Research Guides: AAST 1003: Introduction to African and African American Studies: Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Here's a great definition of primary sources from the American Library Association

"Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include:

letters,
manuscripts,
diaries,
journals,
newspapers,
speeches,
interviews,
memoirs,
documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President,
photographs,
audio recordings,
moving pictures or video recordings,
research data,
and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons.

These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research."

--Using Primary Sources on the Web, rev. 2008.

Primary Sources Help

Not sure how to work with primary sources? Here are some great tips:

Learning to do Historical Research
Step-by-step instructions and techniques for conducting research in history from the noted environmental historian, William Cronon
Using Primary Sources on the Web
A detailed guide to understanding the nature of primary sources in the field of history; from the American Library Association
Making Sense of Evidence
From the Center for History and New Media's "History Matters" site' offers tips on how to work with oral histories, films, maps, numbers, diaries, and other primary sources. Though aimed at the introductory survey level, still useful for the fundamentals.

Search for Primary Sources

Try to add terms such as "sources" or "personal narratives" to your search terms to locate published sources, for example:

slavery history sources	freedmen southern states sources
louisiana history personal narratives	haiti history revolution personal narratives

Freedom, A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867
New York : Cambridge University Press, 1982-
4v. and still being published.
This important collection of primary sources collects materials related to emancipation in the United States.

Primary Sources Video from JSTOR

Confused about how to distinguish between primary and secondary sources? This short video from JSTOR may help.