Primary Sources in the Humanities and Social Sciences
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What is a Primary Source?
Primary sources are original sources, in which its witnesses or first recorders describe a time, person or event. They are the subject interpretation of a witness to an event and serve as the materials historians use to analyze the past. Primary sources can either be the original document or published at a later date in electronic, microfilm and printed collections.
Some types of primary sources include:
published materials (books, magazine and newspaper articles) written at the particular time
handwritten documents, such as diaries and journals
speeches, interviews, letters
memoirs and autobiographies
manuscripts
maps
laws and court cases
records of government agencies
records of organizations
public opinion polls
fiction from a particular time and place
photographs, audio recordings, movies and videos
art, including paintings, prints and other media
artifacts, such as furniture, clothing, tools, clothing, jewelry, pottery, etc.
religious and philosophical textsFor further information, see Yale University's document, What are Primary Sources?
Starting Your Research
- Encyclopedias, Biographical Dictionaries: often list bibliographies of primary and secondary sources
- Bibliographies: list secondary and primary sources
- Queen’s Library catalogue: check QCAT for primary source material on your topic
- Newspaper and historical magazine articles: check article and newspaper databases to locate citations/full text of articles
- Primary Source databases: check our many online databases of primary source materials
- Government Documents: check publications generated by a government body, public records, reports and statistics
- Unique collections at Queen’s: consider microform collections, Special Collections and the University Archives
- Web resources: search for primary source collections on the Web
- Subject Primary Sources: for more primary sources, see our subject guides
For further detail see:
UC Berkeley Library's document, Finding Historical Primary Sources
Library Catalogue
A good place to start your research for primary sources is the library catalogue (QCAT). You can locate items in the library by searching QCAT by doing a keyword or subject search and then adding one of the special subject terms to your search:
-
correspondence
diaries
early works to 1800
interviews
pamphlets
personal narratives
sources
trials
Examples of keyword searches:
-
france and history and sources
world war and correspondence
revolution and france and
"personal narratives"
Collections of primary sources often have the word documents in the title:
documents and england and reformation
In order to do a subject search, you will need to first identify the appropriate Library of Congress Subject Heading. One way to do this is do a keyword search and then look for relevant items. Note the subject headings assigned to the record and then pair subject headings with the specific subject terms that identify materials as primary sources.
For example:
-
Canada--History--19th century--Sources
Feminists--United States--Correspondence
United States--History--Civil War 1861-1865--Pamphlets
Women--Suffrage--Great Britain--History--Sources
Another approach is to look for works written by historical figures or organizations. To find such works, try an author search. For example:
-
Catherine II, Empress of Russia, 1729-1796
Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Woman's Christian Temperance Union of British Columbia
United Church of Canada
Newspapers and Journals
Journal and newspaper articles written during the period being studied are considered primary sources.
Indexes
One can use periodical indexes to locate citations to articles published in journals, magazines and newspapers in earlier time periods. They include:
You are connecting from off-campus. You will be prompted to enter your NetID and password before connecting to a Queen's-only database.
Fulltext
There are several online databases to which the Library subscribes that provide access to full text articles from journals and newspapers for earlier time periods. They include:
You are connecting from off-campus. You will be prompted to enter your NetID and password before connecting to a Queen's-only database.
More information about newspapers available at QUL can be found in the Newspapers guide.
Government Documents
Publications generated by a government body, public records, reports and statistics such as census records, laws, court decisions and treaties, are excellent sources of primary materials.
The Maps, Data and Government Information Centre on the lower level of Stauffer Library provides a wide range of geospatial, statistical and government information resources and services. Collections include government documents from Canada, the US, the UK, and international organizations such as the UN, EU, OECD, and the World Bank.
To find out what is available, consult QCAT, their website, or the staff.
Microform Collections
The Library has a number of primary source materials on microfilm, which include newspapers, journals, and documents. Search QCAT to locate specific newspaper titles as well as our Newspapers guide.
For information on our microform collections, see the Microform collections guide.
Special Collections & Archives
Special Collections and the University Archives hold a wide range of rare and unique research materials covering a variety of subjects. See their web pages for more information.
Subject Primary Sources
The following guides list major print, microfilm and digital collections held at Queen's.Language and Literature
Other
The Web
Primary Sources on the Web
Primary source materials and related websites can be freely reached on the web and through the Library's subscription databases. To find sources on the web, use a search engine and use similar search terms you use for searching the library catalogue for primary source materials.
Search examples:
-
charles darwin diaries
“world war” “personal narratives”
Please check our Search the Web guide for recommended search engines.
Freely Available
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
- Provides the text of many historical documents from around the world from the 9th century to the 21st century.
Hanover Historical Texts Project
- Includes documents from ancient Greece to the 20th century.
- Digitized books from several university libraries
- Access for researchers, historians and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. It includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages.
- A collection that provides links to historical texts for Ancient History, Medieval Studies, and Modern History. There are also some thematically based subsets that include African History, East Asian History, Indian History, Jewish History, and History of Science.
WWW-VL: World History and History Central Catalogue
For more primary sources, check the primary sources and websites sections of our subject guides.
Secondary Sources
A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. Secondary sources are one step removed from the event. Examples include:
biographies
books
commentaries, criticism
dictionaries, encyclopedias
histories
journal articles
magazines and newspaper articles
textbooksFinding Secondary Sources:
Search the library catalogue (QCAT) by subject or keyword to find books, etc. Add or look for one of the following subheadings attached to the subject headings:
history
history and criticism
criticism and interpretation
biography
Check to see if there is a bibliography compiled already on your topic.
Search journal indexes and databases to find articles on your topic.
Tertiary Sources
A tertiary source lists or indexes primary and secondary sources. Some examples of tertiary sources are:
almanacs
bibliographies
chronologies
dictionaries and encyclopedias (may also be secondary)
digests
directories
handbooks
indexes used to locate primary and secondary sources
For more information and a comparison across the disciplines, see University of Maryland Libraries' guide,
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources.