Primary (Historical) Sources
Primary sources are first-hand witnesses to a historical event or period, created at that point in history. They offer a perspective untouched by hindsight or modern knowledge, which can help us identify the actions, motivations and emotions involved in a historical event -- to understand history as it was experienced at the time rather than as we analyze it today.
Working with Primary Sources
- Choose "historical" search terms. The English language has changed over time ,and sources from 500 years ago will often use different patterns of speech, formatting, etc. than we see today. Think also about specific names of people and organizations -- these are great entry points to finding primary sources.
- Use the tools built into each database. Many primary resources can be browsed (or in the case of online tools, searched) by publication date, or by geographic location. This is often more effective than searching for something specific.
- Note the order of your results. Some primary source databases default to sorting by date. In some cases, sorting by relevance may be more helpful.
- Don't just search -- browse. For example: in addition to reading articles that come up in your search results, spend some time looking over pages of newspapers to see what other articles are covering from the time period. By looking beyond a single article, you'll learn about other issues from the time period and possibly see Letters to the Editors and advertisements which can provide historical context.
- Start early. It can be more difficult to find relevant primary sources. There may be valuable sources which you will want to request from other libraries. You may also need more time to decipher, digest, and interpret the content of your primary sources. Leave yourself plenty of time, pace yourself, and ask questions early and often!
Use the resources in this box to assist you in analyzing primary sources for your research.
- Patrick Rael, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students(Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College, 2004)
- Primary Source Analysis Worksheets - Digital HistoryUse these worksheets and other tools, originally developed by the National Archives, to help you analyze a range of primary sources including artifacts, cartoons, maps, movies, photos, posters, sound recordings, and written documents.
Collections of Primary Sources
Newspapers & Periodicals:
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals, Series 1 This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1684-1820
Early American newspapers and magazines, digitized at the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) in Worcester.
Pamphlets, Correspondence & Other 'Ephemera':
- American Indian Histories & Cultures
- China, America and the Pacific: Trade & Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1700s-early 1900s
English-language primary sources about relationships between China, the Pacific region and the United States. - Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Primary sources in English relating to empire building around the world and especially the British Empire.
- Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 [Boston Public Library database]Contains books, pamphlets, serials and other documents about the Americas from 1500 to the early 1900's.To access, sign up for an e-card.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1600-2000
Primary sources created by and about enslaved individuals and the practice of slavery around the world. - Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1490-2008
Primary sources created by and about enslaved individuals and abolition movements.
Books:
- American JourneysTranscribed eyewitness accounts of American exploration, dating from 1000AD forward. The accounts are predominantly European with some embedded perspectives from Native Americans. Created by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Primary sources in English relating to empire building around the world and especially the British Empire.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Scanned books from major research libraries. Best for books published before 1928.
- Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 [Boston Public Library database]Contains books, pamphlets, serials and other documents about the Americas from 1500 to the early 1900's.To access, sign up for an e-card.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1600-2000
Primary sources created by and about enslaved individuals and the practice of slavery around the world.
In the Library:
You can also find many kinds of primary sources in the library. This could include writings published during the relevant time period as well as editions of primary accounts/documents that were re-published later.
When using CrossSearch, you can check the Catalog box on the left navigation bar to only search for items in the library catalog, then use the date slider to look at publication dates in your time period.
Remember to watch your keywords -- a book written in the early 20th century will use different vocabulary to talk about various historical events.
Keyword tips for finding primary sources in Dinand:
- Try the name of a specific region (including names they might have been known by in the past).
- Look for a specific traveler that you already know!
- Terms such as voyage, travel, journey are examples of words that appear often in titles of travel accounts.
Images:
- Archive of Early American ImagesProvides access to 6,000 images of “the colonial Americas” scanned from “primary sources printed or created between 1492 and ca. 1825.” Images are selected from the holdings of the John Carter Brown Library and produced by Brown University with the support of the Ahmanson and Getty Foundations.
- ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Library of images relating to art and architecture, humanities, and social sciences.
Misc. Web Archives:
- Digital Library of the CaribbeanThe Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is a cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean.
- Early Americas Digital ArchiveAvailable through the University of Maryland.
- Early Caribbean Digital Archive"An open access collection of pre-twentieth-century Caribbean texts, maps, and images. Texts include travel narratives, novels, poetry, natural histories, and diaries that have not been brought together before as a single collection focused on the Caribbean."
- Library of Congress Digital CollectionsThe Library of Congress has many wonderful online collections of primary sources from a variety of historical periods.
- SALALM Latin American & Caribbean Digital Primary Resources"A database of listings that provide links to open access digitized collections of primary sources that relate to Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, the listings may be searched by country, genre/format, hosting institution, and collection title. "
- Slave Voyages"This digital memorial raises questions about the largest slave trades in history and offers access to the documentation available to answer them. European colonizers turned to Africa for enslaved laborers to build the cities and extract the resources of the Americas. They forced millions of Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas, and from one part of the Americas to another. Analyze these slave trades and view interactive maps, timelines, and animations to see the dispersal in action."