History 4990
Primary Sources
("Using Primary Sources on the Web," written by the Instruction & Research Services Committee of the Reference and User Service Association History Section in the American Library Association. Committee members include Nancy Godleski, David Lincove (chair), Theresa Mudrock, Edward Oetting, Jennifer Schwartz, Joe Toth, Kendra Van Cleave, and Celestina Wroth. http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/RUSA/)Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons. These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research.