{"id":254,"date":"2015-06-22T18:21:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T18:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/?page_id=254"},"modified":"2020-04-15T17:00:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T17:00:59","slug":"finding-primary-sources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/start-researching\/research-tips\/finding-primary-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Primary Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Primary Sources<\/h1>\n

These are simply first-hand accounts or original records of an event. Primary sources may include newspaper articles, diaries, letters, interviews, maps, government documents, oral histories, videos, illustrations, photographs, and more. A primary source may also be the result(s) of original research, including quantitative or qualitative data.
\n <\/p>\n

Secondary Sources<\/h1>\n

These are resources that were created \u201cafter the fact\u201d by persons who were not present at the actual event–they are simply reporting on information they have received \u201csecond hand.\u201d Secondary sources usually offer an analysis or interpretation of primary source materials. For example, most scholarly textbooks and reference sources like encyclopedias would be considered secondary sources.
\n <\/p>\n

The Confusion<\/h1>\n

Whether or not a resource is a primary or a secondary source may also depend on what your topic is and how you are using that resource. For example, a newspaper article written in 1941 about the 2nd World War would be a primary source, but a newspaper article written in 2008 about WWII would be a secondary source. Books that are secondary sources may also contain primary sources within them; for example, excerpts from interviews, copies of government treaties or legislation, or research results. Try to find the original source (looking in the book\u2019s footnotes and\/or bibliography will help!) and you can use them as primary sources for your own research topic.
\n 
\nBelow are some links to help you find primary sources, but you may also want to check out the Reference and User Services Association\u2019s (RUSA’s) Guide to Primary Sources<\/a> on the web.
\n <\/p>\n

Online Sources of Primary Documents<\/h1>\n

19th Century Index<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

AAS Historical Periodicals Collection<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

African American Newspapers 1827-1998<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

American Memory Project<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

American Presidency Project<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Avalon Project<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Cummins Photo Collection: Hamilton, Ohio<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Early American Imprints: The Digital Evans<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Early English Books Online<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Eighteenth Century Collections Online<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Historic Documents<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Internet History Sourcebooks<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

King Center, Archive of Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Making of America<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

National Archives and Records Administration<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

North American Indian Thought and Culture<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Ohio Memory Project<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabin Americana, 1500-1926<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Social and Cultural History: Letters and Diaries Online<\/a> \"info\"<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Primary Sources These are simply first-hand accounts or original records of an event. Primary sources may include newspaper articles, diaries, letters, interviews, maps, government documents, oral histories, videos, illustrations, photographs, and more. A primary source may also be the result(s)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":243,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-254","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2118,"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254\/revisions\/2118"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ham.miamioh.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}