The term "primary source" is often used to refer to a document, recording or other source of information that was created at roughly the time being studied, by an authoritative source, usually one with direct personal knowledge of the events being described. A primary source could be a first-handed source from the past including diaries or artifacts. Primary sources have been described as those sources closest to the origin of the information or idea under study. They may contain original research or new information not previously published elsewhere. They have been distinguished from secondary sources, which often cite, comment on, or build upon primary sources.

Primary sources can be an important part of your research. The following links are designed to help you better understand and use primary source as well as easily locate primary sources on many topics.

Using Primary Resources

Using Primary Sources on the Web http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/RUSA...


Library Research Using Primary Sources http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Pri...


Primary Source Materials & Document Based Questions http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listdocu...


Using Primary Sources in the Classroom http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/primary.html


Repositories of Primary Sources http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Re...


TeachersFirst.com - Original Documents http://www.teachersfirst.com/ushistory/

Links to Primary Sources

Ad*Access - John W. Harlman Center for Sales, Marketing & Advertising History http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/index.htm...


American Colonist's Library
http://home.wi.rr.com/rickgardiner/primarysources....


American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement
http://www.americanjourneys.org/


American Memory Historical Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/


Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis (Key Apollo Source Documents)
http://history.nasa.gov/Apollomon/docs.htm


Archive of Primary Sources
http://www.dohistory.org


Archiving Early America
http://www.earlyamerica.com/


Authentic History Center
http://authentichistory.com/


Avalon Project at Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm


Child Labor in America 1908-1912
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabo...


Civil War Documents
http://www.civilwar.com/linkdocu.htm


Civil War Women
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/women/cwdocs.html


Documenting the American South
http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html


Eighteenth-Century Resources
www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/18th


Electronic Text Center
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/


Eyewitness Accounts of Historical Accounts
http://www.historynet.com/


Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt
http://www.mhrcc.org/fdr/fdr.html


Hanover Historical Texts Project
http://history.hanover.edu/project.html


Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/manaster/


Images of African Americans from the 19th Century
http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/images_aa19/


Indian History Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/indiasbook.ht...


Internet Medieval Sourcebook Full Text Sources
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook2.html#byz2


Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War
http://www.civilwarletters.com/home.html


Library of Fur Trade Historical Source Documents (Diaries, Narratives, and Letters of the Mountain Men)
http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/mmarch.html


Making of America
www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp


Medieval English Urban Life (Florilegium Urbanum)
http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/florilegium/f...


Medieval Sourcebook: The Crusades
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1k.html


New Deal Network
http://newdeal.feri.org/index.htm


O'Keefe Library Best Information on the Net
http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/Majors/History/his...


Online Books Page
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/


Photographs of the Great Depression http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blyin...


Primary Sources and Transcripts from the Magna Carter to Martin Luther King, Jr.
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/


Primary Sources on Voyages of Discovery
http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/primary.ht...


Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/


Salem Witchcraft Papers
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/tex...


Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image (SCETI)
http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/flash.cfm?CFI...


Scroll Fragments from the Qumram Library (Dead Sea Scrolls)
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibi...


Spy Letters of the American Revolution
http://www.si.umich.edu/SPIES/index-gallery.html


Turning the Pages - British Library's system for turning the pages of great books including Leonardo's Notebooks, Lindisfarne Gospels, and more NEW!
http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisatio...


World War I Document Archive
http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/


World War II Resources
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/