Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what happened during an historical event or time period and how it was perceived by the participants and observers.  Primary sources are the evidence, the raw materials that historians use to make new observations and interpretations of an event, place, era, or other historical phenomenon.  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.

Memoirs and autobiographies. These are generally less reliable since they are usually written long after events occurred and may be distorted by bias, dimming memory or the revised perspective that may come with hindsight. On the other hand, they are sometimes the only source for certain information.

Records of organizations and agencies of government. 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 licenses 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.  While these 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 material written much later, as historical analysis.

Photographs, audio recordings and moving pictures drawings, paintings, political cartoons or video recordings, documenting what happened.

Artifacts of all kinds: physical objects, buildings, furniture, tools, appliances and household items, clothing, toys.

If you are attempting to find evidence documenting the mentality or psychology of a time, or of a group (evidence of a world view, a set of attitudes, or the popular understanding of an event or condition), the most obvious source is public opinion polls taken at the time. Since these are generally very limited in availability and in what they reveal, however, it is also possible to make use of ideas and images conveyed in the mass media, and even in literature, film, popular fiction, self-help literature, textbooks, etc. Again, the point is to use these sources, written or produced at the time, as evidence of how people were thinking.

*The first section of this guide was adapted from "Library Research Using Primary Sources."  University of California, Berkeley. <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/PrimarySources.html>

STRATEGIES FOR FINDING PRIMARY SOURCES

Before you start your search, make a list of the terms, places, people and specific events about which you want to find primary resources.  Keep this list handy and add to it as you learn more about the topic.

Make another list of the kinds of primary sources you hope to find or think will be available for the topic.  For instance, if you think newspapers are appropriate to your research, put them on the list, and consider which newspapers would be most useful.  Randall Library's holdings of historical newspapers is limited, but you may wish to make a research trip to another library or request a microfilm copy of the newspaper through interlibrary loan.

The following strategies are particularly useful in using Randall Library resources.

USE ONLINE CATALOGS

• Randall Library Online Catalog: http://library.uncwil.edu (Library Home Page)

For access to materials in Randall Library: includes sophisticated search capabilities like limiting by language and format or combining subject headings. Also allows users to send search results to their email addresses.

• WorldCat:  From the Library Home Page, choose the "Database& Article Searching" link, then choose the "WorldCat" link. 

WorldCat is the union catalog of books, web resources, and other material located worldwide cataloged by OCLC member libraries (over 45,000 libraries.)  Books in the catalog are generally available via Interlibrary Loan (unless they are considered rare), and many of the websites are freely available.  The database also includes references to manuscript and archival material that would require a visit to the repository that owns it -- but at least you know where it is. 

Search Tips:  
     Case does not matter.  Punctuation marks are not needed.  
     Keyword searches will likely retrieve something on your subject.  This type of search looks in practically all parts of the catalog record, and is the only way to access the data in the Contents Notes field of records.  However, if you are not using the terms catalogers use to identify a subject, keyword searches may actually retrieve fewer items than a subject search.  
      Subject searches use a controlled vocabulary, bring more consistency to searches, organizing records by subtopics.  Library of Congress Subject Headings are used in both the local catalog and in WorldCat. 
      Primary Source Subheadings:  There are several subject subheadings used to identify books or other resources that are compilations of primary source material.  Look for: