning an approach to primary source research. If you know when the essential dates of events being studied, you can eliminate sources which don’t included original sources of information for these dates. A list of names of people whose accounts or personal papers may include eyewitness accounts of such events enables a researcher to eliminate accounts which may not be first hand testimony of events.
Published books and articles will include source citations and lists of works cited. Check these resources for references to primary sources which might be useful for your project. These citations should list the names of collections used and the archives, libraries, or institutions where they can be found.
Finding Primary Sources
Manuscript collections or archives of organizational records often include some of the following keywords in their titles or content descriptions. By including these words as keywords in a search, you have a better chance of finding collections of historical documents:
- collection
- papers
- archive or archives
- diaries
- correspondence
Library catalogs contain records for books, journals, databases, and other collections owned by a specific library. Some catalogs, such as OCLC’s WorldCat, will include records for items held by thousands of libraries. Depending on the catalog’s default search, the search results may include a wide variety of different formats. To limit your results to manuscripts, limit your search by type of material such as “archival” or “manuscript.” Switch to advanced search for more search options.
Depending on the size of the institution, some libraries and archives will list their manuscript and archival collections online so that researchers can find them more easily. Lists of collection contents — known as finding aids or research guides — may also be available online. These guides often provide a box by box list of what’s in the collection, making it easier to find specific documents.
The Special Collections Library hosts a Collections Guides database containing finding aids for many of our manuscript collections.