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American Revolutions: HIST 0848

Resources in support of the Gen Ed Course American Revolutions

Find Printed & Online Primary Sources in the Library Catalog

Many primary-source documents have been reproduced in books commonly held in research libraries. You can use Library Search to retrieve this material.

  • Enter your search terms and then select the Books & Media box.
  • Try adding keywords such as CorrespondenceDiariesInterviewsPersonal Narratives, and Sources along with your research topic to identify printed primary sources.
  • You can also filter for these terms under "Genre" to the left of your search results.
  • When you find a title of interest, such as personal narratives from the first World War, select the hyper-linked subjects in the item record to find additional titles. For example, the heading: World War, 1914-1918--Personal Narratives.

Primary & Secondary Sources Tutorial

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are the evidence of history, original records or objects created by participants or observers at the time historical events occurred or even well after events, as in memoirs and oral histories.

Primary sources may include but are not limited to: letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, maps, speeches, interviews, documents produced by government agencies, photographs, audio or video recordings, born-digital items (e.g. emails), research data, and objects or artifacts (such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons). These sources serve as the raw materials historians use to interpret and analyze the past.

*RUSA: Primary Sources on the Web