Research Guides: Find Primary Sources: Home

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What is a Primary Source?

Primary sources are original materials that were created firsthand; they have not been run through the filter of interpretation.

Because primary sources are the documents or artifacts closest to the topic of investigation, they are a great way to gain insight into and an understanding of an event or topic. Often they are created during the time period that is being studied but they can also be produced later by eyewitnesses or participants.

You may find primary sources in their original format (usually in an archive) or reproduced in a variety of ways: books, microfilm, digital, etc.

Examples are:

Original Research (reported in journals & dissertations)
Diaries
Interviews (legal proceedings, personal, telephone, email)
Letters
Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate or a trial transcript)
Patents
Photographs
Proceedings of Meetings, Conferences and Symposia
Survey Research (such as market surveys and public opinion polls)
Works of Literature
Laws (constitutions, statutes, regulations, and court cases)

Use Books to Find Primary Sources

Useful Keywords to Use for Finding Primary Sources

sources
correspondence
personal narratives
photographs
diaries

For example: american revolution sources

Finding Primary Sources in Books

You can find primary sources in books, and the MJC Library & Learning Center has several databases that would be perfect for this type of research.

OneSearch (Library Catalog)

Why search here? Use OneSearch when you want a simple, one-stop search for discovering and accessing materials that the MJC Library owns.
What's included: Physical books, ebooks, videos, articles, digital media, and more.
Gale eBooks

Why search here? Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. You'll learn about your topic by reading authoritative topic overviews on a wide variety of subjects.
What's included: Gale eBooks is comprised of subject, specialized encyclopedias with articles written by scholars and experts.
eBook Collection: EBSCOhost

Why search here? Use this database to search our collection of thousands of eBooks the MJC Library owns through EBSCOhost. These books can be a great place to start your research.
What's included: Thousands of eBooks covering a wide variety of topics.

Use Databases to Find Primary Sources

The MJC Library has many databases that you can use to find a variety of primary sources.

Use the Web to Find Primary Sources

Use these credible websites to find primary sources:

Digital Collections: Library of Congress
Vast trove of digital primary sources from the Library of Congress.
Digital Public Library of America: Primary Source Sets
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Drawing online materials from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States, the sets use letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.
100 Milestone Documents
Primary source documents from the National Archives and Records Administration chronicling United States history from 1776 to 1965
Library of Congress: Digital Collections
This is a great resource for Primary Source materials. From the Library of Congress, this large digital collection of written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music chronicles historical events, people, places, and ideas that shape America and worldwide.
Making of America
Primary sources in American social history from the Antebellum Period through Reconstruction
Digital History
Use the primary source documents, oral histories, and multimedia files under Resources at Digital History
Presidential Documents Archive Collections
Collections created by The American Presidency Project to help researchers and students navigate key documents related to specific historical events, dates in history, or category of documents.
Chronicling America
From the Library of Congress, search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present
The Avalon Project
Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
Calisphere
Calisphere is the gateway to California’s remarkable digital collections. Calisphere provides free access to unique and historically-important artifacts for research, teaching, and curious exploration. Discover over one million photographs, documents, letters, artwork, diaries, oral histories, films, advertisements, musical recordings, and more.
The collections on Calisphere have been digitized and contributed by all ten campuses of the University of California and other important libraries, archives, and museums throughout the state.
Online Archive of California
The Online Archive of California (OAC) provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses.
African American History: Primary Documents
Set of primary documents that have contributed to the shaping of African American history. From the website, BlackPast.