What is a Primary Source?
Primary Sources are generally defined as a document or object which was created during the time under study. Since these resources were present during this specific time period, they can offer an inside view of a particular event.
Examples of primary sources include -
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a first-hand account by a participant or observer close to the time of the event, as reported in an article, diary, journal, speech, interview, letter, e-mail, memorandum, or autobiography
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an original work of art or literature
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visual images and/or audio recordings of an event
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old maps
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original research or raw data, including public opinion polls
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a government document that is produced in the normal course of governing (a law, congressional hearing, treaty, regulation or court decision) and those that record an event (birth certificate), report data collected by the government (the census), or confer a right (a permit, license or patent).
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records produced by organizations in the normal course of doing business
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a laboratory report or field observation, including an ethnography
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artifacts of any kind
Primary Source Databases
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
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The interface allows searching of multiple full text primary source databases at the same time using a flexible, intuitive interface. Currently included within the index are Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Sabin Americana. 17th, 18th and 19th Century British Newspapers, Illustrated London News, Times of London, the Times Literary Supplement and Archives Unbound (300+ small primary source archives). Formerly called Artemis Primary Sources
Terms of use - AM Explorer This link opens in a new window
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1500-2000 - search all of the Adam Matthew primary source databases with a single interface. Result counts are shown for each collection and may be filtered by the individual collection.
Terms of use - Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
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Use Eighteenth Century Collections Online to access the digital images of every page of books published during the 18th Century. With full-text searching of millions of pages, the product allows researchers new methods of access to critical information in the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more. . It delivers every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the eighteenth century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas.
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News
- International Newsstream This link opens in a new windowProQuest International Newsstream provides information from more than 660 of the world’s top newspapers. For nearly all of them, complete articles are available in the ASCII format. formerly International Newsstand.
Terms of use - World News Connection This link opens in a new window1995-2013 Discover what’s really happening in specific countries and regions of Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Europe,the Middle East, the Americas, and Oceania. Information is compiled and translated from more than 800 non-U.S. media sources, including news articles, Web sites, broadcasts, periodicals, and non-classified technical reports. Earlier content is available from Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports 1974-1996 on the Newsbank platform.
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Statistics
- World Bank DataRecognizing that transparency and accountability are essential to development, the World Bank Group provides free access to its comprehensive set of data on living standards around the globe--some 2,000 indicators, including hundreds that go back 50 years. The data is available in Arabic, French, and Spanish in addition to English.
- UNdataUNdata is the United Nations Data Access System which provides access to current, relevant and reliable statistics. Some data goes back 60 years. The domains covered are agriculture, education, energy, industry, labour, national accounts, population and tourism. You can also find indicators such as Millennium Development Goals. UNdata also has links to a very large number of national data and statistics organizations and agencies.
Contemporary News Sources
- Der Spiegel (International)Spiegel Online International is also available from 10/01/2010 to the present in the LexisNexis Academic database.
- The EconomistThe Economist is also available in the Academic OneFile database from 1988 to the present.
- The GuardianThe Guardian is also available in the LexisNexis Academic database from 07/14/1984 to the present.
Maps
- The Perry-Castaneda Library Map CollectionContains images of tens of thousands of maps of the world's nations, major cities, state outline maps and more, including a regularly updated maps of current interest section
- Old Maps OnlineThis geoportal combines the David Rumsey Map Collection, A Vistion of Britain through Time from the University of Portsmouth, the map collection of the Czech Republic's Moravian Library, The British Library's map collection, and the National Library of Scotland's Maps of Scotland.