Investigating Public Figures with Primary Sources

Primary sources, like eye-witness statements, can exist in many forms, for example:

• Textual primary sources could be created in the forms of journal entries, meeting notes, court records, email conversations, or even business records. Textual primary sources are print or digital records of words, which were written or typed directly by an individual subject, as well as transcripts of words spoken by that subject.
• Audio-visual primary sources could be produced in the forms of vlogs, photographs, podcasts, advertisements, or even illustrations. Audio-visual primary sources are media records that depict the original words, actions, or productions of an individual subject.

A public figure may produce a primary source on their own, but sometimes the preservation of a living person's primary account is facilitated by a third party.

For example, an audio-visual recording of an on-the-record interview between a journalist and a politician WOULD be considered a primary source produced through the interview process. A political speech, transcribed and archived by a librarian, WOULD also be a primary source. Memoirs are another example of primary sources that involve multiple people in the production process. To learn more about using sources like memoirs in research, read "Applying Memoir Analysis to Whistleblower Narratives: Strengths, Limitations, and Conclusions" (2018) by Chris Mason and John Simmons. In their article, the authors state:

"Memoir analysis includes consideration of how text is produced and by whom; what the author claims is their espoused purpose and what any alternative rationales might be; what meanings can be ascribed to the situation the author presents and how this representation relates to a particular organizational, political, and historical context; how the text is constructed and the categories and patterns that can be discerned in this; and what assumptions underpin the author’s stance and the potential beneficiaries of this version of events."

On the other hand, an opinion on statements made by a politician, even if written by a knowledgeable researcher, would NOT be a primary source of the politician (unless it is the opinion of that politician, expressed by that politician).

The key difference here is that a primary source is fundamentally the representation of a moment or series of moments, depicted by a person who directly witnessed or experienced those moments -- NOT a person analyzing those same moments through reports made by others.

1. Clearly identify an individual and facts you already know about them; use these in your search strategy
2. Identify employment titles, affiliated organizations, and known issues; use these in your search strategy
3. Isolate a few locations where the person has lived, worked, or traveled; also isolate date ranges and significant events
4. Look for resources in the public figure's area of birth and current/past residences (their local libraries, museums, government collections)
5. Use the cntrl+f function to comb through documents and webpages more efficiently
6. If searching in a database, designate the person you are researching as the author in your search; this should limit results to products created specifically by that individual

After you develop a search strategy, start searching for content published openly online:

Primary sources available through library systems are assigned one or more standardized subject headings. Attaching these designated terms to a source's library record ensures that all primary sources relating to the same overall topic are able to be located in a single search, even when more specific keywords in the items' library records are different. For example: primary sources relating to Edward Snowden AND primary sources relating to Chelsea Manning would show up in a search using the subject heading "whistleblowing". To find sources relating to a particular subject: (1) explore the library record that describes a primary source you find interesting, (2) locate the subjects attached to that library record, (3) click the linked subject headings or copy and paste one into your search string, (4) limit your search to primary sources.

Web-Based Examples:

• Political platform websites
  ex:staceyabrams.com
• Organization websites
  ex: texasgop.org
• Business websites
  ex: trump.com
• Digital resumes
  linkedin.com/in/tobybarker
• Personal blogs, vlogs, and podcasts
  ex: youtube.com/watch?v=PBC8LeXb_6s
• Twitter and other social media accounts
  ex: twitter.com/jnampijinpa
• Discussion threads and commentary
  ex: reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states
• Personal digital collections
  ex: goodreads.com/author/show/2338628.Michelle_Obama

AND

More established politicians may also have worked with publishing and production companies to create:

• Autobiographies
  ex: amazon.com/Total-Recall-Unbelievably-True-Story/dp/1451662440
• Autobiographical films
  ex: imdb.com/title/tt0808417
• Manifestos
  ex: effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Founding-Manifesto.pdf
• Memoirs
  ex: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707227/a-way-out-of-no-way-by-raphael-g-warnock
• Artwork
  ex: artnet.com/artists/the-prince-of-wales
• Magazine or newspaper OpEds
  ex: nytimes.com/2020/06/03/opinion/tom-cotton-protests-military
• Buildings or monuments
  ex: ncmodernist.org/gantt
• Trade or scholarly articles
  ex: search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=a9h&AN=121177457&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=gsu1

Official Documents

You can also find digitized official documents and data collections like:

• Speech transcripts
  ex: speaker.gov/newsroom/62422-8
• Public correspondence records
  ex: politicalemails.org/messages/122039
• Political posters and papers
  ex: loc.gov/item/2012646834
• Meeting screencasts or minutes
  ex: youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=c5A4kKN6FgY&feature=emb_title
• Voting records
  ex: govtrack.us/congress/votes/117-2022/s242
• Conference records
  ex: sustainablefuturesconference.com/conference-videos/breakout-session-jason-west