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Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Not all sources provide information from the same vantage point.  Students need to consider whether a research project requires the use of primary or secondary sources, or both.

Primary Sources in the University Library

University Library Catalog

AUTHOR search:  to find materials someone has written

KEYWORD search:  combine a topic, keyword, or person's name with any of the following -- autobiography, personal narratives, letters, correspondence, diaries, or memoirs.

Tip: "sources" is the official subject sub-heading used in the Library Catalog & WorldCat to describe primary sources. e.g. The subject heading "Crusades--Sources" indicates the work contains primary sources on the crusades.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective

Index to historical articles published in magazines from 1890 to 1982. Check Library Catalog to see if the article is available in the University Library, or use Interlibrary Loan to request the article from another library.

Special Collections

The University Archives contain official documents from the university's past.

Other special collections include primary source materials on local history.

Newspapers

The University Library has issues of local and national newspapers in microfilm dating back to the 18th century.

Many current newspapers (from the 1980's to the present) are available via one of the library's Newspaper Databases.

Government Documents

The Library is a partial depository for federal, state, and local documents.  The library web page has links to search engines for all documents and for those held in this library.

Library Databases and Web Sites

Lexis-Nexis.  The "News" section of Lexis-Nexis Academic Search contains many primary resources including transcripts of television and radio broadcasts.

RAND California.  A wide range of statistics about California.

FedStats.  The gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.

Social Science Research Data. Access to original government, public opinion, and research data sets, which can be analyzed using statistical software like SPSS.

Primary Sources in Other Libraries

Many primary sources have been republished in books and other formats and may be found in other libraries. In addition, research libraries and institutions have special, rare collections of books, photographs, sound recordings, diaries, letters, advertisements, and many other materials. These are often found in archives and/or special collections sections of academic libraries.

Primary Materials Reprinted in Published Works

WorldCat

AUTHOR: search the author's name to find materials someone has written

SUBJECT: the term "sources" is used as a subject sub-heading for primary sources

KEYWORD search:   the following terms often lead to primary sources -- autobiography, personal narratives, letters, correspondence, diaries, or memoirs.

Archival materials generally will not be available outside of the owning library. However, most books and other publications identified in WorldCat (and not available in the CSU Stanislaus Library) may be borrowed via Interlibrary Loan.

Primary Materials in Archival Collections

WorldCat

Limit type to Archival Materials

AUTHOR: search the author's name to find materials someone has written

KEYWORD search:   the following terms often lead to primary sources -- autobiography, personal narratives, letters, correspondence, diaries, or memoirs.

Most books identified in WorldCat (and not available in the CSU Stanislaus Library) may be borrowed via Interlibrary Loan.

In the First Person

Index to primary source materials available in over 3,000 historical archives around the country. Includes information on over 15,000 people, including access to the full-text of 20,000 diary entries, 60,000 letters, and 17,000 oral histories.

Directory of archives and manuscript repositories in the United States

Guide to archival collections of primary source materials available across the country.

CTU Main Ref CD3020 .D49 1988

Subject collections

This guide, available in the library's reference collection, describes special book collections and subject emphases as reported by university, college, public, and special libraries and museums in the United States and Canada.

CTU Main Ref Z731 .A78

ArchivesUSA

Most comprehensive single directory of archival repositories in the U.S.

Available at the UC Berkeley Library.

Primary Sources on the World Wide Web

Research libraries and institutions have special, rare collections of books, photographs, sound recordings, diaries, letters, advertisements, and many other materials. Recently some of these collections have been digitized and are available to the general public. The sites below include some notable examples of primary source materials avaialable online.

In the First Person

Index to primary source materials available in over 3,000 historical archives around the country. Includes information on over 15,000 people, including access to the full-text of 20,000 diary entries, 60,000 letters, and 17,000 oral histories.

Calisphere

Includes images, documents, and other primary source materials related to California history and culture provided by the University of California and cultural organizations. Calisphere's primary sources include photographs, documents, newspapers, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other cultural artifacts. The site also provides a single entry point to more than 300 UC-created web sites on a wide variety of subjects. The images and documents are aligned with California's K-12 Content Standards.

Library of Congress American Memory Collection

Includes more than 7 million items from the Library of Congress.

Sunsite Digital Text Collections

A lengthy list compiled by the UC Berkeley Digital Library.

Tobacco Control Archives

A collection housed at the University of California, San Francisco.  Provides access to papers, unpublished documents, and electronic resources related to the tobacco industry and tobacco litigation.

Bancroft Library

UC Berkeley's rare books and special collections library.  Includes documents from the Free Speech Movement and the Disability Movement.

Making of America Project (University of Michigan)

A project developed by Cornell University and the University of Michigan.  Provides digitized access to primary information sources describing American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.  Currently includes 8500 books and 50,000 journal articles.  

Also available via Cornell University.

New York Public Library Digital Collection

Collections include performing arts, the Hudson River, the American West, African Americans

American Civil War Collections (University of Virginia)

Electronic Text Center.  University of Virginia.

Cornell Library Digital Collections

Includes the Making of America, math, agriculture.

Digital Scriptorium Projects

Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.  Duke University.

Includes advertising, music, women, Renaissance, elections.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

The official depository for U.S. government materials.  Select "Online Exhibit Hall" for interesting collections.

Profiles in Science.  National Library of Medicine

Archival collections of prominent twentieth-century biomedical scientists.

Google

To locate subject or topical databases:  Combine any subject or topic with the word "database"

To locate a specific category of digital collections:  Combine any subject or topic with the phrase "digital collections"

For other web-based collections of primary sources use the "Invisible Web" search engines on the CSUS Library "Search Engines" page

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Page updated: 10/02/2008