Primary Sources
Historical research papers are based on primary sources. Primary sources are original materials created by a person who was involved in an event. The author was usually an eyewitness or first recorder. Primary sources include diaries, memoirs, letters, contemporary newspaper or magazine articles, photographs, manuscripts. Government materials, such as legislation or speeches, are often considered primary sources as well.
For example, let's say you are writing a paper about the Berlin airlift (1948-1949).
Examples of primary sources would include:
--a diary entry of a pilot who flew supplies into Berlin.
--an account of the operation from the memoirs of a Berlin resident.
--a 1948 newspaper article written by a reporter who witnessed life in Berlin.
--an original photograph or map depicting the planes.
--a report in government records.
Government Documents
Government documents include laws, legislation, speeches, reports, diplomatic correspondence, and a plethora of other materials.
Avalon--treaties, compacts, constitutions, diplomatic materials from world history.
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications --U.S. government materials from 1976--present.
CIA Declassified Documents Database--read declassified CIA materials about operations against the Soviet Union, including files on clandestine operations.
Congressional--provides U.S. federal laws, bills, agency reports, and other government documents from 1789--1969.
Congressional Serial Set--includes Congressional reports and documents as well as executive agency and departmental reports ordered to be printed by Congress.
Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy (The Cold War)--an extensive list of American documents organized year-by-year, from Mount Holyoke College.
Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy (Vietnam)--another extensive list from Mount Holyoke College focusing on the Vietnam War.
FBI Electronic Reading Room--declassified FBI files of famous people in America, including MLK, Bobby Kennedy, Desi Arnaz.
Foreign Relations of the United States--official government memos, plans, records, dispatches, treaties, studies, and other materials about U.S. foreign policy. Gorgas Library also offers more FRUS materials in print, please ask for assistance.
HeinOnline--provides access to the Congressional Record, the official record of debates in Congress. Also includes the full-text of legal periodical articles, Supreme Court opinions, U.S. Attorney General opinions, treaties and international agreements, and the Federal Register. Documents are available as photocopy-equivalent PDF files.
History Vault--NAACP papers, Vietnam War.
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers--canvassing the twentieth century, these are British government papers with very detailed reports and discussions of foreign policy and global affairs.
National Security Archive--declassified reports based on U.S. surveillance.
Please also visit the UA Libraries' Government Information page for a list of further resources.
Web Sites
An increasing number of primary sources are available for free on the web. To discover them, go to a search engine like Google, and combine your topic with terms for primary sources such as memoirs, diaries, accounts, narratives, documents, autobiographies, online archives, correspondence, speeches. You can link synonyms together with a capitalized OR. Here are some examples:
"Vietnam War" (memoirs OR diaries OR
accounts)
John F.
Kennedy (speeches OR addresses)
"World War II" "online archives"
Most archival sources are still "off-line". However, archivists are digitizing many of their collections and linking them from their web sites to improve access, creating treasure troves of primary materials all over the web just waiting for historians to discover!