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HISTORY 201: The Historian's Craft: Crisis in Canada (Fall 2020) : Find Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are materials from the time period that report on what is happening.  Examples include books (e.g., personal narratives, memoirs, and autobiographies, collected works, and collections of documents); journal and magazine articles, newspaper articles, government documents, archival sources (.e.g, diaries, interviews, memos, manuscripts, and other papers and records of organizations); and multimedia sources (e.g., photographs, audio recordings, and motion pictures or video recordings). 

This page provides access to selected databases for primary sources that related to the topics of this course.

Finding Primary Sources in Books (in the Library Catalog)

 Use the tips below to search the Library Catalog for books that contain primary sources.

  • Words in catalog records can identify an item as a primary source. Search for format related words like: advertisements, autobiographies, correspondence, diaries, documents, interviews, journal, letters, manuscripts, personal narratives, sources, speeches, etc. You can combine a primary-source format word with words describing your topic (e.g., letters and Lincoln or diaries and civil war).
  • To find diaries, letters, autobiographies, personal papers, etc., by a particular person, search for the person's name as an author.
  • For more information about finding primary sources, see the Research Guides on this page.

To find an item in a particular library

1) In the library catalog, use search terms relevant to your topic 

2) Adjust search terms to find better sources based on what results you get

3) Limit to the library in which you want to find the resources or be prepared to request an item to be sent to another library. 

4) Check to make sure the item is available

5) Find and note the location information for the item (library, call number)

6) Use a stack guide if needed to find the item in the library

Research Guides

See the Research Guides below for more information about primary sources. The Research Guides include many more online resources including ones with historical journals, magazines and newspapers and documents.