This brief guide is designed to help students and researchers find and evaluate primary sources available online. Note: as of 2024, this guide is currently under review and revision.
Keep in mind as you use this website, the Web is always changing and evolving. If you have questions, please consult your instructor or librarian.
Primary sources are the evidence of history, original records or objects created by participants or observers at the time historical events occurred or even well after events, as in memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include but are not limited to: letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, maps, speeches, interviews, documents produced by government agencies, photographs, audio or video recordings, born-digital items (e.g. emails), research data, and objects or artifacts (such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons). These sources serve as the raw materials historians use to interpret and analyze the past.
Additional Explanations and Examples of Primary Sources
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Websites
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Books
To see if these books are in a library near you, click on the title to access WorldCat.
Benjamin, Jules R. A Student’s Guide to History. 12th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013.
Brundage, Anthony. Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing. 5th ed. Malden, MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014.
Cullen, Jim. Essaying the Past: How to Read, Write, and Think about History. 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
Kitchens, Joel D. Librarians, Historians, and New Opportunities for Discourse: A Guide for Clio’s Helpers. Santa Barbara, Calif: Libraries Unlimited, 2012.
Presnell, Jenny L. The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Rampolla, Mary Lynn. A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2015.
Salevouris, Michael J, and Conal Furay. The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide. 4th ed. Chichester, UK: WIley-Blackwell, 2015.
Turabian, Kate L., Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. 8th ed. Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Williams, Robert Chadwell. The Historian’s Toolbox: A Student’s Guide to the Theory and Craft of History. 3rd ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015.
Image Credits and Sources
Curtis, Edward S. Gathering Seeds--Coast Pomo, 1924. Edward S. Curtis Collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. Accessed September 20, 2015. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ecur/item/2002695450/.
Britton & Rey. Chinese Belle and Child, Chinatown, San Francisco. Postcard, n.d. Online Archive of California/California Historical Society. Accessed September 20, 2015. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb829005x0/?docId=hb829005x0&brand=oac4&layout=printable-details.
Dunlap, Kate. “Overland Trails - Biographies.” Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869. BYU Harold B. Lee Library Digital Collections. Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. Accessed September 20, 2015. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/Biographies/id/10/rec/1.