Learning About Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

"Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience." - Library of Congress

Examples of Primary Sources

• Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under study);
• Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)
• Diaries
• Internet communications on email, listservs;
• Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail);
• Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications
• Letters
• Newspaper articles written at the time
• Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript);
• Patents
• Photographs
• Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia
• Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government document)
• Speeches
• Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls)
• Video recordings (e.g. television programs)
• Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems)
• Website

Still not sure about how to identify a primary source? Take the Primary Source Interactive quiz. You will be introduced to several types of primary source documents from periods throughout history and will be asked to identify the cultural and historical origins or the documents.

Using Primary Sources

• Why Study History Through Primary Sources?
• Using Primary Sources on the Web
• Analyzing Primary Sources

National Archives Primary Source Analysis Sheets:

• Written Document Analysis Worksheet
• Artifact Analysis Worksheet
• Cartoon Analysis Worksheet
• Map Analysis Worksheet
• Motion Picture Analysis Worksheet
• Photo Analysis Worksheet
• Poster Analysis Worksheet
• Sound Recording Analysis Worksheet