What is a Primary Source?
Primary sources are "fundamental, authoritative documents relating to a subject, ...e.g., original records, contemporary documents, etc." (Young, Heartsill, ed. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago: American Library Association, 1983, p.176). Primary source documents are first-hand accounts by a direct participant or observer and may include letters, diaries, interviews, photographs, films, maps, government documents, and more.
For the arts, history, and humanities, original primary source documents usually are housed in museums, archives, restricted library collections, and government offices. Reproductions of primary source documents often can be found in online digital collections, microform collections, books, and other secondary works.
For the sciences, primary sources usually refer to original accounts of a research study. Find a fuller explanation in the SUNY Albany resource below.
- Using Primary Sources on the WebInstruction and Research Services Committee, History Section, Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association.
- Finding Historical Primary SourcesThe Library, University of California, Berkeley.
- Reading a Primary SourceAlberta Onine Encyclopedia, Heritage Community Foundation.
Selected Primary Source Databases and Collections
- CineFilesThis collection from University of California's Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive features "contains scanned images of reviews, press kits, festival and showcase program notes, newspaper articles, and other documents from the PFA Library's extensive collection covering world cinema, past and present".
- British Pathe | Adolf Hitler ArchiveArchive newsreel films of Adolf Hitler and his involvement with the German Nazi Party and World War II.
- World War II DatabaseThe WW2DB, founded and managed by C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC, contains photographs and other primary sources related to World War II.
- Hitler YouthA subset of the WW2DB, the Hitler Youth collection comprises approximately 150 photos of the Hitlerjugend, indexed in English.
- World War II FilmSelections from the UK National Archives featuring downloadable films from the World War II era.
Additional primary source collections can be found on relevant subject guides and webpages, including History and Women's Studies.
Websites
- EuroDocs: National Socialism and World War IIEuroDocs, created and maintained by the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University, aggregates numerous links to primary documents on European History. This page provides a wide variety of primary documents relating to the Nazi Party and Germany's role in WWII.
- German Propaganda ArchiveThe German Propaganda Archive features not only propaganda from the Third Reich era, but also documents predating 1933 and East German propaganda as well. Provided by Calvin College.
- United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, located in Washington, DC, provides many online exhibits and primary documents.
- German History SourcesThis page, provided and maintained by California State University, Stanislaus, provides links to primary documents on German history from the 18th Century through the present day.
- The Internet Movie Database (IMDB)The largest and most comprehensive source on the Web for listings of films and the people who have made them. The IMDB is generally regarded as reliable for data (names, dates, times, etc.) about films. In the absence of access to an actual film this may be a source of basic data for discussion of films. It can also lead to film clips and related films to consider.
- filmportal.deOverseen by the Deutsches Filminstitut, this site provides information on over 85,000 German films and 190,000 persons involved in their making.
World War I: Primary Sources
- World War History: Newspaper Clippings, 1914 to 1926Newspaper clippings covering contemporary news reports, war-related editorials, features, cartoons, photos, maps, and more
- Great War ArchiveWWI poetry, photographs, audio, film, official documents, propaganda posters, memorabilia, etc
- Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918 to 1919The complete seventy-one-week run of The Stars and Stripes World War I edition
- Internet Archive WWI documentsVarious primary source documents on WWI archived by the Internet Archive
- Veteran's History Project: World War IPersonal accounts, photos, letters, and recordings of American veterans of World War I
World War I: Primary Source Directories
- World War I Document ArchivePrimary source collection relating to the First World War.
World War II: Primary Sources
- Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War IITranscripts of interviews with more than 200 people who were young adults during World War II.
- Densho Digital RepositoryFind thousands of historic photographs, documents, newspapers, letters and other primary source materials that tell the story of the Japanese American community, from immigration to the WWII incarceration and its aftermath.
- Historic Government Publications from World War IIInformational pamphlets, government reports, instructions, regulations, declarations, speeches, and propaganda materials distributed by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) during the Second World War
- Internet Archive WWII documentsVarious primary source documents pertaining to WWII archived by the Internet Archive
- Veteran's History Project: World War IIPersonal accounts, photos, letters, and recordings of American veterans of World War II
- U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum, Online DocumentsClose to 110,000 items digitized for online use (check out the films as well). There are over 3,400 items for which transcripts are provided.