Reference & User Services Association (RUSA)

This brief guide is designed to help students and researchers find and evaluate primary sources available online. Keep in mind as you use this website, the Web is always changing and evolving. If you have questions, please consult your instructor or librarian. Primary sources are the evidence of history, original records or objects created by participants or observers at the time historical events occurred or even well after events, as in memoirs and oral histories. Additional Explanations and Examples of Primary Sources To see if these books are in a library near you, click on the title to access WorldCat. Benjamin, Jules R. Brundage, Anthony. Cullen, Jim. Kitchens, Joel D. Presnell, Jenny L. Rampolla, Mary Lynn. Salevouris, Michael J, and Conal Furay. Turabian, Kate L., Wayne C. Williams, Robert Chadwell. Image Credits and Sources Curtis, Edward S. Britton & Rey. Dunlap, Kate. Credits Shelley Arlen, University of Florida Smathers Libraries Eileen M. Melissa F. Joel D. Julienne L.

What Makes a Primary Source a Primary Source? This guest post comes to us from Cheryl Lederle of the Library of Congress. Is a newspaper a primary source? A political cartoon? “Primary sources” are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. The definition seems clear enough until we begin to label particular items as primary or secondary. "Columbus taking possession of the new country," 1893 This image depicts Columbus landing on an island he named San Salvador, also known as Watling Island. The phrase “created at the time under study” provided a focus for their discussion and decision. How would the answer change if the picture were being used to study late nineteenth-century attitudes about the event? "The First Thanksgiving," 1932 Instead of asking whether a particular object is a primary source, it might be more useful to ask when that artifact would be a primary source. When would this image be a primary source? Additional Library of Congress resources: