Primary sources were created at the time of an event or period. They are often the product of an eyewitness or an original creator. They might be original reports of an event, artifacts from an event or time period, or creative works, and include:
memoirs
letters
interviews
pottery
novels
poems
Secondary sources interpret, analyze, or contextualize primary sources. They are second-hand interpretations. They might include:
documentaries
biographies
textbooks
research articles
How Do I Find Primary Sources?
Add Primary Source Keywords to Your Search Terms
autobiography
memoir
sources
personal narrative*
letters
correspondence
diaries
diary
interview*
oral history
archives
speeches
notebooks, sketchbooks
Example:
Kenya and history and (letters or correspondence or narratives)
This technique can be used in LibrarySearch, or other databases.
Explore the civil wars, Japanese invasion, occupation by foreign nations, rise of communism, and more — cover-to-cover and in full image with 12 English-language Chinese newspapers.
Shen Bao (申报), formerly transliterated as Shun Pao or Shen-pao (申報). Full-text access (1872-1949) covering politics, military, economy, culture and society from the later Qing Dynasty to the Republican Period.
Browse for titles of local, national and international newspapers available in the Middlebury Library and beyond. Link to the publications online, or find their library locations.
Archival collections including:
19th Century English-Language Journals from the Far East
Policing the Shanghai International Settlement, 1894-1945
Political, Economic, and Military Conditions in China: Reports and Correspondence of the U.S. Military Intelligence Division, 1918-1941
The Chinese Civil War and U.S.-China Relations: Records of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955
Full-text digital access to these historic documents. "Provide valuable insight into numerous domestic issues in Communist and Nationalist China, U.S. containment policy as it was extended to Asia, and Sino-American relations during the post-war period."
Search the digital collections (including scanned books) from major research university libraries. View full-text available only for items no longer in copyright. Also check Internet Archive and/or Digital Public Library of America (Similar coverage. Allows downloading of full documents no longer in copyright).
This website includes not only a way to search for websites that are no longer visible, but also a number of digital texts and other materials. Search by title or author, and choose a genre from the menu tab on the right.
The Ming Shi-lu (明實錄) (also known as the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty) is a collective name for the successive reign annals of the emperors of Ming China (1368-1644). Each of the shi-lu comprises an account of one emperor's reign, and was compiled after that emperor's death on the basis of a number of sources created during the reign. These collected texts, which run to close to 40,000 pages of unpunctuated, manuscript Classical Chinese constitute one of the most important primary texts of the Ming dynasty, and contain a wealth of materials unrecorded in other sources.
Access monthly and yearly national, provincial, county, city, and industrial data for China along with yearbooks, census data and the following GIS data through China Geo-Explorer II: - Efficient data integration for spatial and non-spatial data (custom radii, administrative units, spatial boundaries) - Quick and accurate location analysis and spatial assessment - Identify spatial patterns and trends - Generate time-saving, easy-to-use, and customized reports - Dynamic charts, tables and maps - Export to PDF, Excel, Word, or GIS Shape files
Access monthly and yearly national, provincial, county, city, and industrial data for China along with yearbooks, census data and the following GIS data through China Geo-Explorer II: - Efficient data integration for spatial and non-spatial data (custom radii, administrative units, spatial boundaries) - Quick and accurate location analysis and spatial assessment - Identify spatial patterns and trends - Generate time-saving, easy-to-use, and customized reports - Dynamic charts, tables and maps - Export to PDF, Excel, Word, or GIS Shape files
