InfoGuides: GSFA 199.02: Hard Hitting Songs (Cathy Thomas-Grant): Primary Sources (Historic Records)

What is a Primary Resources?

Short Answer: It depends on the project

(Some secondary sources used differently can become primary sources)

Textbook Answer: Primary sources are contrasted with secondary sources, works that provide analysis, commentary, or criticism on the primary source. A primary source is "first-hand" information, sources as close as possible to the origin of the information or idea under study.

Secondary Source:

Book about Martin Luther King Jr.
Encyclopedia entry about the Civil Rights Movement
Analysis of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech

Primary Source:

Martin Luther King Jr. Autobiography
Pamphlets produced by Civil Rights activists / Photos of march Posters / Newspaper article reporting a civil rights marches/events
Transcript or a published copy of Martin Luther King Jr. speech

In historical studies, primary sources include written works, recordings, or other sources of information from people who were participants or direct witnesses to the events in question.

Examples of commonly used primary sources include government documents, memoirs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and contemporary newspaper accounts.

Finding Primary Sources

Where to find Primary Resources:

Newspaper Articles = Newspaper and History Databases
Famous Speech/Pamphlets= Library Catalog
Autobiographies = Library Catalog
Art, Personal correspondence, speeches, photos, pamphlets, articles =Archives and/ or History/Art Databases.
Government Documents= Government Websites, National Archive, Other Archives, Library Catalog
Search "[topic] primary sources" in Google to see what comes up.
- Often times you'll discover digitized sources at an archive or museum that you were previously unfamiliar with.
Museum websites

Tip: Use Secondary Sources to find Primary Sources.

Encyclopedias provide detailed summaries of topics- try search GVR entry or wikipedia page for a topic, and written down names of important people/places/incidents, and searched for [those] + primary sources in Google.

Google Scholar

Primary Sources

ARTstor
Use ARTstor to search for art produced by your movement or photos of the participants.
JSTOR
Access to an extensive archive of history academic journals
North American Immigrant Letters/Diaries
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Access to personal narratives such as letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories.

The collection starts around 1840 and extends to the present, focusing heavily on the period from 1920 to 1980.

(Includes more recent waves of immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Provides perspectives both on North America and on the immigrants' countries of origin.)
Digital National Security Archive
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Provides a collection of primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945....exhaustively covers the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post-World War II through the 21st century. Visit ProQuest's guide for an overview of the collections.
Latin American Pamphlet Digital Collection
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Access to scarce and unique Latin American pamphlets published during the 19th and the early 20th centuries are owned by Harvard's Widener Library. These pamphlets are valuable primary resources for students and researchers working on Latin American history.
Accessible Archives
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Accessible Archives provides full text searchable databases of primary source material from 18th and 19th Century publications including historical periodicals and books; eyewitness accounts of historical events, vivid descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records are available in an online environment.

Center for the Study of Political Graphics
The collection of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) contains over 85,000 domestic and international political posters and prints relating to historical and contemporary social movements.

Find the Archives Collecting Artifacts on your Topic

What is an archive?

ar·chive

Noun

Plural noun: archives

A collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.

Which archive has the records you need?

Sometimes a whole archive will be devoted to one issue but many times an archive will own many collections. So how do you find archive materials when you don't know where to search?

Google
National Archives
OAC is a database that keeps track of which archives have what collections in California
University Archive (consider alma mater of movement leaders)

TIP: You most likely won’t have the time or the ability to visit various archives in person so filter your search results to "digitized records" only.

The Online Archive of California (OAC)
OAC provides free access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections throughout California & collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses.
ArchivesGrid
Library website that allows users to search "over 1000 different archival institutions."
National Archives
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Has documents and images
Pepperdine Special Collections and University Archives
Special Collections Staff:

Melissa Nykanen
Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and University Archives
(310) 506-4434
melissa.nykanen@pepperdine.edu

Kelsey Knox
Archivist for Special Collections and University Archives
(310) 506-4323
kelsey.knox@pepperdine.edu

News

"source of information from people who were participants or direct witnesses to the events in question." like a reporter...

Los Angeles Times
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covers 1985 to the current date.
Los Angeles Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
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Every issue from 1881-1990 includes the complete paper -cover-to-cover- with full-page and article images in downloadable PDF.
LexisNexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic)
Provides new from papers, broadcasts, and wire services around the nation and the world. A good resource for local news not covered by LA Times. HOWEVER it doesn't have much before the 80s and nothing before the 70's.
New York Times (NYTimes.com) Registration Link
YOU WILL NEED TO REGISTER AN ACCOUNT to access the historic papers; students can only view 5 articles a day. It goes back to the 1850's.
New York Times (NYTimes.com)
Now that your registered, search the site HERE.
America's Historical Newspapers (“Early American Newspapers, Series 1”)
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Series I offers more than 700 historical American newspapers from 23 states and the District of Columbia printed between 1690 and 1876 and is based on Clarence S. Brigham's "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820" and other authoritative bibliographies.