PRIMARY SOURCES

MORE ABOUT A PRIMARY SOURCE?  They provide first-hand accounts of the events, practices, or conditions these are documents that were created by the witnesses or first recorders of these events at about the time they occurred.

WHAT IS A PRIMARY SOURCE? Primary sources are sources of information—the raw materials of history— created by people who actually participated in or witnessed events of the past.

USEFUL?  Primary sources also include first-hand accounts that were documented later, such as autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories.  Most useful primary sources are usually considered to be those that were created closest to the time period you’re researching.

YOUR TOPIC?  Determining which kinds of documents constitute primary sources depends upon the topic you’re researching.  Sometimes the same book or article could be considered a primary source for one research topic and a secondary source for a different topic.

FIRST PERSON ACCOUNTS...  oral histories  diaries  memoirs

DOCUMENTS...  maps  old school attendance records  treaties  immigration/citizenship papers  laws, legal documents  yearbooks  military service records  award certificates, diplomas

 birth, death records  minutes of meetings  tax records  report cards  wills  blueprints  letters  driver’s license

PHYSICAL ARTIFACTS WHICH REFLECT THE PERIOD IN WHICH THEY WERE MADE AND USED...  furniture  clothing  buildings  household items  tools

SCIENTIFIC DATA WHICH HAS BEEN COLLECTED BUT NOT INTERPRETED...  census data  population statistics  weather records  production/manufacturing systems data  air quality measures  animal migration patterns

A DEFINITION OF SECONDARY SOURCE  A secondary source of information is one that was created later by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or conditions you’re researching. For the purposes of a historical research project, secondary sources are generally scholarly books and articles.

GOOD SECONDARY SOURCES  For secondary sources, often the best sources are those that have been published most recently.