What are Primary Sources?
Published vs Unpublished Primary Sources
Unpublished primary sources are original documents and artifacts of all kinds that were created by individuals but not published (that is, made public --issued in a format that could be widely distributed) during the period you are studying. In the past, only archives and museums preserved these kinds of primary source materials, and researchers had to travel all over the world to use them. With the invention of microfilming, and later, digitization, it became possible to create facsimiles of large collections of primary source materials. Large research libraries like the UIUC Library have extensive collections of microfilm and digital facsimiles of unpublished primary sources. Universities also have rare books libraries and university archives, which hold original unpublished primary source materials.
In general, published primary source material covers a wide range of publications, including first-person accounts, memoirs, diaries, letters, newspapers, statistical reports, government documents, court records, reports of associations, organizations and institutions, treatises and polemical writings, chronicles, saints' lives, charters, legal codes, maps, graphic material (e.g. photographs, posters, advertising images, paintings, prints, and illustrations), literary works and motion pictures. Some of these materials were not published at the time of their creation (e.g. letters), but have subsequently been published in a book. For example, The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger is a selection from birth control activist Margaret Sanger's letters and other unpublished papers, presented in chronological order, which contextual information provided by expert editors.
Here's an overview:
How Do I Find Primary Sources?
There are many ways to find digitized primary sources, both published and unpublished, starting with our Digital Collections guide.
You can find published primary sources by using library catalogs, research guides, and published bibliographies. You can also look at secondary literature on your topic to ascertain what sources other scholars have used in their research.
To find published primary sources in library catalogs, try these strategies:
-Search by date of publication to find sources that were published during the time period you're researching --you can also use this strategy in full-text digital collections such as ProQuest Historical Newspapers
-Use the library catalog advanced search option and include one or more of these Library of Congress Subject Heading form subdivisions in your search:
- Correspondence
- Sources
- Diaries
- Personal narratives
- Interviews
- Speeches
- Documents
- Archives
- Early works to 1800
- Manuscripts
You can find unpublished primary sources held by archives and museums using ArchiveGrid (an inventory of archival finding aids), or using the "archival material" format in WorldCat. Microfilm facsimiles of primary source materials are also included in WorldCat and other library catalogs:
- ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new windowDestination for searching through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world. Thousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowWorldCat is a worldwide union catalog created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 member institutions. With millions of online records built from the bibliographic and ownership information of contributing libraries, it is the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind. You can also use WorldCat on the FirstSearch platform.
Curated primary sources for this class
1. Professor Koslofsky's selections from Christopher Handley, An Annotated Bibliography of Diaries Printed in English, 4th ed., 2020:
2. Selections from Adam Matthew digitized primary source collections:
- Early Modern England This link opens in a new windowThis database includes documents showing how everyday working, family, religious and administrative life was experienced across England from the years 1500 to 1700. These primary documents take the form of legal and administrative records, wills, family correspondence, inventories, and commonplace books.
- Perdita Manuscripts This link opens in a new windowIncludes complete facsimile images of over 230 manuscripts written or compiled by women living in the British Isles during the 16th and 17th centuries. Document formats include, but are not limited to: account books, advice, commonplace books, culinary writing, meditations, travel writing, and verse.
- Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship, Society and the Stage This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive collection makes available the Larpent collection of plays, as well as hundreds of documents that provide social context for the plays.
- Age of Exploration This link opens in a new windowExplore five centuries of journeys across the globe, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes, and decades-long search and rescue attempts in this multi-archive collection dedicated to the history of exploration.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowThis resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
- American Indian Histories and Cultures This link opens in a new windowA wide-ranging digital resource presenting a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century. This resource contains material from the Newberry Library's extensive Edward E. Ayer Collection. It also includes manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books, photographs and newspapers. Browse through a wide range of rare and original documents from treaties, speeches and diaries, to historic maps and travel journals.
- Eighteenth Century Journals This link opens in a new windowPortal to newspapers and periodicals c1685-1835 brings together rare journals printed between c1685 and 1835, illuminating all aspects of eighteenth-century social, political and literary life. Many are ephemeral, lasting only for a handful of issues, others run for several years. Topics include: the writings of Sir Isaac Newton; the French and American Revolutions; colonial life, provincial and rural affairs, reviews of literature, the theater, and fashion throughout Europe; the origins and rise of Romanticism; political debates; gender, religion, influence of the press, and coffee house gossip and discussion.
- Literary Manuscripts (Leeds) This link opens in a new windowThis path-breaking project offers literary scholars the opportunity to examine complete facsimile images of 190 manuscripts of 17th and 18th century verse held in the celebrated Brotherton Collection at the University of Leeds. These manuscripts can be read and explored in conjunction with the powerful BCMSV database, described in a recent survey of first-line indices for poetry of the long eighteenth century (c.1660-1830) as "the most sophisticated and flexible index yet created for a collection of manuscript poetry". The database includes first lines, last lines, attribution, author, title, date, length, verse form, content and bibliographic references for over 6,600 poems within the collection.
Alongside original compositions are painstakingly copied verses, translations, songs and riddles. The whole collection is situated within an assortment of manuscripts, some entirely dedicated to poetry, while others contain medicinal recipes, household accounts, draft letters, musical scores and plays. There are also several printed works, with handwritten verse additions. - Defining Gender, 1450-1910 This link opens in a new windowDefining Gender has brought together over 120,000 pages of original documents relating to Gender Studies. The images are sourced from British and European libraries and archives, including a strong core of document images from the Bodleian Library, Oxford and the British Library.
3. Digitized "Letters and Diaries" collections available through the University of Illinois Library:
- British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new windowThis collection includes approximately 100,000 pages of published letters and diaries from women from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales writing from 1500 to 1950. This searchable and browsable database is drawn from 290 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings
- North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new windowNorth American Women's Letters and Diaries (NAWLD) is a full-text database of the personal experiences as reflected in the letters and diaries of 1,325 women who lived in North America before 1960.