Primary Sources
What is a Primary Source?
Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools and weapons. These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research.
American Library Association. (2010). Using primary sources on the web. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources/index.cfm
World Wars and Holocausts
Glenn Scherer & Marty Fletcher
John Richard Conway, Esq.
Compiled by Laurel Holliday
Personal narratives of Jewish Children, written during the Holocaust
Compiled by David C. King
Period documents reflecting the lives of famous people and ordinary citizens
U.S. History
James M. Deem
Helen Koutras Bozonelis
James M. Deem
Archie P. McDonald
Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr.
David Waldstreicher
Collection of primary sources, including news articles, documents, letters, photographs and facsimiles about the struggle against slavery.
Velma Maia Thomas
A collection of materials from the Black Holocaust Exhibit.
Adriane Ruggiero
Contains excerpts from letters, newspaper articles, speeches, and songs from the Great Depression.
Kim A. O’Connell
Kevin Hillstrom, Editor
Elizabeth Sirimarco
Contains excerpts from letters, newspaper articles, speeches, and songs from the period of the Cold War.
Wade Hudson
David Waldstreicher
Collection of primary sources, including news articles, documents, letters, photographs and facsimiles about the struggle against slavery.
Alan Wachtel
Native Americans and Early American History
Deborah Gillan Straub, Editor
Includes speeches and addresses given by Native American leaders.
Sonia Benson, Deborah J. Baker, project editor
Early civilizations in the Americas reference library, including primary sources.
Civil Rights
Herb Boyd
Includes 2 digital sound discs with original speeches.
Elizabeth Sirimarco
Contains excerpts from letters, newspaper articles, speeches, songs and poems from the period of Reconstruction through the 1960s.
World History
John Richard Conway
R. Keith Schoppa
Documents and speeches from Twentieth Century China
Mark Rackers, editor
Speeches about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Clarice Swisher, editor
Original source material from the reign of Elizabeth I
YA COLL 942.055 PRI
Internet Resources
The Our Documents Initiative
This website includes information and images of 100 milestone documents from U.S. history that date from 1776-1965. It was created through a joint effort between National History Day, The National Archives and USA Freedom Corps.
Veterans History Project
Library of Congress
This online resource provides access to first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War and Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. The Veterans History Project was created by the United States Congress in 2000.
American Memory Project
Library of Congress
The American Memory project provides online access to digitized materials held by the Library of Congress. The collection includes written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images prints, maps and sheet music that document American history.
Treasures of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
This website provides access to the digitized materials held by the New York Public Library. It includes a variety of different materials.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
A collection of public historical texts and sources presented without advertising. There are resources on ancient, medieval and modern history, from around the world.
EDSITEment
National Endowment for the Humanities
A collection of websites of primary sources compiled by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Primary Sources on the Web
University of California Berkeley Library
A directory of websites containing primary source materials on United States history.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/primarysourcesontheweb.html
Compiled by Cara Perry, September 2010
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