Finding Primary Sources - HI 201 - Historical Methods - Keleher Learning Commons at University of Saint Mary

Starting Your Research

To get started on your research, I recommend the following steps:

Learn more about your topic by using encyclopedias like those found in Credo Reference and in the library's Reference section.
When you start to narrow down your topic, search for primary sources. Try not to get too invested in a topic until you make sure there are enough primary sources available.
Gather secondary sources from journals and books to write your paper.

What is a primary source?

Primary sources allow a researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. They reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Here are some examples of primary sources:

Items that describe events where the author is a participant or observer, such as diaries, letters, memos, journals, speeches, and interviews.
Photographs, audio and video recordings, and other electronic records of an event.
Records collected by government agencies such as birth and death records, marriage records, voting tallies, land deeds, and census data.
Records created by organizations or agencies, such as reports, minutes of meetings and bylaws.
Memoirs and autobiographies.
Material published at the time of an event, such as books, newspapers and magazine and journal articles. These are distinguished from secondary sources because they are contemporary.
Data collected by researchers, such as field notes, results of experiments, and measurements.

Primary Sources Online

Many libraries, museums, and archives have digitized their historic documents and put them online in digital libraries. Here are some collections relevant to your topics as interpreted by your professor.

Access to Archival Databases (AAD) from The National Archives
You will find in the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) resource online access to records in a small selection of historic databases preserved permanently in NARA. Out of the nearly 200,000 data files in its holdings, NARA has selected approximately 475 of them for public searching through AAD. We selected these data because the records identify specific persons, geographic areas, organizations, and dates. The records cover a wide variety of civilian and military functions and have many genealogical, social, political, and economic research uses.
American Memory Project from the Library of Congress
American 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. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
Australian War Memorial Collections
The Australian War Memorial collection was founded by Charles Bean and John Treloar who began collecting records including unit war diaries and relics (material evidence of conflict) during the First World War. The collection contains items from colonial conflicts to the present day. The Memorial also commissions artists, photographers and filmakers under the official war art scheme.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers 1836-1922
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Digital Scriptorium
The Digital Scriptorium is a growing image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts that unites scattered resources from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research. It bridges the gap between a diverse user community and the limited resources of libraries by means of sample imaging and extensive rather than intensive cataloguing.
EuroDocs
An extensive list, by country, of websites with European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Memory has been created by the Kansas State Historical Society to share its historical collections via the Internet.
Making of America (Cornell University Library)
Digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. This collection is thematically related to the University of Michigan Making of America Collection, but includes different materials.
Making of America (University of Michigan)
Digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. This collection is thematically related to the Cornell University Making of America Collection, but includes different materials.
Missouri Digital Heritage
More than 6.8 million records can be accessed through Missouri Digital Heritage, including the collections of the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Library and other institutions from across the state.
Veterans History Project--A Project of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress
The Veterans History Project (VHP) of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center is primarily an oral history program that collects and preserves the first-hand interviews of America's wartime veterans. VHP relies on volunteers, both individuals and organizations, throughout the nation to contribute veterans’ stories to VHP. In addition to audio- and video-recorded interviews, VHP accepts memoirs, collections of original photographs and letters, diaries, maps, and other historical documents from World War I through current conflicts.
World Digital Library
Significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. Browse by time, place, topic, type of item, and more.