LibGuides: History: U.S., Western, & Utah: Primary &amp; Secondary Sources

Overview

Primary sources are original accounts or documents around an event.

Secondary sources include some level of interpretation.

What is "primary" depends on the context of your research. The tutorial "Wheel of Sources" provides very helpful information on distinguishing the two in different scenarios. When in doubt, check in with a librarian or instructor.

Finding Primary Sources

Primary Source Sets from the Library of Congress
Links to sets of primary sources by topics and US States.
Digital Public Library of America
Provides primary sources sets from the digital collections of well know institutions in the United States.

Tip: If you are reading a secondary source and they mention a primary source of interest... track down that primary source! Maybe it's an image you want to use or the text of a speech or a letter.

Analyzing Primary Sources

Primary Source Analysis Tool
This interactive tool from the Library of Congress helps users focus in on analysis of various formats of primary sources.

Websites for Primary Sources

Documenting the American South
Contains diaries, artifacts, and letters about the Southern United States.
HathiTrust Digital Library
Digitized pages from newspapers, books, and journals from the collections of 140 libraries and research institutions throughout the world.
New York Historical Society
An extensive digital collection that consists of historical documents on New York and the United States.
United States Holocaust Museum
Over 290,255 records regarding the Holocaust. Records include personal stories from survivors as well as images and film.
Wilson Center Digital Archive
An archival collection that contains declassified government documents from around the world.
Civil Rights Digital Library
The CRDL is a portal that pulls from libraries, archives, and museums to present material on the Civil Rights movement.

Primary and Secondary Sources Tutorial from UCLA

UCLA's Wheel of Sources Tutorial (Primary and Secondary Sources)
View a glossary of the terms from this video.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College)
This resource has a handful of primary documents surrounding the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Look for "documents" or "images" to find these sources!
"How Lincoln Bested Douglas in Their Famous Debates" (Smithsonian Magazine article, 2008) (Sample Secondary Source)
This article serves as a secondary source example, which uses primary sources to support the idea that Lincoln won the debates.
Image 1 of Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833-1916: Abraham Lincoln, [January 1849] (A Bill to Abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia) (Sample Primary Source)
This scanned document is an example of a primary source relating to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. (Use the "Show Text" option if you're having trouble reading the document and/or would like annotations and notes alongside the document.)

Libraries

History: U.S., Western, & Utah

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