Research Guides: Primary Sources/Primary Research Topic Guide: Home

The purpose of the topic guide is to assist with locating Primary Sources and Primary Research.

"Primary Research Image " by TCC Librarians is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

"County Separation-Related Document" by Orange County Archives is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Definitions

Definitions

Primary Research- the original materials, data sets, and statistics on which other research is based. (Health Sciences, Sciences, and Engineering) Definition: University of Minnesota Libraries

Primary Source- the original documents and first-hand evidence written during the time that the historical event was occurring. (History, Humanities, Social Sciences)

Secondary Source- materials (book or article) that provide a summary, discussion, or analysis of the primary sources.

Examples of Primary Sources

written	court decisions, diaries/memoirs, eye-witness accounts, government documents, letters, newspapers, pamphlets, statistics, treaties, vital records (birth certificates, naturalization records, marriage licenses, etc.)
oral	interviews, music, sermons, speeches
visual	drawings, films, maps, paintings, photographs, political cartoons, posters
artifacts (or relics)	clothing, furniture, inventions, pottery, sculpture, tools

Resources for Primary Sources

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Includes newsreels and historical videos.
American History in Video This link opens in a new window
Videos on various topics in American history.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
A robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender.
Films On Demand This link opens in a new window
Thousands of archival films and newsreels.
HarpWeek 1857-1912 This link opens in a new window
America's leading 19th century illustrated newspaper
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
Full-text primary sources about Native Americans from the 16th-20th Centuries.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
A collection of 19th century U.S. newspapers.
Introduction to U. S. History Online: Slavery in America This link opens in a new window
Includes personal narratives, pamphlets, sermons, etc. from 17th-19th century.
Introduction to U. S. History Online: The American Revolution This link opens in a new window
Letters, collected writings of key figures, political speeches, etc.
Introduction to U. S. History Online: The Civil War This link opens in a new window
Personal narratives, monographs, regimental histories, collected essays, sermons, etc.

Chronicling America (Library of Congress)
Historical American newspapers from 1789-1963.
The Avalon Project (Yale Law School)
Documents in Law, History,and Diplomacy from 4000 BCE-21st Century.
Finding Primary Sources (National Archives)
Information on locating primary sources for students.
The American Presidency Project
Authoritative, non-partisan on-line source for presidential public documents.
DBVA
Document Bank of Virginia (DBVa) is the Library of Virginia’s initiative to get documents into classrooms.
Finding Primary Sources (National Archives)
Our National Archives Catalog is the online portal to our records and information about our records. It provides access to data, digitized records, selected series from Access to Archival Databases (AAD), over one million electronic records from the Electronic Records Archives (ERA), all of the web pages from Archives.gov, and all of the web pages from the Presidential Libraries.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A multi-disciplinary database which offers information in many areas of academic study. This database supports high-level research in the key areas of academic study by providing access to journals, periodicals, reports, books and more.
- Help Searching EBSCO Databases (video 2:57)
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
Full-text scholarly/peer-reviewed journals covering all areas and nursing and allied health including peer-reviewed journal articles, evidence-based care plans, quick lessons, patient teaching materials, case studies, continuing education units (CEU), and more.
- CINAHL AdVanced Searching (video 3:46)
IEEE Xplore Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Technical literature and conference proceedings; electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
Citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, etc.

Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice)
Information and statistics on crime, victims, offenders, and the operation of the criminal justice system.
National Center for Health Statistics (CDC)
Health Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
United Nations Statistics Division
Statistics about the economy, environment, population and more.
U.S. Census Data
Official site for United States Census data.