Primary Source Examples

A primary source is a first hand account of something that happened during the historical time period that you are studying. It could be anything that was created during that time that would show us a glimpse of what life was like back then. The list below includes examples of artifacts that could be considered a primary source. 
  • photographs
  • letters
  • artifacts
  • diaries
  • works of art such as paintings/sculptures/quilts
  • fiction
  • poetry
  • journals
  • autobiographies
  • music and songs
  • memoirs
  • cartoons
  • census records
  • broadsides
  • court or government records
  • immigration records
  • drawings
  • maps from the place or time
  • ships' logs
  • ledger books
  • labor records
  • recorded oral histories and people speaking for themselves
  • texts or recordings of speeches
  • architectural landmarks
  • charts/graphs
  • sound recordings
  • documentary film
  • speeches
Information retrieved from http://www.primarysource.org
Image retrieved from Britannica ImageQuest.
Image retrieved from the World Digital Library.