This guide will introduce you to resources available through the University Libraries.
Primary sources are the "materials on a topic upon which subsequent interpretations or studies are based, anything from firsthand documents such as poems, diaries, court records, and interviews to research results generated by experiments, surveys, ethnographies, and so on."*
Primary sources are records of events as they are first described, usually by witnesses or people who were involved in the event. Many primary sources were created at the time of the event but can also include memoirs, oral interviews, or accounts that were recorded later.
It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether a particular source is primary or secondary, because the same source can be a primary source for one topic and a secondary source for another topic. David McCullough’s biography, John Adams, could be a secondary source for a paper about John Adams but a primary source for a paper about how various historians have interpreted the life of John Adams.
Visual materials, such as photos, original artwork, posters, and films are important primary sources, not only for the factual information they contain, but also for the insight they may provide into how people view their world. Primary sources may also include sets of data, such as census statistics, which have been tabulated but not interpreted. However, in the sciences or social sciences, primary sources also can report the results of an experiment.
Examples of primary sources include:
*From Hairston, Maxine and John J. Ruszkiewicz. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers. 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1996, pg. 547.
Adapted from Georgetown University Library's guide Primary Sources
Search or browse digitized archival sources. These can include photographs, documents, ephemera, and more. This is a list of some of the more popular digital collections, not an exhaustive list.
Full-text and full-image articles from old editions of major American newspapers, and some Canadian. Dates vary based upon title, but most range from 19th-late 20th centuries. Titles can be searched individually under "Change Databases."
Provides online access to historical newspapers, dating from the early 1700s into the early 2000s. Contains full runs and portions of runs of well-known regional and state titles to small local newspapers in the United States and other countries, including Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Panama.
Allows access to all our currently-subscribed East View resources. This database provides full text in-depth information from Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union along with some from China, Mexico, and East Africa. Resources include newspapers, newswires, popular and scholarly periodicals, and government documents. Also includes Links to publications in English and Russian. Includes transliteration feature.
Access to millions of primary source, cross-searchable, full-text/full-image documents on the most widely studied topics in 19th and 20th-century American history. Search or browse digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and many more primary source materials. Includes the “Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files, 1960–1969, Europe and Latin America” Collection Database Guide
A collaborative effort between the University of Michigan and Cornell University, Making of America (MOA) draws on the depth of primary materials at those universities' libraries. MOA is a thematically-related digital library documenting American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction, focusing on items printed from 1850 to 1877. 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.
Moody's (later Mergent) Corporate Manuals and Municipal & Government Manuals, 1909 to the present. Data for significant public companies worldwide: financial statements, histories, properties, mergers and acquisitions, operations, subsidiaries, officers and directors, stocks and bonds.
Freely accessible digital resources from open-archive collections worldwide.
