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Researching Primary Sources in History

Return to Top What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources in history are original records (or firsthand account) of events, people and places. Some examples of primary sources are diaries, journal entries, letters, manuscripts, ships' logs, passenger manifests, newspaper/magazine account of daily activities, speeches, goverment documents, maps, plans, autobiographies, photos, memoirs, laws and court cases, interviews, artifacts, emails, and more. Many primary sources are now available on the web due to digitization projects undertaken by libraries, museums, and other archiving agencies. See actual digitized examples below:
 

will
Handwritten will
 

 
Return to Top Primary vs. Secondary Sources
 

Whereas primary sources give a firsthand account of events, secondary sources give a secondhand account and often interpret, analyze, restate, or critique what's documented in primary sources. Typical secondary sources are usually published works such as journal articles and books (including biographies), but may also include documentaries, commentaries, editorials, dissertations, and bibliographies. Some examples of primary vs. secondary sources:

 
Primary Sources Secondary Sources
An autobiography of former president Gerald Ford A biography of Gerald Ford
A civil war soldier's diary A book on the civil war
The log of the voyages of Christopher Columbus A journal article on the voyages of Christopher Columbus
 

 
Return to Top Locating Primary Sources in the Catalog (Sextant)
 

To locate primary sources in the Sextant, perform a keyword search on your topic with a combination of one or more of the following suggested terms: diaries, letters, personal narratives, correspondence, maps, speeches, interviews, addresses, sources, autobiography, log, or any other terms that are descriptive of primary sources. For example, the keyword search "civil war and (letters or diaries)" retrieves several items with letters and diaries of the civil war era. Some other sample searches are:

  • "ship and log" retrieves logs of various ships
  • "sailor and autobiography" retrieves autobiographies of sailors
  • "world war II and personal narratives" retrieves personal accounts of world war II
 
Return to Top  Stephen B. Luce Library Special Collections for Primary Sources in Maritime History
  eArchives - An online collection of audio files, finding aids for several archival collections, and miscellaneous original documents. Access Luce Library's eArchives.
  Marifiles/ Nautical Charts - A print collection of maritime-related information, including many NOAA nautical charts and several sources on Gen. Slocum ship fire disaster. View a list of all items in this collection.
  Library Archives - An array of original print documents pertaining to the merchant marine industry, including information and records for Maritime College/ Fort Schuyler, Marine Society of the City of New York, Sandy Hook Pilots Association, Sailors' Snug Harbor, W.R. Grace Papers, and more. View a list of finding aids for the archives.
 
Return to Top Suggested Periodical Collections for Primary Sources

HarpWeek - Harper's Weekly Illustrated newspaper for the Civil War era, 1857 - 1865

Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online - Historic Brooklyn Eagle newspaper for the period 1841 - 1902

  Historical New York Times Project (Carnegie Mellon University) - Access to issues of the New York Times newspaper for the Civil War years (1860s) and for the years 1900-1907
Internet Library of Early Journals - A UK based collection of 18th and 19th century journals
Making of America (University of Michigan) - Digital library of primary sources in American History
Making of America (Cornell University) - Digital library of primary sources in American History
   
Return to Top Recommended Web Sites
         Return to Top Primary Sources in Maritime History
 

19th Century Merchant Marine - Mystic Seaport's digital repository of over 120,000 pages of material available online. The project centers on merchant vessels of the nineteenth century, the people who owned and sailed them, and the records pertaining to them.

  Sailors' Snug Harbor - Stephen B. Luce Library's digital collection of documents on one of the oldest maritime institutions based in Staten Island. Includes correspondences, photos, plans, maps, will, deeds, articles, etc.
  Westward by Sea - A unique maritime perspective of logbooks, diaries, letters, business papers, and published narratives of voyages and travels that offers a rich look at the events, culture, beliefs, and personal experiences associated with the settlement of California, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest.
  Maritime Digital Encyclopedia - Access to more than 39,000 documents, pictures, drawings, etc. for maritime historical research. 
  Journal of the H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768 to 1771 - Holograph journal of the voyage of H.M.S. Endeavour during which Cook discovered Eastern Australia and circumnavigated New Zealand.
 

Association for Great Lakes Maritime History - An international organization of museums, historical societies, libraries, archives, and individuals interested in preserving Great Lakes maritime history. Acces to several online research databases for primary sources of Great Lake vessels and wrecks.

  Great Lakes Maritime History Project - The state of Wisconsin's maritime history of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, hundreds of smaller lakes and a network of rivers.
  U.S. Navy Ships - Official site for facts, description and images of U.S. Navy Ships
  U.S. Navy Ships, 1775 to 1941 - The National Archives records of pictures of United States Navy Ships for the years 1775 - 1941.
  U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office - Official site for U.S. Coast Guard historical information with access to text documents, oral histories, and memoirs dating back to 1791.
 
          Return to Top Primary Sources in American History
  National Archives (archives.gov) - National Archives and Records Administration is a government site with a wealth of primary sources in American history, including special links to charters of freedom, and Access to Archival Databases (AAD),
  American Memory (Library of Congress) - A government gateway site of more than 9 million digitized items that document U.S. history and culture.
  100 Milestone Documents (ourdocument.gov) - A digital collection of 100 original documents that chronicle U.S. history from the Lee Resolution in 1776 to the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
  Making of America (University of Michigan) - Digital library of primary sources in American History
  Making of America (Cornell University) - Digital library of primary sources in American History
  Virginia Military Institute Archives - 19th and 20th century collections of primary sources on American history, including letters, diaries, manuscripts, photos, portraits, and interviews.
  Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina) - Thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs related to American southern history, literature, and culture.
  Avalon Project (Yale Law School) - Digitized text of documents in law, history, and diplomacy.Also includes some world history documents.
  History on the Web (University of Washington) - Gateway to many primary source sites on American and world history. Includes a chronological arrangement of sites for the colonial period to the present.
  American Colonist's Library - A treasury of primary source documents pertaining to early American history (500 B.C. to 1800 A.D.)
   Census of Population and Housing - U.S. Census Bureau's site for historical decennial primary source census information dating back to 1790. Browse multiple topics with University of Virginia's Historical Census Browser.
  Archiving Early America - An array of primary source materials from 18th century America, mainly from original newspapers, maps, and writings.
  American Civil War Homepage - A gateway site to many primary sources on the American Civil War
  New York Public Library Digital Gallery - Access to over 550,000 primary source images, including manuscripts, historical maps, photos, posters, and more.
  Brooklyn in the Civil War (Brooklyn Public Library) - More than 100 primary sources that focus on Brooklyn’s role in the Civil War, including letters, maps, newspaper articles, photographs, and illustrations.
  The Valley of the Shadow - Digital archive of letters, diaries, newspapers, speeches, census, and church records of two American communities, one Northern and one Southern, during the Civil War era.
  Famous Trials (University of Missouri) - A collection of the most famous trials in American history
  American Journeys: Eyewitness accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement - Contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
 
          Return to Top Primary Sources in World History
  The History Collection (University of Wisconsin) - A collection of published materials and archival/primary documents on world history that were digitized from a variety of formats including books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps, and other resources.
  Hanover Historical Texts Project (Hanover College) - A collection of transcribed primary sources on world history from ancient times to present.
  In The First Person - Access to letters, diaries, oral histories, and personal narratives from around the world. Contains approximately 20,500 months of diary entries, 63,000 letter entries, and 17,000 oral history entries.
  Project DIANA (Yale Law School) - An online archive of cases and documents related to human rights in world history.
  History Matters - A searchable gateway site to other web sites for primary sources on American and world history.
 

EyeWitness to History - A great collection of eyewitness accounts to history from the ancient world to the present

The History Place - A private, independent site that presents information on American and World history with access to many digitized primary sources.
  EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History - A gateway site with links that connect to European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
 
Navigate Your Course @Your Library
Email: Library@sunymaritime.edu
Phone: (718) 409-7231
 
Researched and compiled by Alicia Joseph and Shafeek Fazal
Updated on December 28, 2007.