Research Methods for Historians. Part 1: Secondary Sources + Best Practices
Primary and Secondary Sources of History
COMMENTS
Finding Primary Sources Online
Resources containing books, archives/manuscripts and mixed collections are included. Databases for particular primary source types, newspapers, periodicals, personal writings, images, films, etc., are listed on their own pages in this guide. A list of primary sources types with links is given at Outline of Primary Sources for History.
Finding Primary Sources
Other Library blogs offer tips on finding Library resources, suggestions for other search terms or research ideas, and expert secondary information. Today in History - Provides information and links to primary sources about a specific event in history. Research Guides - In-depth guides to Library resources on a wide variety of topics.
JSTOR Primary Sources
Visit our for help logging in to JSTOR. 25,975. Primary source collections currently available on JSTOR are multidisciplinary and discipline-specific and include select monographs, pamphlets, manuscripts, letters, oral histories, government documents, images, 3D models, spatial data, type specimens, drawings, paintings, and more.
Research Guides: Primary sources: a guide for historians: Home
About primary sources. Whether you are beginning a junior paper, a senior thesis, or a doctoral dissertation in history, the first challenge is to identify a cache of primary source material that addresses the issue, person, place, or period that interests you. This guide offers some general suggestions about how to get started.
Outline of Primary Sources for History
Library Research Guide for History: Finding Primary Sources Online: Finding Primary Sources on the Open Web. Research guides: Next. Research Guides. Digital libraries and lists of digital collections are listed in Library Research Guide for History: Finding Primary Sources Online: Digital Libraries/Collections by Region or Language
Introduction to Historical Research : Primary Sources
Primary sources were either created during the time period being researched or were created at a later date by a participant in the events being examined (as in the case of memoirs). They often reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer.
Finding Historical Primary Sources: Getting Started
Primary sources were either created during the time period being studied or were created at a later date by a participant in the events being studied (as in the case of memoirs). They reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period
Primary & Secondary Sources
When writing a history research paper, primary sources are used in conjunction with secondary sources. It is important to evaluate the importance and relevance of the primary document to the assignment. It is also very important to assess the document critically and evaluate its authenticity, authorship, language, and reliability.
Primary Sources
Primary sources can be published or unpublished. There are different types of primary sources for different historical periods. For example, church documents and saints' lives serve as primary sources for the study of medieval history, while newspapers, government reports, and photographs serve as primary sources for the modern period.
Finding Primary Sources in History
Primary sources are the pieces of evidence that historians analyze and interpret to support their historical arguments. Depending on your topic, almost any kind of material can be used as a primary source as long as it was created during the time period that you are researching or was created by someone who participated, as in the case of oral ...
Research Guides: History Basics: Primary Sources
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. Primary sources may include but are not limited to: letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, maps, speeches, interviews ...
Research Guides: History: Identifying & Accessing Primary Sources
Find articles, books, primary sources, and more for your history research papers. Suggestions on how to identify repositories with relevant collections, how to use archives and archival materials, and links to selected repositories and digitized collections.
JSTOR Home
Broaden your research with images and primary sources. Harness the power of visual materials—explore more than 3 million images now on JSTOR. Enhance your scholarly research with underground newspapers, magazines, and journals. Take your research further with Artstor's 3+ million images. Explore collections in the arts, sciences, and ...
Research Guides: Library Research Guide for History: Home
This guide is intended as a point of departure for research in history. We also have a more selective guide with major resources only: Introductory Library Research Guide for History. Finding Primary Sources Online offers methods for finding digital libraries and digital collections on the open Web and for finding Digital Libraries/Collections ...
Introduction to Historical Research : Home
This guide is an introduction to selected resources available for historical research. It covers both primary sources (such as diaries, letters, newspaper articles, photographs, government documents and first-hand accounts) and secondary materials (such as books and articles written by historians and devoted to the analysis and interpretation of historical events and evidence).
History: Primary Sources: Definition
Primary sources are the raw materials of historical research - they are the documents or artifacts closest to the topic of investigation. Often they are created during the time period which is being studied (correspondence, diaries, newspapers, government documents, art) but they can also be produced later by eyewitnesses or participants ...
Finding Primary Sources for Teachers and Students
Finding Primary Sources Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools. National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA). Beginning Research Activities Student activities designed to help ...
Primary Sources
A digital library of key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800. ... and the people of Britain of all social levels. These papers form a major source for Early Modern Studies of Britain and Europe. more ... adding a new dimension to research. The ...
Primary Sources
This primary source collection details the extensive work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings of the activists themselves. Colonial State Papers.
Primary Sources Throughout History
Primary sources at the Pratt Library refer to a first hand account or evidence of an event or topic, use the words of the witness or the initial recorder of an event, reflect the viewpoint of the observer as well, and may be used to produce a secondary source. The Pratt Library collection contains primary sources related to important historic ...
Research Guides: Primary Sources for Humanities and Social Sciences
In literature, primary sources are the original texts (e.g., novels, short stories, plays, etc.). In the arts, primary sources are original works of art or music. In the natural or social sciences, the results of an experiment or study are typically found in scholarly articles or conference papers; these articles and papers that present ...
Starting your thesis project
Before you begin searching for primary sources, ask yourself: What types of sources are most likely to contribute perspective on my topic? Some examples of primary sources include: newspapers and magazines, personal narrative sources like memoirs and letters, government documents, the papers of organizations, and scholarly journals of the historical period.
Open and Free Access Materials for Research
In response to libraries and archives being closed during the lockdowns in 2020 the IHR launched this page to steer researchers to freely accessible online research resources. We continue to update the page as part of our remit to help researchers nationally and internationally. We're also asking you for additional recommendations to make this resource as useful as possible.
Sample Papers
Choosing a Paper Topic; Title Page; Outline; Thesis Statement; Finding Sources Toggle Dropdown. Find Primary Sources ; Find Secondary Sources ; Citations & Bibliography Toggle Dropdown. Formatting References ; Writing an Annotated Bibliography ; Sample Papers. Sample History Papers; Sample Title Pages, Outlines, & Citations; Resources for Writing
What is a Primary Source?
For digitized archival material together with other kinds of primary sources: Finding Primary Sources Online offers general instructions for finding primary sources online and a list of resources by region and country; Online Primary Source Collections for the History of Science lists digital collections at Harvard and beyond by topic.
Primary & Secondary Sources
Primary sources can be contemporary sources created at the time when the event occurred (e.g., letters and newspaper articles) or later (such as, memoirs and oral history interviews). Primary sources may be published or unpublished. Unpublished sources include unique materials (e.g., family papers) often referred to as archives and manuscripts.
Research Guides: History Resources: Latin America & Caribbean
Papers of the British Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1833-1969. Documents include dispatches, telegrams, investigative reports and treaties. ... Primary database for research on Latin America, indexing books and articles on Latin America in the social sciences and humanities. ... Primary source documents on key aspects of the history of slavery ...
[2409.04109] Can LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas? A Large-Scale
Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have sparked optimism about their potential to accelerate scientific discovery, with a growing number of works proposing research agents that autonomously generate and validate new ideas. Despite this, no evaluations have shown that LLM systems can take the very first step of producing novel, expert-level ideas, let alone perform the entire ...
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Resources containing books, archives/manuscripts and mixed collections are included. Databases for particular primary source types, newspapers, periodicals, personal writings, images, films, etc., are listed on their own pages in this guide. A list of primary sources types with links is given at Outline of Primary Sources for History.
Other Library blogs offer tips on finding Library resources, suggestions for other search terms or research ideas, and expert secondary information. Today in History - Provides information and links to primary sources about a specific event in history. Research Guides - In-depth guides to Library resources on a wide variety of topics.
Visit our for help logging in to JSTOR. 25,975. Primary source collections currently available on JSTOR are multidisciplinary and discipline-specific and include select monographs, pamphlets, manuscripts, letters, oral histories, government documents, images, 3D models, spatial data, type specimens, drawings, paintings, and more.
About primary sources. Whether you are beginning a junior paper, a senior thesis, or a doctoral dissertation in history, the first challenge is to identify a cache of primary source material that addresses the issue, person, place, or period that interests you. This guide offers some general suggestions about how to get started.
Library Research Guide for History: Finding Primary Sources Online: Finding Primary Sources on the Open Web. Research guides: Next. Research Guides. Digital libraries and lists of digital collections are listed in Library Research Guide for History: Finding Primary Sources Online: Digital Libraries/Collections by Region or Language
Primary sources were either created during the time period being researched or were created at a later date by a participant in the events being examined (as in the case of memoirs). They often reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer.
Primary sources were either created during the time period being studied or were created at a later date by a participant in the events being studied (as in the case of memoirs). They reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period
When writing a history research paper, primary sources are used in conjunction with secondary sources. It is important to evaluate the importance and relevance of the primary document to the assignment. It is also very important to assess the document critically and evaluate its authenticity, authorship, language, and reliability.
Primary sources can be published or unpublished. There are different types of primary sources for different historical periods. For example, church documents and saints' lives serve as primary sources for the study of medieval history, while newspapers, government reports, and photographs serve as primary sources for the modern period.
Primary sources are the pieces of evidence that historians analyze and interpret to support their historical arguments. Depending on your topic, almost any kind of material can be used as a primary source as long as it was created during the time period that you are researching or was created by someone who participated, as in the case of oral ...
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. Primary sources may include but are not limited to: letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, maps, speeches, interviews ...
Find articles, books, primary sources, and more for your history research papers. Suggestions on how to identify repositories with relevant collections, how to use archives and archival materials, and links to selected repositories and digitized collections.
Broaden your research with images and primary sources. Harness the power of visual materials—explore more than 3 million images now on JSTOR. Enhance your scholarly research with underground newspapers, magazines, and journals. Take your research further with Artstor's 3+ million images. Explore collections in the arts, sciences, and ...
This guide is intended as a point of departure for research in history. We also have a more selective guide with major resources only: Introductory Library Research Guide for History. Finding Primary Sources Online offers methods for finding digital libraries and digital collections on the open Web and for finding Digital Libraries/Collections ...
This guide is an introduction to selected resources available for historical research. It covers both primary sources (such as diaries, letters, newspaper articles, photographs, government documents and first-hand accounts) and secondary materials (such as books and articles written by historians and devoted to the analysis and interpretation of historical events and evidence).
Primary sources are the raw materials of historical research - they are the documents or artifacts closest to the topic of investigation. Often they are created during the time period which is being studied (correspondence, diaries, newspapers, government documents, art) but they can also be produced later by eyewitnesses or participants ...
Finding Primary Sources Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools. National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA). Beginning Research Activities Student activities designed to help ...
A digital library of key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800. ... and the people of Britain of all social levels. These papers form a major source for Early Modern Studies of Britain and Europe. more ... adding a new dimension to research. The ...
This primary source collection details the extensive work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings of the activists themselves. Colonial State Papers.
Primary sources at the Pratt Library refer to a first hand account or evidence of an event or topic, use the words of the witness or the initial recorder of an event, reflect the viewpoint of the observer as well, and may be used to produce a secondary source. The Pratt Library collection contains primary sources related to important historic ...
In literature, primary sources are the original texts (e.g., novels, short stories, plays, etc.). In the arts, primary sources are original works of art or music. In the natural or social sciences, the results of an experiment or study are typically found in scholarly articles or conference papers; these articles and papers that present ...
Before you begin searching for primary sources, ask yourself: What types of sources are most likely to contribute perspective on my topic? Some examples of primary sources include: newspapers and magazines, personal narrative sources like memoirs and letters, government documents, the papers of organizations, and scholarly journals of the historical period.
In response to libraries and archives being closed during the lockdowns in 2020 the IHR launched this page to steer researchers to freely accessible online research resources. We continue to update the page as part of our remit to help researchers nationally and internationally. We're also asking you for additional recommendations to make this resource as useful as possible.
Choosing a Paper Topic; Title Page; Outline; Thesis Statement; Finding Sources Toggle Dropdown. Find Primary Sources ; Find Secondary Sources ; Citations & Bibliography Toggle Dropdown. Formatting References ; Writing an Annotated Bibliography ; Sample Papers. Sample History Papers; Sample Title Pages, Outlines, & Citations; Resources for Writing
For digitized archival material together with other kinds of primary sources: Finding Primary Sources Online offers general instructions for finding primary sources online and a list of resources by region and country; Online Primary Source Collections for the History of Science lists digital collections at Harvard and beyond by topic.
Primary sources can be contemporary sources created at the time when the event occurred (e.g., letters and newspaper articles) or later (such as, memoirs and oral history interviews). Primary sources may be published or unpublished. Unpublished sources include unique materials (e.g., family papers) often referred to as archives and manuscripts.
Papers of the British Foreign and Colonial Offices, 1833-1969. Documents include dispatches, telegrams, investigative reports and treaties. ... Primary database for research on Latin America, indexing books and articles on Latin America in the social sciences and humanities. ... Primary source documents on key aspects of the history of slavery ...
Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have sparked optimism about their potential to accelerate scientific discovery, with a growing number of works proposing research agents that autonomously generate and validate new ideas. Despite this, no evaluations have shown that LLM systems can take the very first step of producing novel, expert-level ideas, let alone perform the entire ...