Primary Sources - Basic Guide - History - LibGuides at Campbellsville University

Quick Links for Finding Historical Primary Sources

CU Library Guide to Primary Sources: Across Disciplines
Visit this Library Guide to access physical and digital primary sources in the collections at Montgomery Library and other libraries.
Internet Archive
Archive.org: non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Library of Congress - Digital Collections
Browse millions of documents and recordings organized by topic, field, location, and format.
Smithsonian Libraries - Digital Collections
Access over 35,000 digitized books, manuscripts, photos, and other materials.

What Are Primary Sources?

A primary source of information is a record of an event as described or experienced by someone who witnessed or was part of the event as it was happening.

Types of primary sources include:

diaries and journals

letters

interviews

speeches

newspaper and magazine eye-witness accounts

photos, images, and cartoons

autobiographies

film and video footage of an event as it occurred

documents contemporary to the time produced by governments and organizations

public opinion polls from the time period under study

archaeological artifacts

maps

Keywords for Finding Primary Sources

Find primary sources in library catalogs and other searchable online databases by combining subject terms with some of the following keywords describing primary sources:

autobiography

correspondence

diaries

interviews

pamphlets

personal narratives

sources

speeches

An example of combining subject terms with a primary source term:

women and voting and pamphlets