Challenge Library Guide for HON 101 - Keldorf - Riverdale: What are Primary/Secondary Sources?
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.
- American Memory Project from the Library of CongressAmerican Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
- Chronicling America: Historic American NewspapersDigitized historic American newspapers pages from 1836-1922.
- Digital ScriptoriumA growing image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts.
- EuroDocsAn extensive list, by country, of websites with European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
- National Union Catalog of Manuscript CollectionsThe mission of the NUCMC program is to provide and promote bibliographic access to the nation's documentary heritage.
- Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & LawThis collection brings together all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world and includes pamphlets, books, legal statutes, and articles on slavery.
- Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade DatabaseProvides information on slaving voyages from Europe and Africa to North America, the Caribbean, and Brazil. The database offers researchers, students, and the general public a chance to rediscover the reality of one of the largest forced movements of peoples in world history.
- World Digital LibrarySignificant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. Browse by time, place, topic, type of item, and more.
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 vs Secondary Sources Video (Vermont Tech, Hartness Library 2017)
Primary Sources in Library Databases
The Library has many many full-text databases of electronic primary sources. Here are some collections to explore.
- American WestContains manuscripts, books, maps, photos, and other materials focusing on the American West.
- British PatheConsists of the archive of the British Pathe news corporation from 1896 to 1970. The archive covers history, social history, sports, news, and entertainment. Closed captions are not available.
- China: Trade, Politics and Culture 1793-1980Presents periodicals, diaries, photographs, and other materials relating to British and American diplomats, missionaries, business people, and tourists in China.
- Civil Rights in America: From Reconstruction to the Great SocietyProvides an archive of official publications and primary source material related to civil rights in the United States.
- Confidential Print: Middle EastProvides the full text of historical reports, dispatches, correspondence, and other documents issued by the British Foreign and Colonial Offices on the Middle East and northeast Africa from circa 1820 to 1970.
- Early American Newspapers I, II, and IIICovers early American newspapers, a major primary source for American history. Provides unprecedented access to the nation's newspapers from 1690 to 1876. Series I covers 1690-1876, while series II and III cover 1821-1876.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO)Offers full text digital facsimiles of titles from the earliest printed works in the English language.
- Empire OnlineFind primary source documents on colonial history, politics, and culture from 1492 to 2007, primarily about the British Empire, especially Africa, the Americas, Australia, Oceania, and South Asia.
- Making of the Modern WorldArchives books or monographs on economics and business published from 1450 through 1850. Includes materials on commerce, finance, social conditions, politics, trade, and transport.
- Medieval Travel WritingFeatures digitized medieval manuscripts of important European travel writing from the later Medieval period, focusing on travels from Europe to the Holy Land, India, and China. Includes travel maps.
- New York Times Historical FileArchives the New York Times from 1851 with full page images and articles.
- Slavery, Abolition and Social JusticeArchives primary source documents for the study of slavery and abolition with materials from Africa, the Caribbean, the U.S., Latin America, and Europe from 1490 to 2007.
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000, Scholar's EditionMaintains primary source documents and historical interpretations focusing on women in American social movements.
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.