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Primary & Secondary Sources: Finding Primary Sources

This guide explains the differences between primary and secondary sources, including how to identify them, the different formats, and finding them.

Primary sources are often found in "archives", "special collections", "exhibits", "repositories", "records", and places labelled similarly. Just remember that they are original creative works, recorded at the time of the event, and/or first-hand evidence.

Art & Art History

Databases:

Online Collections:

Film & Theater

Databases:

Online Collections:

Health Sciences & Nursing

Databases:

Online Collections:

History

Databases:

Online Collections:

Music

Databases:

Online Collections:

Literature

Databases:

Online Collections:

Political Science

Government Web Directory

Laws, treaties, regulations, census data, etc. as primary sources should be acquired from the government department or a database, not from unofficial sites.

Databases:

Online Collection:

Sciences

Databases:

When searching for primary sources in these databases, only use original research, case studies, statistics, lab notes, patents, etc.

Online Collections: