Service Alert
What are Primary Sources?
"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 many different formats and locations. Libraries often house manuscripts, letters, memoirs, oral histories, and other primary source documents for students and researchers to use. However, thanks to digitization, many primary sources are now available on the World Wide Web.
For more information about the nature and types of Primary Sources, and how to recognize them, please visit the Primary Sources at Yale page provided by Yale University.