History: Primary & Secondary Sources

Primary sources include documents or artifacts created by a witness to or participant in an event.  They can be firsthand testimony, evidence created during the time period that you are studying, or autobiographical works written later by someone present at the time.

Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music.  The collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.

Secondary sources summarize or analyze historical events and often use primary sources as evidence.

Secondary sources include books, articles, documentary films and websites.  They may include lists of sources, i.e. bibliographies, that may lead you to other primary or secondary sources.