LibGuides: *History Research Guide*: Primary/Secondary Sources

Primary vs. Secondary Sources and Content

Primary Sources

First-hand accounts by people who experienced event.
A person's account of own feelings, actions, or experiences.
Object or document that comes directly from person, place, or event being researched.

Secondary Sources

Second-hand accounts by people who did not experience event.
One person's account of someone else's feelings, actions, or experiences.
Object or document that originates much later than person, place, or event being researched.
Contains interpretations or analysis.

Content Versus Format

Newspapers aren't always primary sources. "Primary" and "secondary" relate to the content, not the format.

Example:

1975 newspaper article about prohibition is a secondary source if it's an analysis of the impact of prohibition as the century progressed.
1924 newspaper article about prohibition is a primary source because it was written during prohibition and documenting its impact on society in the 1920s.

Primary and Secondary Sources

For secondary sources, use U.S. History (Gale in Context) and JSTOR and Artstor from the databases shown above. Once you search your topic, look at the list of information formats in the gray box below the topic's overview.

Anything that isn't listed as a primary source will be a secondary source, such as

Academic Journals
Magazines
Biographies
News

The following websites contain both primary and secondary sources.

Library of Congress Main site. Our nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research institution for Congress. Largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.
Library of Congress Digital Collections Access to print, pictorial and audio-visual collections and other digital services The Library of Congress has made digitized versions of collection materials available online since 1994, concentrating on its most rare collections and those unavailable anywhere else.
Library of Congress Primary Documents in American History The Library of Congress was begun with items from the personal collection of President Thomas Jefferson (on display at the LC in Washington D.C.)
Library of Congress Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between1690-present.
Library of Congress American Memory Provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. A digital record of American history and creativity.
National Archives
National Archives - Online Exhibits
Historical Maps of the U.S.