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Sandbox: primary sources

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Overview

What is a primary source?

A primary source is a piece of evidence. It is a by-product of an event, or a recording of an event as it happened. Here are some examples:

  • Personal journals, diaries, letters
  • Interviews, speeches (either the recording or the transcript)
  • Photographs, cards, maps
  • Manuscripts, such as official publications (of political parties, organizations, etc...) or other unpublished materials
  • Newspaper articles (often, but not always)
  • Magazine articles when used for the purposes of social history or as documentary evidence
  • Meeting minutes, receipts, or other adminstrative documents
  • Court transcripts
  • News programs that were recorded from television
  • Research data that were collected but not yet interpreted
  • Documentary film, etc...

How to find primary sources?

Use the bibliographies of books, as a starting point. Journal articles can also cite primary sources, and knowing how to find historical newspapers or other library collections of primary sources is important. You can use this guide to get started.

If you would like to find books that are based on primary sources, use the library catalogue and add the word "sources" to your keyword or subject search. You could also use other keywords such as "interviews," "letters," "oral testimony," "archival records," "correspondence," "memoirs," or "photographs." 

Here are some examples :

  • "Chaucer" and diaries
  • "Dickens" and sources

*Don't forget to combine your different keywords with the appropriate boolean connector.