What are primary sources?
Students will often be required to discuss and cite primary sources in their papers. Primary sources include:
- official published documentary sources, such as documents of governments and state departments, legislative texts, constitutions, treaties, official records of parliamentary debates, court judgements and reports of governmental enquiries and commissions
- unpublished and/or unofficial documentary sources, such as written records of minutes and memos stored in archives, and the memoirs, diaries, correspondence and autobiographies of individuals associated with official institutions.*
Primary sources are contrasted with secondary sources, which are commentaries, essays, or studies on topics.
There are of course grey areas; check with your professor if you're unsure whether the source you want to engage meets the criteria of the assignment.
References:
L'Estrange, Sean. "Historical Methods". In The A-Z of Social Research, RobertL. Miller and JohnD. Brewer. Sage, 2003-. Accessed September 22, 2015. http://libproxy.cbu.ca:2048/login?url=https://login.ezproxy.cbu.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/sageuksr/historical_methods/0
Top Databases
- Canadiana Online This link opens in a new window Canadian documentary heritage including books, newspapers, periodicals, images and nationally-significant archival materials in specialized searchable databases.
- Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window Provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 U.S and international newspapers including The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Times (London), and the Toronto Star. [EBSCO]
- Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window Gain insight into the cultural, political, and social history of Native Peoples from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window The go-to archival database of scholarly journals. Does not provide access to the last four or five years of journal issues.
- CPI.Q (Canadian Periodical Index) This link opens in a new window Fulltext of Canadian journals, magazines and newspapers, including The Globe & Mail. [GALE]
- ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new window Business, Management and Trade - scholarly and trade journal articles, dissertations, market reports, industry reports, business cases and global and trade news
- Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA) This link opens in a new window CBCA provides access to Canadian journals, magazines and news resources on all topics. Includes some full text. [ProQuest]
Nova Scotia Archives Historical Newspapers
Offers extensive historical newspapers from around Nova Scotia.
The Centre for Newfoundland Studies (CNS)
Offers a portal to current daily newspapers, digitized old newspapers, and so forth.
Connecting Canadians : Canada's Multicultural Newspapers
Historical newspapers that document the early years of immigrant experience in Canada. Coverage: 1919 - early 1970s.
Google Newspapers Archive [Free Access]
A diverse selection of primarily North American newspaper content. Includes Edmonton Journal (1913-1986), Calgary Herald (1929-1987), and Lethbridge News (1886-1900).
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers [Library of Congress]
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Includes Benton, MT Record (southern terminus of the Whoop-Up Trail).
The Micmac News (1965-1991) is an important example of Mi’kmaw print culture; it was first developed by Roy Gould in Membertou in 1965 and later published until 1991 by the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and the Native Communications Society of Nova Scotia, respectively.
- Canadian FederationHistorical essays showcase documents, articles and photographs of the people, places and events that have shaped our country. The site features material from the collection of Library and Archives Canada, including a number of rare items that would otherwise be difficult to access.
- History CooperativeAccess to core historical journals, some conference proceedings, and the Booker T. Washington Papers
- Black Freedom Struggle in the US "select primary-source documents related to critical people and events in African American history"
- Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice"Bringing together primary source documents from archives and libraries across North America and the UK, this resource allows students and researchers to explore and compare unique material relating to the complex subjects of slavery, abolition and social justice.
In addition to the primary source documents there is a wealth of useful secondary sources for research and teaching; including scholarly essays, tutorials, a visual sources gallery, chronology and bibliography."
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