Primary sources provide raw data (such as first-hand accounts or other direct evidence) about a topic, usually created during the timeframe under study by witnesses or recorders who experienced the subject being documented. It is the content of the source which matters, not its physical format; a digital version of a South African newspaper published when Nelson Mandela was freed from prison serves the same primary source function as the original print version would.
This guide will highlight some of the Herskovits Library's materials which can be considered primary sources, depending on your project.
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Disciplines |
Primary source examples |
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Anthropology, Archaeology |
Articles describing research, ethnographies, surveys, cultural and historical artifacts |
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Communications, Journalism |
News as reported events (printed, radio, TV, online), photographs, blogs, social media sites |
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Education, Political Science, Public Policy |
Government publications, laws, court cases, speeches, test results, interviews, polls, surveys |
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Fine Arts |
Original art work, photographs, recordings of performances and music, scripts (film, theatre, television), music scores, interviews, memoirs, diaries, letters |
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History |
Government publications, newspapers, photographs, diaries, letters, manuscripts, business records, court cases, videos, polls, census data, speeches |
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Language and Literature |
Novels, plays, short stories, poems, dictionaries, language manuals |
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Psychology, Sociology, Economics |
Articles describing research, experiment results, ethnographies, interviews, surveys, data sets |
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Sciences |
Articles describing research and methodologies, documentation of lab research, research studies |