This guide is focused on finding primary source materials for historical research.
What are primary sources in historical research?
They are often referred to as "first hand" accounts or "original" records. They are the evidence historians use to build interpretations of the past. Most primary sources are created at the time an historical event occurred, while others, such as autobiographies, are produced long after the events they describe. Among the many types of materials that may be primary sources are: letters, diaries, speeches, newspaper articles, autobiographies, oral histories, government and organizational records, statistical data, maps, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings, advertisements, and artifacts.
You can use the library catalog to find primary sources in our collection.
Try adding one of these keywords to your search . . .
Manuscript collections or archives of organizational records often include some of the following keywords in their titles or content descriptions. By including these words as keywords in a search, you have a better chance of finding collections of historical documents:
collection | papers | archives | diaries | letters | account | narrative | personal | correspondence | autobiography
For example,
*This same technique can be used in other search engines, like Google.
Try searching by author . . .
When searching for primary documents on a person, try using the person's name as an Author search (LastName, FirstName). When correspondence is cataloged, the writer of the letter (your topic) is generally listed as the author of the collection. (Example: Warren, Robert Penn). This same strategy works for organizations.
The official Flickr page for the Lynchburg College Archives and Special Collections. Items are added almost daily.
Maintained by the Library of Congress, "American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity."
A single point of entry with online access to descriptions of archival collections held by thousands of libraries, museums, historical socieities, and archives worldwide.
Provides access to online films, texts, images, and audio recordings related to the Civil Rights movement in the United States in the 1950's and 1960's.
Portal to resources from U.S. libraries, archives, and museums. Browse by place, time, subject, or contributing partner.
One of the best places to start for all time periods of European history. Extensive collection of primary sources and links to other sites. Browse by broad era (prehistory/ancient, medieval/renaissance, modern) or by country.
Presents texts from ancient to modern times. Material touches on the Crusaders, Italian Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, French Revolution, and many other topics.
Expansive born-digital and digitized collections of architecture, comics, illustrations, photography, prints, posters, and more.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) collections includes over 4,500 moving image historical records (e.g., propaganda films, Newsreel footage) and over 7,600 hours of streaming video oral history testimonials.
Large, well-organized collection of print and visual primary sources from ancient to current times. Material may be browsed by place, time, topic, type of resource, or contributing institution.
Knight-Capron Library has microfilm versions of several newspapers:
This category includes maps that typically portray the physical environment and a variety of cultural elements for a geographic area at a particular point in time.
The Old Maps Online Portal is an easy-to-use gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world. It allows the user to search for online digital historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search.
FBI files on people, organizations, events, from early 20th century to 1990s (Albert Einstein, Al Capone, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, POW/MIAs, PETA, SNCC, ESP, Roswell, much more). Released under Freedom of Information Act requests.
Selected declassified documents of the US government on a wide range of subjects: Nuclear History, Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Intelligence and Secrecy, September 11, etc. A valuable collection of primary sources.
Provides access to federal government information submitted by Congress and federal agencies. Includes the Congressional Record, Federal Register, congressional bills and hearings and other material generally dating back to the early 1990s. (Replaces the FDsys system.)
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