Primary Sources on the Web: Finding, Evaluating, Using
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This brief guide is designed to help students and researchers find and evaluate primary sources available online. Note: as of 2024, this guide is currently under review and revision.
Keep in mind as you use this website, the Web is always changing and evolving. If you have questions, please consult your instructor or librarian.
Primary sources are the evidence of history, original records or objects created by participants or observers at the time historical events occurred or even well after events, as in memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include but are not limited to: letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, maps, speeches, interviews, documents produced by government agencies, photographs, audio or video recordings, born-digital items (e.g. emails), research data, and objects or artifacts (such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons). These sources serve as the raw materials historians use to interpret and analyze the past.
Additional Explanations and Examples of Primary Sources
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Websites
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Books
To see if these books are in a library near you, click on the title to access WorldCat.
Benjamin, Jules R. A Student’s Guide to History. 12th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013.
Brundage, Anthony. . 5th ed. Malden, MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014.
Cullen, Jim. . 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
Kitchens, Joel D. . Santa Barbara, Calif: Libraries Unlimited, 2012.
Presnell, Jenny L. . 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Rampolla, Mary Lynn. . 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2015.
Salevouris, Michael J, and Conal Furay. . 4th ed. Chichester, UK: WIley-Blackwell, 2015.
Turabian, Kate L., Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. . 8th ed. Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Williams, Robert Chadwell. . 3rd ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015.
Image Credits and Sources
Curtis, Edward S. Gathering Seeds--Coast Pomo, 1924. Edward S. Curtis Collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. Accessed September 20, 2015. .
Britton & Rey. Chinese Belle and Child, Chinatown, San Francisco. Postcard, n.d. Online Archive of California/California Historical Society. Accessed September 20, 2015. .
Dunlap, Kate. “Overland Trails - Biographies.” Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869. BYU Harold B. Lee Library Digital Collections. Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. Accessed September 20, 2015. .