In the arts and humanities a primary source is a source created during the historical period being studied. It documents the subject of study in some way. In the sciences "primary source" refers to an original research study.
This page focuses on primary sources for the arts and humanities. Examples of such primary sources include:
Newspaper accounts | Letters, diaries, and scrapbooks |
Government documents (research data, statistics, congressional transcripts, laws, etc.) |
Personal accounts, autobiographies, memoirs |
Images and museum artifacts | Speeches |
Data from scientific experiments | Oral histories |
Other types of information may also be primary sources if they are analyzed for their historical or cultural significance.
Below are top strategies for finding historical primary sources.
1. The Library Catalog IUCAT includes primary source materials available in print, online, and in microfilm. If you are looking for a specific item, search by title or author.
If you are looking for primary sources on a certain topic, do an Advanced Search. Here you can limit by format (e.g. map, film, manuscript, realia), publication year, author, or subject. (Subjects can be especially helpful for narrowing a search by topic or by document type.)
Here are some recommended catalog search terms for locating primary sources.
Try these words in a general keyword search, or to narrow your results limit the search to "subject."
Subject headings describe what an item is about. Click on the subject heading to find more books that have been tagged with the same heading.
If your topic relates to an event that occurred before 1923, there are likely relevant primary sources available in the public domain. Google Books has digitized and made available many such books.
Search for a specific work or for a general topic. Note, however, that Google Books also lists resources that are only available to preview. Look for resources with publication dates before 1923 and with a Read Preview link. The Advanced Book Search allows you to limit to Full view only books.
The Libraries have some databases for primary source materials. Below are examples of such databases.
Newspapers & Media
Government Reports
ProQuest Congressional provides indexing and full-text access to various publications of the U.S. Congress. It provides easy search access to congressional publications and includes full-text of reports, bills and resolutions, and laws.
Use Advanced Search to select specific series included:
-Congressional Research Digital Collection
-Congressional Hearings Digital Collection
-House and Senate Unpublished Digital Collection
-ProQuest Congressional Record Permanent Digital Collection
-ProQuest Congressional Serial Set Maps Digital Collection
-ProQuest Statutes at Large
-ProQuest U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection
-Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations
-U.S Bills and Resolutions
Most publications are owned by IUB, either in print, on microfiche or electronically. IUB has been a Federal Depository Library since 1881. For specific assistance or to ask questions about using congressional publications, contact Government Information, Maps and Microform Services, located on the 2nd floor of the Herman B Wells Library. Email libpgd@indiana.edu or telephone 812-855-6924
FBIS Daily Reports issued by the U.S. Government. Translations of broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from nations around the world
The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Many of these materials are first-hand reports of events as they occurred. As such, the FBIS Daily Reports constitutes an archive of transcripts of foreign broadcasts and news.
FBIS Daily Reports is comprised of the reports from Middle East and [North] Africa (MEA), 1974-1987; Near East and South Asia (NES), 1987-1996; South Asia (SAS), 1980-1987; Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), 1974-1980 and (AFR), 1987-1996; China (CHI), 1974-1996; Asia and the Pacific (APA), 1974-1987; East Asia (EAS), 1987-1996; Latin America (LAT and LAM), 1974-1996; Eastern Europe (EEU), 1974-1996; Soviet Union/Central Eurasia (SOV), 1974-1996; Western Europe (WEU), 1974-1996.
The IUB Libraries' Government Information, Maps and Microform Services (East Tower 2, or ET2), located on the 2nd floor of the Herman B Wells Library at 10th and Jordan, received these reports as part of the Federal Depository Library Program on microfiche. Feel free to contact ET2 staff regarding reports not yet available on this full text database, for earlier and later reports, and about related federal documents (including Congressional and Department of State documents).
Other Resources