What is a primary source?
Primary sources are a great place to start your research project. They are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time of the event you are studying. They are different from secondary sources, which are accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without first hand experience.
Primary sources are created:
- by someone who was present at or involved in the event
- at the time of the event OR later in a memoir
A primary source is not necessarily your main source!
Why use primary sources?
Primary sources provide a window into the past—unfiltered access to the record of artistic, social, scientific and political thought and achievement during the specific period under study, produced by people who lived during that period.
Coming into close contact with these unique, often profoundly personal, documents and objects can provides a very real sense of what it was like to be alive during a long-past era.
Finding primary sources
We have curated many primary sources for you from the two books below and you can find them in the Canvas site for your class. They cover topics including Culture, Politics, Race and Rights, Religion, Environment, and Women.
Mexican History by Publication Date: 2009-09-08This book is great because it includes some context for each primary source. It also has suggested further readings after each source, which will be helpful when you're looking for secondary sources.
The Mexico Reader by Publication Date: 2003-01-16This book has many primary sources from before Columbus to the present day. Be careful, though, some of the pieces in here are NOT primary sources, but essays not written by an eyewitness.
Analyzing your primary source - example
- Blank primary source notetaking sheetFill this out to help you analyze your primary source.
- Primary source notetaking formThis form can be downloaded to and filled out on your device. You can save the form (choose Save As and rename it) or print out the filled out version.
- Primary source notetaking sheet example - Samuel Bryan articleThis is a filled out primary source notetaking sheet for the Samuel Bryan article about immigration.
Working with primary sources
Rampolla on primary sources
A Pocket Guide to Writing in History (9th edition) by Here are some selections which will give you some useful insights on primary sources:
- The beginning of Chapter 2 through to 2a-3 (pages 8-11): definitions of primary and secondary sources
- Sections 2b and 2b1 (pages 12-17): evaluating primary sources
- Sections 3c and 3c-1 (pages 33-39): a model for a primary source analysis
Examples of Primary Sources
- Letters
- Diaries
- Newspapers
- Speeches
- Audio recordings
- Films or videos
- Photographs
- Memoirs
- Government documents
- Maps
- Artifacts, such as objects used at the time.
Citing primary sources
- Noodletools This link opens in a new window
- If your source is one of many collected together in a book, use the 'Anthology/Collection' citation - you will cite both your primary source and the book it is published in.
- If you use a primary source from a database, such as GVRL, don't forget that you need to cite the database too - do this by clicking on the 'Database' tab when you create your citation.
- If you are using a website, such as Library of Congress, you will cite both the specific webpage you are using and the website.