LibGuides: History Resources (Ybor City): Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are original documents or artifacts created during the time under study. Historians rely on primary sources to gain insight into the known past, and to provide substantiating evidence and support for their interpretations. The secondary source is the article or book (monograph) written by the historian.

Examples of Primary Sources include:

Letters and Diaries
Original works of art, music, or literature
Speeches
Maps
Photographs
Artifacts (tools, pottery, cave paintings, etc...)
Ephemera (pamphlets, flyers, stickers, buttons)
Government documents (records, laws, treaties, court cases, etc..)
Historical newspaper articles of eyewitness accounts
Original scientific findings
Institutional Records
Raw data

Primary Vs Secondary Sources

Primary Sources are available in Article Databases

History (Salem Press)
Defining Moments in U.S. History (Lincoln Library)
U.S. History (Gale)
Content from periodicals, reference works, and primary source documents relating to U.S. history, organized into a portal for easy research. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.
History Reference Center (EBSCO)
At the top of the screen under "More" select Images/Videos to access historical photographs and maps in the World History Image Collection. Full text from more than 750 history reference books, and encyclopedias, and history magazines. Plus, historical documents ("primary sources"), biographies of historical figures; historical photos and maps; and historical film and video.
Sources in U.S. History Online: Civil War (Gale)
The Civil War digital collection contains nearly 500 significant documents of the time--personal narratives, monographs, regimental histories, collected essays, sermons, songs, legal tracts, and political speeches--enabling students, faculty and patrons to study one of the key events in American history.
Search tips
1. On the homepage are an overview and reference essays for different aspects of
  the Civil War.
2. Once you select a topic, you will find sections, each ending with a
  thorough bibliography of primary sources you can view and use as sources.
3. Or, use the Search bar to search within the collection.
4. Or, click View all documents in this collection.
5. You can narrow down results by person, author, publication date, and more
Try using the Topic Finder. You can search for one event, person, aspect of the war, and more, then narrow down your topic. Results will be shown on the right.
New York Times - Historical (ProQuest)

Primary Sources: books & eBooks

Click the link for links to ebooks and call numbers for print books in the Ybor library. HCC ID is required for ebook access.

Defining Documents in American History Series

Manifest Destiny and the New Nation (1803-1860) (2-Vol Set)
Civil War (1860-1865) (2-Vol Set)
Exploration and Colonial America (1492-1755) (2-Vol Set)
Reconstruction & the Development of the Industrial United States (1865-1880)
The 1920s (1920-1929)
The 1930s (1930-1939)
The American Revolution (1754-1805) (2-Vol Set)
The Emergence of Modern America (1868-1918)
World War I (1916-1919)

Primary Sources on the Open Web

Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Three main sections: ancient, medieval, and modern, as well as subsections. The sourcebooks are collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts. From Fordham University.
American Memory (Library of Congress)
Timeline Archive (InfoPlease)
Historical timelines for world history, history by country, topic, etc. From Pearson Education (publisher of instructional materials for schools, colleges and corporations), publishing as InfoPlease.
Making of America

History Resources (Ybor City): Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Primary Vs Secondary Sources

Primary Sources are available in Article Databases

Search tips

Primary Sources: books & eBooks

Primary Sources on the Open Web