About: Primary Sources
What is a Primary Source?
A primary source is a first-hand account of an event, time period, or philosophical era.
A primary source may include:
- diaries, journals, speeches, letters, interviews, office memos and other papers if the author was present at the event being written about
- memoirs and autobiographies which are describing events that the author was present for
- government documents, such as census records
- reports and minutes of organizations that reflect events, conditions and ideas of the time
- books, journals and newspapers written at the time of the event in question
- photographs, audio tapes, and film that document an event
- research data documenting scientific data at the time
- artifacts of all kinds, which may include buildings (architecture), household items, cave drawings, clothing, paintings, pottery
Primary sources do not include:
- memoirs or autobiographies that reflect on an event that the author was not present for, unless it reflects the popular opinion of the time
- a critical analysis of a work of literature that was written much later than the actual work
- documentation of ideas or psychology of a time may be found in popular fiction, films, educational material etc produced during that time period
- a critical analysis of an historical event that was written much later
Primary Sources in McDermott Library Databases
- African American CommunitiesAAC presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.
- African American Historical Serials CollectionThis collection includes several hundred periodicals dating from the early 19th century through the early 20th century. It contains newspapers and magazines as well as reports and annuals from various African American organizations such as churches and educational and service institutions.
- African American NewspapersA collection of primary documents containing cultural life and history in the 19th century. This database is a repository of first hand reports of various events and important racial issues, written by African-Americans for African-Americans.
- America's Historical NewspapersAmerica's Historical Newspapers allows users to search thousands of U.S. historical newspapers published between 1690 and 1922, including titles from all 50 states.
- American Memory Historical Collection for the National Digital LibraryThese materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America. They provide a useful digital archive of primary documents in American history.
- American Prison Newspapers 1800-2020 : Voices from the InsideThis database provides access to a growing list of prison newspapers covering more than 200 years. Most of the titles were written by inmates. JSTOR worked with many research institutions to assemble and fund this collection.
- Archives UnboundArchives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of scholars and students at the college and university level.
- Black Drama, 1850 to PresentThis database contains the full text of hundreds of plays written from the mid-19th century to the present by hundreds of playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare or out of print. Information on related productions, theaters, and production companies, as well as selected playbills, production photographs and other related material is also available.
- Dallas Morning News Historical Archive (1885-1984)This provides a digital image archive of the Dallas Morning News including classifieds and display advertising, photos and graphics.
- Early American Imprints, Series I (Evans, 1639-1800) and SupplementsThis full-text database is a collection of primary source material on history, literature, philosophy, religion, agriculture, and other aspects of American life in the 17th and 18th centuries. With thousands of primary documents, it also has supplements from the Library Company of Philadelphia and the American Antiquarian Society that provide hundreds of additional pamphlets, broadsides, and books.
- Early American Imprints, Series II (Shaw-Shoemaker,1801-1819) and SupplementsThis full-text database provides access to primary source material for the early decades of 19th-century America, including coverage of politics, war, economics, and social and cultural thought. Supplements from the Library Company of Philadelphia and the American Antiquarian Society provide an additional thousand books, pamphlets, and broadsides spanning the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson to the Adams-Onis Treaty.
- Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures and the EnvironmentThis collection of primary sources holds more than 100,000 books and pamphlets published in England and its colonies from 1473-1700. It is especially useful for research in the areas of English history, literature, philosophy, linguistics, and the fine arts.
- Eighteenth Century Collections OnlineThis collection provides full-text access to digital images of hundreds of thousands of books published during the 18th Century in the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more.
- Everyday Life & Women in AmericaEveryday Life & Women in America includes primary source material from 1800-1920 related to the study of American social, cultural, and popular history. The collection features texts of rare books, periodicals, pamphlets, and broadsides from the 19th and early 20th centuries. It covers a variety of themes including popular culture, social history, family life, education, race, class, employment, and advice literature.
- Gale Primary SourcesGale Primary Resources is a research tool that allows researchers to cross-search multiple primary source databases using a single search box. It includes the following databases: Archives Unbound, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, The Making of the Modern World, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, and Sabin Americana 1500-1926 as well as the historical archives of several major periodicals (The Economist, Punch, The Times and more). Each database can also be searched individually.
- Gender: Identity and Social ChangeThis collection of primary sources is ideal for the study of women's suffrage, the feminist movement, the men’s movement, employment, education, the body, the family, and government and politics. Content spans from the nineteenth century to present and documents the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations.
- Gerritsen Collection - Women's History OnlineThe Gerritsen Collection is an electronic collection of books and periodicals reflecting the evolution of feminist consciousness and women's rights.
- HathiTrust This link opens in a new windowHathiTrust is a large digital library bringing together materials from sources including Google Books, the Internet Archive, and other commercial digitization projects. This resource is being expanded daily and provides information on more than 10 million volumes with more than a third of these available for full text access and download (primarily books and journals published before 1923 and U.S. Government publications).
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources, with a broad variety of coverage in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, spanning more than 50 disciplines. Collections on JSTOR include the complete archival records of thousands of journal titles.
- Newspaper Source PlusNewspaper Source Plus provides full-text access to major news content. It includes millions of articles from newspapers, newswires and news magazines from around the world. It also offers television and radio transcripts and daily updates from popular news sources.
- Past Masters (Full Text Humanities)A collection of primary-source full-text philosophy and literary works, Past Masters includes books, diaries, letters, and correspondence. Titles are usually comprised of the complete collected works of each individual author.
- Race Relations in AmericaDocumenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by Fisk University’s Race Relations Department (1943-1970), including Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall. Explore key themes such as the desegregation of schools, industries, and public transport; the migration of African Americans from the rural South to urban centers; the role of the church in the civil rights movement; race riots and other racial tensions; and more.
- Sabin Americana 1500-1926Sabin Americana, 1500-1926, is based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography. This collection contains full-text works about the Americas, including Latin America and Canada, published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900s. Also included are books, pamphlets, serials, and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western migration, Native Americans, military history, and more.
More Collections on the Web
- Civil Rights Movement ArchiveCollections of primary documents from activists of the Civil Rights Movement of 1951-1968, including speeches, letters, reports, memos, photos, and more.
- Documenting the American SouthThemed collections about southern history from UNC University Library, including books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
- Frederick Douglass Papers (Library of Congress)Contains more than 1,000 digitized manuscripts from abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass.
- The Freedman's Bureau OnlineContains labor, crime and marriage records of Freedmen with other links provided.
- Land, Wealth, Liberation: The Making & Unmaking of Black Wealth in the United StatesThis Open Access resource pulls together stories spanning the period 1820-2020 that show how formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants in the land now known as the United States of America worked to generate individual and collective capital through owning land and creating communities.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers ProjectThe King Papers Project is a cooperative venture of Stanford University, the King Center, and the King Estate striving to publish the definitive fourteen-volume edition of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,a comprehensive collection of King's most significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpublished manuscripts.
- Say It Plain, Say It Loud: A Century of Great African American SpeechesStreaming audio arranged by speaker with transcripts. Hosted by American Public Media.
- Umbra Search: African American HistorySearch among a quarter million digitized items from over 1,000 archives, museums and libraries or browse by topics like African American Firsts or Videos from the Civil Rights Movement.
- Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their StoriesAudio recordings from the Library of Congress.
- W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, 1803-1999 (bulk 1877-1963)University of Massachusetts Amherst's extensive collection includes over 100,000 items of correspondence - approximately 3/4 of W.E.B. DuBois's writings.
Collections in Texas
- Civil Rights in Black and BrownThis project contains multiracial oral histories both from the start of the civil rights era and those captured in more recent interviews, with contributions from a number of North Texas institutions.
- Portal to Texas HistoryA gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas. Includes over 1.5 million items in approximately 700 collections digitized and maintained by The University of North Texas.
- The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Oral History CollectionThis audio-visual Oral History Project explores the history & culture of the 1960s. These interviews offer personal insights into the life, death and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.
- Texas Archive of the Moving Image: Black CultureTAMI is a non-profit organization working to discover, preserve, provide access to, and educate the community about Texas’ film heritage. The archive includes home movies, amateur films, advertisements, local television, and industrial and corporate productions, as well as Hollywood and internationally produced moving images of Texas.
- University of North Texas Oral History ProgramUNT's digitized collections from their Oral History program feature topics such as World War II history, Texas political history; Texas business history; history of the New Deal in Texas; civil rights history; and immigration history.
- UT San Antonio Libraries Digital CollectionsThis is a digital archive of rare books, personal papers, photographs, and primary resources maintained by UTSA Libraries in preservation of San Antonio and South Texas history.