Challenge Library Guide for World Civilizations - Gavitte - Grant: What are Primary/Secondary Sources?
Finding Primary Sources
Search for Primary Sources
A primary source is an item that was created during the period being studied, and it documents in some way what is being studied. Examples of primary sources include speeches, diaries, newspapers, and personal accounts.
Additionally, primary sources can be contextual to the research, for example a television show like Game of Thrones could be a primary source for research about power relationships.
Search the PSU Library Catalog
Go to the PSU Library Catalog and look for primary sources on a certain topic by using the Advanced Search:
- In the first search field, leave the menu on Any Field and then enter keyword(s) for your topic;
- In the second search field, change the drop-down menu to Subject, then add the type of primary source.
This image shows a search for a memoir related to Paul West.
Choose multiple related topics by inserting a capitalized OR between them.
This image shows a search for "civil war" as a keyword phrase and correspondence OR diaries as the types of primary resources.
Search the Public Domain
If your topic is pre-1923, you can find primary sources that are in the public domain. Resources in the public domain are not under copyright protection and are usually available online for free. Google, HathiTrust, and the Digital Public Library of America have digitized documents from the world's major research libraries. The Chronicling America project at the Library of Congress has digitized American newspapers from 1836 to 1922.
Primary Sources on the Web
Many libraries, museums, and archives have digitized their historic documents and put them online in digital libraries. Here are some large collections (and links to other large collections) you may want to explore.
The image at right is an illuminated page in Javanese script from a chronicle of a Javanese court in Yogyakarta, via the World Digital Library.
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Digital ScriptoriumA growing image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts.
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EuroDocsAn extensive list, by country, of websites with European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
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Internet Ancient History SourcebookThese sourcebooks from Fordham University have a ton of great links to primary sources and are arranged by region or theme.
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Flickr CommonsOffers public domain photographs and other photographs from national and international libraries, museums, archives, and cultural institutions.
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World Digital LibrarySignificant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. Browse by time, place, topic, type of item, and more.
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Perseus Digital LibraryThis website contains primary and secondary sources arranged by time period.
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National Anthropological Archives.Includes fieldnotes, journals, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, maps, sound recordings, film and video and other materials that document the world's cultures. Covers ethnology, linguistics, archaeology and physical anthropology. Created by Smithsonian anthropologists and other preeminent scholars.
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FAMSI Mesoamericana Bibliographies and Photographic CollectionsOffers images of codices and excavations, as well as bibliographies of published literature pertaining to most aspects of the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica. A project of FAMSI and the Museum Library of the University of Pennsylvania.
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Internet Ancient History SourcebookThese sourcebooks from Fordham University have a ton of great links to primary sources and are arranged by region or theme.
Primary vs Secondary Sources Video (Vermont Tech, Hartness Library 2017)
Search for Resources Tutorial
Check the Table of Contents of this tutorial for the section on primary resources. It will only take you a few minutes to review, and it may help you to further contextualize the use of primary sources.