What Are Primary Sources?
What are Primary Sources?
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.
--Using Primary Sources on the Web, by the Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association (ALA), http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/usingprimarysources/index.cfm
Oral Histories
- 1919 Seattle General Strike Oral HistoriesOral histories collected by the University of Washington on the Seattle General Strike of February 1919, "the first city-wide labor action in America to be proclaimed a 'general strike.' "
Oral histories of labor activists, leaders, and working people are available in many archives, such as the Tamiment Library, New York University. An increasing number are now available on the Internet, either in transcript or audio file format. Here are links to representative digital Oral History collections. You can find others by searching for "oral history" and the name of your focus person, union, organization, or event.
If you are unfamiliar with using Oral Histories, there is an excellent online guide, Making Sense of Oral History from the web site History Matters.
- American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 - 1940Over 2000 life histories from the WPA, many dealing with workers and working conditions.
- Center for Lowell History (University of Massachusetts-Lowell)Transcribed interviews from the Center's Oral History Projects featuring the City of Lowell.
- Documenting the American South: Oral Histories of the American South500 oral history interviews gathered by the Southern Oral History Program (SOHP). One collection focuses specifically on the Piedmont Industrialization.
- Frances Perkins (Notable New Yorkers, Oral History Research Office)Columbia University oral history website for America's first female cabinet member, who also helped pass Fair Labor Standards Act and establish the Labor Standards Bureau.
- Genora (Johnson) Dollinger Remembers the 1936-37 General Motors Sit-Down StrikeLong-form oral history account of the 1936-37 strike in Flint, MI from one of its leaders.
- Rosie The Riveter/WWII American Homefront ProjectCollection by the Regional Oral History Office, University of California-Berkeley. Explores the intersection of labor history and gender politics during World War II.
- Working for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company"In this oral history interview conducted by historian Joan Morrison, Pauline Newman told of getting a job at the Triangle Company as a child, soon after arriving in the United States from Lithuania in 1901."
Primary Sources on the Web
- American Memory- Cities and TownsMaps from the collections of the Library of Congress.
There are an increasing number of digitized primary documents and items available on the Internet. These web sites will either direct you to these resources or are representative of some of the best sites for labor history. Additional primary sources can be found on some of the web sites listed in the People, Events pages of this guide.
- American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital LibraryThis Library of Congress super-digital site offers more than 7 million digital items from over 100 collections. Use “Collection Finder” to locate items from exhibits such as “The African American Experience” or the LC collection of 19th-century pamphlets. Other relevant collections include “The Haymarket Affair” and “Working in Paterson: Occupational heritage in an Urban Setting”.
- LexisNexis Congressional Publications: Hearings, 1824-2003Includes legislative, oversight, investigative, and confirmation hearings, and complements the House and Senate Reports and Documents available in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set digital collection. Rutgers Restricted.
- New York Public Library Digital GalleryThe Gallery provides free and open access to over 700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections.
- United States Labor and Industrial History Audio ArchiveListen to conference presentations, hearings, and speeches from William Jennings Bryan (1896) to Betty Friedan.
From the Department of History at SUNY-Albany. - Virtual JamestownThe Virtual Jamestown Archive is a digital research, teaching and learning project that explores the legacies of the Jamestown settlement and "the Virginia experiment." Resources include indentured servant contracts and laws on indentured servants.
Historical Newspapers
Databases of historical newspapers available through RUL.
- African American NewspapersA fulltext database of newspapers published by and for African-Americans, 1827-1902. Rutgers restricted.
- New York Times (Proquest)Rutgers restricted.
- Nineteenth Century Newspapers19th Century U.S. Newspapers is a full-text database of American newspapers published between 1800 and 1900. Rutgers Restricted.