What is aN Historical Primary source?
From The Library of Congress
"Primary sources are the raw materials of history-original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience."
From Teachinghistory.org
"Primary sources are materials directly related to a topic by time or participation. These materials include letters, speeches, diaries, newspaper articles from the time, oral history interviews, documents, photographs, artifacts, or anything else that provides first hand accounts about a person or event." Further, this article goes on to explain and exemplify how , "some materials might be considered primary sources for one topic but not for another."
"Primary sources are the raw materials of history-original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience."
From Teachinghistory.org
"Primary sources are materials directly related to a topic by time or participation. These materials include letters, speeches, diaries, newspaper articles from the time, oral history interviews, documents, photographs, artifacts, or anything else that provides first hand accounts about a person or event." Further, this article goes on to explain and exemplify how , "some materials might be considered primary sources for one topic but not for another."
Primary Source Search Strategies
Primary Source Analysis Tools
Primary sources are treasured for being as close as we can get to an historical event without actually being there. However, it's important to keep in mind that individually, without context or secondary analysis, they may be exaggerated, biased, inaccurate or even falsified. Critical analysis and evaluation is especially important.
From The Library of Congress
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Making Sense of Evidence
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About Primary Source Portals
Historical primary sources created prior to popular use of the internet must be "digitized", photographed and uploaded to a database which can be accessed via the web. Due to the vast collections held by National institutions, such as museums and libraries, only a fraction of their resources have been digitized; it is an ongoing process. Shared here are the digitized collections from the institutions where the original primary source exists, in addition to partner organizations, who aggregate and curate resources from multiple institutions for easier public access, in addition to special interest curated collections.
US Primary Source Collections
The Digital Public Library of America
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The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is an all-digital library that aggregates metadata — or information describing an item — and thumbnails for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States
The Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office
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TPS curates Library of Congress resources.
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The National Archives
National Archives is the U.S. Government’s collection of documents, (firsthand facts, data, and evidence from letters, reports, notes, memos, photographs, and other primary sources), that records important events in American history.
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Search the National Archives by historical period & document type
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National Archives: 100 Documents that Shaped America
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Smithsonian
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Smithsonian Learning Lab
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Additional Noted Collections
More than 70,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to soldiers’ letters from World War II and Vietnam.
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Calisphere is a gateway to digital collections from California's great libraries, archives, and museums.
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Millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today.
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Cornell University's Collection of Political Americana
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Document Collections from Yale Law School
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Political Posters
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World Primary Source Collections
World Digital Library is created by the Library of Congress and Unesco
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World & Country Primary Source Sets from the Library of Congress
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Search by artist, culture, era, material and department.
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ArchiveGrid includes over 5 million records describing archival materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
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Explore artworks, artifacts, books, videos and sounds from across Europe.
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Crowd Sourced Primary Source Images
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Featuring millions of pages of books and magazines from the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.
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Newspaper archives
Front page archives of historical significance from 2003-present.
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Searching NYTimes articles from September 18, 1851 to December 31, 2002.
Use PTHS's Academic Pass for unlimited access to NYTimes archives 1851-Present. Create account using your school g-mail account.
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Historical Newspapers through 1922
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Newsreel footage Archives
British Movietone newsreel archive, spanning the period 1895 to 1986.
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Associated press film and video archive dating back to 1895.
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Links to archived collections. Tab through categories for resources curated by categories.
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Map Collections
16th - 21st C maps of America, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific and the World from Stanford U Library's Collection. Interactive capabilities too!
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Library of Congress' Map Collection.
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Historic maps from library collections.
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Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
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Map collection from the U of Wisconsin.
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US historical Topography maps from USGS.
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Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Great resource for US hostorical maps.
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