Locating Primary Sources
The library has many databases that include primary sources. Here's a list of databases containing many primary source documents
The list below includes several databases useful for a wide variety of historical topics. If you don't see what you need, look at the link above or reach out to the library and/or your professor for some assistance.
- Black Freedom Struggle In the United States This link opens in a new window
Primary source material, including FBI records, court cases, and newspaper articles focused on six different phases of Black Freedom from 1790 to 2000s.
- Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Many popular newspapers, dating back as far as the 19th century. Includes Black Historical Newspapers. Access for each paper begins with the first issue published, end dates are varied and evolving.
- Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new window
Primary source material on the cultural change between 1950-1975. Rock and roll, counterculture, peace and protest, fashion, civil rights, Vietnam, student activism, and underground publications.
- Race Relations in America This link opens in a new window
Documents three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights in America through the eyes and work of sociologists, activists, psychologists, teachers, ministers, students and housewives.1928-1976
- Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974 This link opens in a new window
Covers themes such as civil rights, counter culture, left movements, right movements, sexual revolution, student activism, and the Vietnam War. 1960 to 1974.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Primary sources on slavery in four parts: Debates over Slavery and Abolition, Slave Trade in the Atlantic World, Institution of Slavery, and Age of Emancipation. 1490-1896.
What is a Primary Source?
Primary sources, for historical purposes, are most often defined as eye-witness accounts of events/historical periods. Those accounts written or created at the time, not with 20/20 hindsight.
These sources reflect the point of view of a participant or observer at a particular point of time. There are a wide range of source materials available for historical research. For example:
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- Magazines, newspapers, books, and pamphlets written and published during a particular time period
- Diaries, letters, or papers usually written for personal reasons. Some of these may have been published later, usually after the writer’s death.
- Reports and records such as census data or other government documents.
- Autobiographies and memoirs often written long after the events took place and therefore, may be somewhat less reliable.
- Photos, audio recordings, movies, buildings, and other physical objects may also reveal information about the time period and popular culture
Compilations of primary sources such as a book containing many short excerpts from primary sources may not always be as useful as the original sources themselves.
Source materials may have a bias or purpose which you should be aware of. For example, an article from a northern paper during the civil war will read much differently than an article from a southern paper. When reading primary sources, think about why the piece was written, when it was written, and what it tells us about the writer and the time period.