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In different disciplines, the phrase "primary source" means different things. When studying history, primary sources are documents, photographs, or other artifacts produced during or by someone who witnessed the time period you are studying.
Primary sources include: artwork, photographs, diaries, letters, newspaper articles, legal documents, and more! Oral histories, memoirs, and autobiographies, can also sometimes be considered primary sources.
A secondary source is a book, article, or other work that is about the time period you are studying. Secondary Sources often reference primary sources.
Many universities and government institutions are actively digitalizing historic materials, but it can be difficult to know where to look. Filtering through a regular Google search can be daunting when faced with results from across the glob. You can use a special strategy when searching Google to find materials from institutions digitizing materials! This strategy also works well for finding background information on a topic, as many cultural institutions write blog posts or introductions to historic events.
What it does: The site command brings you search results from the site or domain you search. Using this command you can search only within .edu or .gov domains. You can also use it to search the Library of Congress's site, loc.gov.
Examples: site:edu or site:loc.gov
Notes: Be careful if searching for site:.edu. Not all websites that end in .edu are universities or other educational institutions, the domain can be used by anyone.
fugitive slave act site:loc.gov --> This search will find anything about the fugitive slave act on the Library of Congress website
Anthony Burns site:edu or site:gov --> This search will find anything about Anthony Burns on websites with the .edu or .gov domain
These newspaper archives are helpful if you want to research what Americans were saying about Berlin during WWII.
These resources include documents from or about Germany during WWII. Many are or have been translated into English.
If you want additional assistance for finding primary sources contact Hedda Monaghan at hmonaghan@framingham.edu.