A common requirement for assignments is to use primary sources. Recent requests for assistance received via email have included:
- I need to find letters written by German aristocrats in the late nineteenth century.
- Where would I find a primary source related to the conquest of Mexico?
- Are there any original pamphlets or posters I can look at from the Civil Rights Movement?
What are primary sources exactly? Well, it really is open to interpretation and your instructor should set the parameters of what is and is not acceptable. Generally, primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. They are original documents, such as a treaty, legislation or artifacts, instead of articles or books that provide secondary analysis.
Primary sources can also reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Undergraduate students are sometimes allowed to use a broader definition of primary sources, which might include diaries, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other papers in which individuals describe events in which they were participants or observers.
It's a question of content rather than format--primary sources might be republished, digitized or preserved on microfilm.
DePaul's Special Collections and Archives can be a wonderful resource for primary sources, especially those pertaining to the University, the Lincoln Park neighborhood and Vincentian Heritage. Other repositories in the immediate area worth exploring include the Chicago History Museum and the Newberry Library; additionally the National Archives in Washington, DC has an extensive selection of digitized documents. For more advice on how to identify and locate primary sources, click here.
http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=714
