What are primary sources?
A primary source is material that contains firsthand accounts of events which was created at the time of the event or later recalled by an eyewitness. Examples include letters, diaries, government, church and business records, oral histories, drawings, photographs, videos, maps, land records, newspaper articles, and certain electronic records such as email..
Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented. Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later. Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are available in original format, in microfilm/microfiche, in digital format, or in published format. Primary sources can be found in nearly all of Yale’s twenty-two libraries as well as at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Yale Art Gallery. See the “Tools for Discovery” page for tips on identifying materials relevant to your research.
Primary sources are firsthand accounts recorded during the time of the event or subject you are researching. Government documents, newspaper articles, journals, diaries, correspondance, memoirs, photographs and interviews are examples of primary sources. For a more extensive description see Library Research Using Primary Resources, a publication of the Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
Primary sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers. The following are generally considered primary sources: Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other papers in which individuals describe events in which they were participants or observers. Records of organizations and agencies of government, including the minutes, reports, correspondence, etc. of an organization or agency serve as an ongoing record of the activity and thinking of that organization or agency. Many kinds of records (births, deaths, marriages; permits and licences issued; census data; etc.) document conditions in the society. Published materials (books, magazine and journal articles, newspaper articles) written at the time about a particular event are sometimes accounts by participants, in most cases they are written by journalists or other observers. The important thing is to distinguish between material written at the time of an event as a kind of report, and m
