4 Primary versus secondary sources

A primary source is a piece of first-hand evidence, a surviving trace of the past available to us in the present.Primary sources allow direct entry into an historical event. They include but are not limited to:

• Personal journals, diaries, letters
• Interviews and speeches
• Photographs and maps
• Manuscripts
• Historical publications, such as books, pamphlets, treatises, etc.
• Newspaper articles (often, but not always)
• Magazine articles (when used for social history or as documentary evidence)
• Meeting minutes, receipts, or other administrative documents
• Court transcripts, legal or notarial documents, and legislative documents
• Video and film

Secondary sources, on the other hand, are second-hand, published accounts about something that happened in the past. They often use primary sources, but are written after (often long after) the event has occurred. Secondary sources provide an interpretation of what happened, why it happened, etc. Secondary sources include but are not limited to:

• Scholarly articles
• Monographs (books on specific topics)
• History textbooks
• Biographies
• Published stories or movies about historical events

The difference between a primary and secondary source is often determined by when they were originally created and how you use them.