History: Primary Sources

Primary source definition for historians

Historians make a distinction between primary and secondary sources.  Primary sources "originate in the time period that historians are studying.  They vary a great deal.  They may include personal memoirs, government documents, transcripts of legal proceedings, oral histories and traditions, archaeological and biological evidence, and visual sources like paintings and photographs" (Storey 2013, 32).  I would add to Storey's definition letters (often called correspondence in published collections), films, maps, newspaper and magazine articles published at the time you're studying, personal papers, meeting minutes, even things like theater/dance costumes!  Check with your professor to see what you may be able to use as a primary source.

A secondary source interprets a primary source.  Journal articles and books are common secondary sources.  You create a secondary source when you write a paper that analyzes and interprets a primary source.

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Storey, William Kelleher.  2013.  Writing history: A guide for students.  4th ed.  New York: Oxford University Press.

In what formats are primary sources found?

Some primary sources are published and some are unpublished.  For example, if you were examining women's role in the American temperance movement, you could use the couple relevant documents reprinted in this published book Women and the national experience: sources in women's history as well as the Martha McClellan Brown and Rev. William Kennedy Brown Papers (This is a link to the finding aid in our Special Collections & Archives).  The book is published and available from any library or bookstore; the MMB papers are all original documents from our Special Collections & Archives, and only a portion of them have been digitized for Wright State's online repository CORE Scholar. To access the non-digitized manuscripts in the collection, you would have to visit the Special Collections & Archives Department of the Dunbar Library in person.

Many primary sources are still on microfilm--digitizing is expensive and time-consuming! Don't fear the 'film: we have some great microform readers on the 2nd floor of Dunbar Library and anyone at the Information Desk will help you get set up, print, or save.

Sometimes unique collections are digitized and made available to anyone online for free. Collections held in museums, national archives, university/college archives, and historical societies are often available. To check if any organization has done this for your topic, Google digital [or some version of this word] collections [your topic keywords] site:.edu (thanks to the Georgia State history librarian for putting this so well). You can also try site:.org (this would capture those by historical societies, for example) but remember that .org sites may be of poor quality--be sure to check who is sponsoring the website and what they are all about!  (Read what other websites say about them.  If they are intentionally deceptive, how can you trust what they say about themselves?)   Adding site:.gov  to the end of your internet search will include U.S. government sites, including our national archives, Smithsonian institutions, and government departments (including state government sites).

The terms sources, documents, primary documents are sometimes useful to identify primary sources published in books or digitized on the internet, so you may also wish to try these terms if you are searching library catalogs or internet search engines for your topic.

Other primary source collections are digitized and are only available through a paid subscription.  Several of the subscription collections to which Wright State subscribes are linked on this page under the heading "Selected Primary Source Collections and Indexes" .  These online subscriptions are accessible to Wright State University students, faculty, and staff.

Suggestions from Archivist Lisa Rickey:

• Mine the citations of relevant books and articles: where did they find their primary sources?
• Google it: “[insert your subject here] & archives”

Selected public libraries

Selected historical societies

Selected county records centers

Note: You can also try county courthouses or offices for the location in question.

Selected colleges and universities

Unless otherwise noted, the resources linked below are available to Wright State University students, faculty, and staff because Wright State University Libraries has an institutional subscription.

Collections held in museums, national archives, university/college archives, and historical societies are often available. To check if any organization has done this for your topic, Google digital [or some version of this word] collections [your topic keywords] site:.edu (thanks to the Georgia State history librarian for putting this so well). You can also try site:.org (this would capture those by historical societies, for example) but remember that .org sites may be of poor quality--be sure to check who is sponsoring the website and what they are all about!  Site:.gov will include U.S. government sites, including our national archives, Smithsonian institutions, and government departments.

The terms sources, documents, primary documents are sometimes useful to identify primary sources published in books or digitized on the internet, so you may also wish to try these terms if you are searching library catalogs or internet search engines for your topic.

As stated by Archivist Lisa Rickey, "Digital collections often reflect just a small fraction of the total holdings of a repository. There may be (and likely are) non-digitized materials at the same institution that are also pertinent to your research."  Consider searching online finding aids to identify relevant non-digitized materials. 

Note: If you cannot travel to the institution, inquire about the availability of research services and duplication services and any applicable fee(s).  Fees can vary depending on the size and nature of the request.

Here are just a few examples of digitized collections.

A few examples of the digital archives in the Library of Congress collections that demonstrate the uniqueness of its digital memory. 

With volume 127, American Historical Review stopped the publication of its "Digital Resources" feature articles.