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Resources for School of Education

What Are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are first-hand accounts, original manuscripts, records, or documents produced from the time period at hand. Some examples of types of primary sources include the following:

  • Letters

  • Photographs

  • Maps

  • Speeches

  • Interviews

  • Government documents

  • Historical records

  • Personal papers, memoirs, diaries

  • Artwork

  • Newspaper articles from the time period

  • Original records on science experiments

These may be available in their original form or they may be reproduced or reprinted in another book.

Learn more about primary (and secondary!) sources through the links below from TeachingHistory.org:

Online Databases can also offer various primary sources

Listed below are various K-12 level online databases that include a variety of primary sources.

Teaching with Primary Sources

Please email smaiorani@sjf.edu with issues (broken links, missing info), and they will be addressed as soon as possible.