Primary sources are the raw materials of historical research - they are the documents or artifacts closest to the topic of investigation. Often they are created during the time period which is being studied (correspondence, diaries, newspapers, government documents, art) but they can also be produced later by eyewitnesses or participants (memoirs, oral histories). You may find primary sources in their original format (usually in an archive) or reproduced in a variety of ways: books, microfilm, digital, etc.
In contrast...
Secondary sources are interpretations of events written after an examination of primary sources and usually other secondary sources, such as books and journal articles.
When you write a research paper, you are creating a secondary source!
You can use Library of Congress subject terms (see Books and Articles tabs) to help you find primary sources.
- Primary-source books and other resources in GIL/GILFind (or any library catalog) will have subject terms in their records. Those subject terms may include words that signal "primary source," such as:
(image from http://www.wordle.net/)
- Use other subject terms to help you identify other keywords/subject terms relevant to your topic.
African Americans and the Haitian Revolution: Selected Essays and Historical Documents
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Pioneers of the Black Atlantic: Five Slave Narratives from the Enlightenment, 1772-1815
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The Autobiography of a Slave
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Formerly Accessible Archives. A collection of African American newspapers containing a wealth of first-hand reports about cultural life and history during the 1800s.
The collection, which also includes biographic details, is designed for research in black studies, political science, American history, music, literature, and art.
Represents the largest single collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century English news media available from the British Library.
The material in this resources includes the material included focuses on the varieties of slavery, the legacies of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery in the twentieth century. Offers primary source documents and secondary sources allowing for exploration and comparison of material related to slavery, abolition, and social justice.
