Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
For certain assignments you might be asked to use primary sources. Primary sources are works created at the time of an event, or by a person who directly experienced an event.
It is the content that matters and an on-line source can still be a primary source. For example, an online copy of a newspaper from May 8, 1945, is still a primary source even though the original article has been digitized.
Primary sources can include:
- Interviews, diaries, letters, journals, speeches, autobiographies, and witness statements
- Original hand-written manuscripts
- Government documents and public records
- Art, photographs, films, maps, fiction, and music
- Newspaper and magazine clippings
- Artifacts, buildings, furniture, and clothing
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are works that are written after the original event or experience; they provide criticism or interpretation of the event or experience.
Some examples of secondary sources are:
- Textbooks
- Biographies
- Historical films, music, and art
- Articles about people and events from the past
Primary vs Secondary Video
Finding Primary Sources
To find primary sources in the TMU Library catalogue
Use keywords for your topic or historic person along with one of the following words:
- archives
- charters
- correspondence
- diaries
- documents
- interviews
- letters
- manuscripts
- notebooks
- oratory
- pamphlets
- personal narratives
- pictorial works
- sources [this term is often used for collections of primary sources]
- speeches
Examples:
- diaries london england
- feminism england london sources
- great britain history sources
- london england pictorial works victorian
- london england pictorial works edwardian
- london england 19th century speeches
- london england history maps
- london england social life customs sources
- victorian history london sources
- edwardian history london sources
Digital Collections Purchased or Leased by TMU that Include Primary Sources
Some digital collections from Adam Matthew Digital that may be useful for historical studies follow:
Some of the Alexander Street Press collections may also be useful:
Historical Newspapers are listed on the bottom of the page for Journals and Articles.
- English Historical Documents This link opens in a new windowEnglish Historical Documents Online contains over 5,500 indexed and fully searchable primary documents from 500 to 1914. This includes American Colonial Documents, which was previously out of print. The online version of the standard series of primary source documents in British history, conceived in wartime and with volumes published since 1953, can also be found here.Sources include government and cabinet proceedings, military dispatches, newspaper articles, pamphlets, personal and official letters and diaries. It covers political and constitutional topics and social, economic, religious and cultural history.
A Sampling of Freely Accessible Primary Sources
Many governmental bodies, academic and public libraries, museums, and private organizations are creating digital collections. Often access is free of charge. Use a search engine to look for names of countries, provinces/states, cities, organizations, or individuals AND archives.
Read the About section to determine who is the publisher, what is their purpose, is this a credible source ...
UNITED KINGDOM:
Charles Booth's London [website hosted by the London School of Economics; includes some primary sources]
London Metropolitan Archives [open at the collections page]
Museum of London [link is to the site's Collections tab]
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (V&A), Online Collections
Wellcome Library, focuses upon Medical History, digital collections
WORLD:
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (from Yale Law School, includes international Treaties)
Historical Films, Radio and Other Media
- AP ArchiveThis film and video archive of The Associated Press includes over 1.7 million global news and entertainment video stories dating back to 1895, sourced both from AP's own coverage and from our premium content partners. It includes the British Movietone collection of newsreels from 1895-1986.
- British Movietone ArchivePerhaps the world's largest newsreel archive spanning 1895-1986, this site is rich in coverage of news events, celebrities, sports, music, social history, science, lifestyle and quirky.
- British Film Institute (BFI) YouTube ChannelPresents content from the BFI's impressive archive of film, video and television programs.
- British PathéBritish Pathé is a dynamic cross-media company and a market leader in the licensing of footage to the broadcast industry. The company is a major supplier to production companies, museums and advertisers worldwide
- British Pathé YouTube ChannelNow considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world, British Pathé is a treasure trove of 85,000 films unrivalled in their historical and cultural significance.
- Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British EmpireThis website holds detailed information on over 6000 films showing images of life in the British colonies. Over 150 films are available for viewing online. You can search or browse for films by country, date, topic, or keyword. Over 350 of the most important films in the catalogue are presented with extensive critical notes written by our academic research team.
- Moving Image Archive (Internet Archive)This rapidly growing library of digital films, movies and video can be limited to categories including News & Public Affairs, and Television Archive News Search Service
- UN Radio ClassicsAn online archive of documentary and dramatic programmes that offer a unique way of experiencing key historical moments of the United Nations and of the world throughout the second half of the 20th century.
- National Archives (UK) -- Panjab 1947: A Heart DividedThe National Archives has recorded the narratives of four Panjabi elders uprooted from their homeland during the Partition of British India in 1947. At least 18 million people were uprooted and one million died in the mass migration that followed.
