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HY 457/557 & PSC 490: Antisemitism Seminar: Primary and Secondary Resources

This guide is designed to support the HY 457/577 & PSC 490 course at USA.

Primary Resources in History

Primary resources are items that directly relate to your research topic. The difference between a primary resource and secondary resource depends on your research topic.

Primary resources are:

  • Directly limited by your topic
  • Examples of your research topic in real life
  • Proof of your claims

If you were writing about how boxing champions were trained in the 1920s, your primary resources should all be direct proof of how 1920s boxing champions were trained. Some primary resources could be:

  • a newspaper article written in 1920 by a direct observer of a boxing match
  • 1920s boxing gloves
  • a journal entry written in 1921 by a boxing trainer
  • a source book of letters and essays written by 1920s boxers

For your topic, a book written in 1993 about the history of boxing would not be a primary resource.

History societies, nonprofessional researchers, or other interested groups may own websites with digital copies of primary sources. These may be the only accessible copy of that primary source available to you. Always evaluate the quality of the website before using content. With primary sources, you should also review if the source seems to be represented fairly or if the source seems like it has been distorted, edited, or taken out of context.

For guidance on accessing physical primary sources, please visit some of our Government Documents Guides:

Suggested Collections and Databases

Suggested Books and Individual Items