Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress) (2024)

FAQs

Where can I find primary source documents? ›

For the arts, history, and humanities, original primary source documents usually are housed in museums, archives, restricted library collections, and government offices. Reproductions of primary source documents often can be found in online digital collections, microform collections, books, and other secondary works.

The Library of Congress is home to many of the most important documents in American history.

You can find published primary sources by using the online catalog, or by searching in a digital collection of historical documents, such as the Gerritsen Collection of Women's History, Chronicling America, and Empire Online. The History Library maintains a list of these collections on its website.

Examples of primary sources: Diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies. Interviews, speeches, oral histories, personal narratives. Scientific data and reports.

Copies or transcriptions of a primary source still count as a primary source. Some examples of primary sources include: Newspapers.

Examples of primary sources:

Theses, dissertations, scholarly journal articles (research based), some government reports, symposia and conference proceedings, original artwork, poems, photographs, speeches, letters, memos, personal narratives, diaries, interviews, autobiographies, and correspondence.

Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music. The collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.

Some examples of primary sources are autobiographies and memoirs, letters and correspondence, original documents such as vital records, photographs and recordings, records of an organization, newspaper or magazine articles, journals and diaries, speeches, and artifacts.

Diaries or journals. Letters or other manuscripts. Speeches, interviews and oral histories.

What is my personal primary source? ›

Primary source - a document or object that was created by an individual or group as part of their daily lives. Primary sources include birth certificates, photographs, diaries, letters, embroidered samplers, clothing, household implements, and newspapers.

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are remarkable documents. The Declaration and the Bill of Rights were designed to set limitations on government.

1776—Declaration of Independence.

The Library of Congress makes millions of unique primary sources available online to everyone, everywhere. There are a few different ways to discover the best primary sources for you.

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 are NOT...

Books written after a historical event by someone who was not involved in the event. An interview with someone who has an opinion or is knowledgeable about a historical event, even if that person is an expert or a historian on the event.

A primary source can be an article, document, diary, manuscript, object or information written or created at the time an event actually took place. Primary sources serve as an original source of information.

First-hand accounts by people who experienced event. A person's account of own feelings, actions, or experiences. Object or document that comes directly from person, place, or event being researched.

What is a list of primary source? ›

There are many kinds of primary sources including texts (letters, diaries, government reports, newspaper accounts, novels, autobiographies), images (photographs, paintings, advertisem*nts, posters), artifacts (buildings, clothing, sculpture, coins) and audio/visual (songs, oral history interviews, films).

Declaration of Independence: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress)

Primary sources of history include newspapers, books, and letters from the time period being studied as well as artifacts like artwork and tools, and generally help create the secondary sources.

For example, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944 and is one of the world's most known autobiographies. This book, although edited, provides direct evidence of Anne Frank's experiences and is, therefore, considered a primary source.

By using primary sources, students learn to recognize how a point of view and a bias affect evidence, what contradictions and other limitations exist within a given source, and to what extent sources are reliable.

Primary sources are not automatically reliable just because they are from eyewitnesses. While primary sources do provide valuable direct evidence and firsthand accounts, they can still be subject to inaccuracies, biases, or distortions.

Examples of primary sources include: personal journals/diaries/memoirs, letters, court proceedings, legislative debates, newspaper and magazine articles, movies, music, art, etc. Secondary Sources (i.e., historiography) – Books and articles produced by historians.

Is a Tiktok a primary source? ›

Using Tik Tok as a Primary Source. One way to use Tik Tok is to use it as a primary source. A primary source is an immediate, first-hand account of an event. Items such as photographs, videos, interviews, diaries, and original documents are all examples of primary sources.

Primary sources include everything from diaries, letters, manuscripts, audio and video recordings, speeches, artwork, interview, surveys, emails, scientific research results, census records, etc.

Letters, diaries, artifacts, photographs, and other types of first-hand accounts and records are all primary sources.

Primary data refers to the first hand data gathered by the researcher himself. Secondary data means data collected by someone else earlier. Surveys, observations, experiments, questionnaire, personal interview, etc.

School is where most Americans first encounter the basic documents of the nation's history. Many of us can quote from the preamble of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and from the speeches of national figures.

Declaration of Independence, 1776

Perhaps the most well-known document in American history, the Declaration of Independence was completed on July 4, 1776.

The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are the three most important documents in American history because they express the ideals that define “We the People of the United States” and inspire free people around the world.

The Constitution of the U.S. of America is without a doubt the best document ever written.

What is the oldest historical document? ›

It is widely believed that the oldest legal document known to mankind is the Code of Ur-Nammu, created in 2050 BC by King Hammurabi.

As large and diverse as the Library's collections are, it does not have every book ever published.

Does the Library have a copy of every book published in the United States? No, but it does have millions of books and printed materials, maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints and drawings, and other special collections.

The Library of Congress Online Catalog contains approximately 14 million records representing books, serials, computer files, manuscripts, cartographic materials, music, sound recordings, and visual materials.

Anything you directly analyze or use as first-hand evidence can be a primary source, including qualitative or quantitative data that you collected yourself. What are some examples of secondary sources? Common examples of secondary sources include academic books, journal articles, reviews, essays, and textbooks.

Published materials can be viewed as primary resources if they come from the time period that is being discussed, and were written or produced by someone with firsthand experience of the event. Often primary sources reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer.

EXAMPLES: Primary sources include original manuscripts, periodical articles reporting original research or thought, diaries, memoirs, letters, journals, photographs, drawings, posters, film footage, sheet music, speeches, songs, interviews, government documents, public records, eyewitness accounts, newspaper clippings, ...

Letters, diaries, minutes, photographs, artifacts, interviews, and sound or video recordings are examples of primary sources created as a time or event is occurring.

What are the 5 secondary sources? ›

A primary source is a document or record containing firsthand information or original data on a topic. Primary sources are created contemporaneously with the topic they describe.

A Primary Source is information that was created at the same time as an event or by a person directly involved in the event. Diaries, speeches, letters, official records, autobiographies. A Secondary Source gets its information from somewhere else or by a person not directly involved in the event.