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HY 135: U.S. History to 1877: Primary Sources

This guide is for the HY 135 class at USA.

What is a Primary Resource?

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.

Primary Sources Online

Selected Print Primary Sources

Include one or more of the following search terms in a keyword search to limit a search in SOUTHcat to primary sources: correspondence, diaries, personal narratives, interviews, letters and sources.
Use truncation symbol (?) to broaden search terms.