Primary sources
Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented. Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later.
Examples of primary sources:
Vital records
In general, vital records are those records that are absolutely essential for an organization to continue functioning, and they are defined differently by each individual organization.
Birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage licenses are considered vital records for society, and they are maintained for a very long time in public institutions and used for genealogical research (research into family histories) as well as other research projects.
In the course of one’s life, any record that has very long-term and significant value could be considered vital, such as the title to one’s home, a birth or marriage certificate, a social security card, or a diploma.
Personal records
Sometimes people leave a personal record of events in which they have taken part or that they have witnessed. Examples of these are letters, emails, diaries, photographs and daily planners.
Personal records also include things like student identification cards and drivers’ licenses.Maps
Maps are symbolic representations of a part of the earth’s surface. They can reveal how places – a college campus, a city, a street – changed over time. They often reflect changing political realities and understandings, as well as advancing degrees of knowledge about the spaces represented. Like all types of primary sources, maps are social documents: they are created in a particular social and cultural context, and they contain certain details, leave others out, and represent relative sizes and other features of geographic areas and social spaces with a lesser or greater degree of accuracy.
photographs
Photographs are a very common type of primary source. They can serve to document:
Artifacts
Artifacts are human-made or human-designed objects that can be used to understand something about the people, institutions, or cultures of the past.
Mass media
The products of the mass media can be primary source documents if they were produced at the time of the events or phenomena in question. Examples are: newspaper and magazine articles, published photographs, recordings of television and radio broadcasts, sheet music and music recorded for mass distribution, advertisements, books, and magazines.
Institutional records
Every organization produces records in the course of its everyday operations, and these serve to document the activities, transactions, and functions of the organization. A few examples of the many types of organizational records are: financial records, reports, meeting minutes, emails, memos, publicity materials, and internal publications like newsletters.
Dr. Rush's Account
Eli Whitney Memorial
African American Narrative
Domestic Medicine
Weather Records
Washing Machine design
Examples of primary sources:
Vital records
In general, vital records are those records that are absolutely essential for an organization to continue functioning, and they are defined differently by each individual organization.
Birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage licenses are considered vital records for society, and they are maintained for a very long time in public institutions and used for genealogical research (research into family histories) as well as other research projects.
In the course of one’s life, any record that has very long-term and significant value could be considered vital, such as the title to one’s home, a birth or marriage certificate, a social security card, or a diploma.
Personal records
Sometimes people leave a personal record of events in which they have taken part or that they have witnessed. Examples of these are letters, emails, diaries, photographs and daily planners.
Personal records also include things like student identification cards and drivers’ licenses.Maps
Maps are symbolic representations of a part of the earth’s surface. They can reveal how places – a college campus, a city, a street – changed over time. They often reflect changing political realities and understandings, as well as advancing degrees of knowledge about the spaces represented. Like all types of primary sources, maps are social documents: they are created in a particular social and cultural context, and they contain certain details, leave others out, and represent relative sizes and other features of geographic areas and social spaces with a lesser or greater degree of accuracy.
photographs
Photographs are a very common type of primary source. They can serve to document:
- events or relationships in a person’s life
- the history of an organization, institution, municipality, country, or social group
- socially significant events
- or almost anything else!
Artifacts
Artifacts are human-made or human-designed objects that can be used to understand something about the people, institutions, or cultures of the past.
Mass media
The products of the mass media can be primary source documents if they were produced at the time of the events or phenomena in question. Examples are: newspaper and magazine articles, published photographs, recordings of television and radio broadcasts, sheet music and music recorded for mass distribution, advertisements, books, and magazines.
Institutional records
Every organization produces records in the course of its everyday operations, and these serve to document the activities, transactions, and functions of the organization. A few examples of the many types of organizational records are: financial records, reports, meeting minutes, emails, memos, publicity materials, and internal publications like newsletters.
Dr. Rush's Account
Eli Whitney Memorial
African American Narrative
Domestic Medicine
Weather Records
Washing Machine design
Secondary Sources
A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them. Some types of seconday sources include:
- PUBLICATIONS: Textbooks, magazine articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries, encyclopedias
- A journal/magazine article which interprets or reviews previous findings
- A history textbook
- A book about the effects of WWI