Primary Sources

This guide presents ways to locate primary resources in The Valley Library. If further assistance is needed, please stop by the reference desk and speak to a reference librarian.

 
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Table of Contents
What are Primary Sources?
What are Secondary Sources?
Finding Primary Sources
Primary Sources in the Valley Library

 

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are materials produced by participants or observers at the time of an event or during a particular span of years. They are "original" in that the recording of the event or experience originates with the participants or direct observers. Some examples of primary sources are:

  • Diaries, journals, memoirs, letters, autobiographies
  • Official documents or records from government or private organizations (minutes, reports, etc.)
  • Books, magazines, and newspapers produced at the time of the event
  • Court decisions, transcripts, and other legal papers
  • Research data (reports, market surveys, public opinion polls, statistics)
  • Films, photographs, paintings, video recordings
  • Novels, poetry, and plays

What are Secondary Sources?

Secondary sources are materials that interpret, analyze, describe, or explain primary sources. Textbooks, encyclopedias, biographies, and journal articles are examples of secondary sources. These sources are "secondary" in that usually they are one step removed from the event about which they comment or analyze.

Finding Primary Sources

BEGIN WITH SECONDARY SOURCES

Consult general and specialized encyclopedias, chronologies, dictionaries, and other fact books located in the reference collection to identify key participants, dates, and publications relating to your topic. Reference resources provide you with brief but pointed overviews of a subject; often, they include short bibliographies that direct you to more extensive primary and secondary source material. Use them to gather background information on your topic. Examples of reference resources located on the second floor of The Valley Library are:

  • International Encyclopedia of the Social Science (Ref H40 .A2 I5)
  • Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (Ref D804.25 .E53 2000)
  • Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies (Ref E45 .E53 1993)
  • Chronology of the United States (Ref E174.5 .C63)
  • Dictionary of American Biography (Ref E176 .D5 1964)
  • Colonial America to 1763 (Ref E188 .P86 1999)

SEARCH FOR PEOPLE OR SUBJECTS IN LIBRARY ONLINE CATALOGS

People, OrganizAtions, or Agencies:

Use OSU Libraries Online Catalog to search for material on or by people, organizations, or agencies. Go to the "author" field and enter the name of the person (last name first) or organization to obtain materials written or produced under that name.

  • Author: lawrence t e
  • Author: king martin luther
  • Author: lewis meriwether
  • Corporate Author: american cancer society
  • Corporate Author: student nonviolent coordinating committee

Subjects:

Search OSU Libraries Online Catalog by "subject", using a primary source format word as one search term and a Library of Congress Subject Heading of a person or event as another. Some primary source format terms are: correspondence, diaries, interviews, pamphlets, periodicals, personal narratives, and sources. LC Subject Headings are standardized terms developed by the Library of Congress to describe materials listed in catalogs. Perhaps the easiest way to locate appropriate subject headings associated with your topic is to use the catalog record for a book that you already know about. You can find a catalog record by entering the book's title in Oasis. At the bottom of the screen, look for "Subj, lc". This abbreviation refers to the Library of Congress Subject Headings assigned to the book. LC Subject Headings record the subjects the book covers.

  • King Martin Luther Jr 1929 1968
  • Civil rights movement
  • African Americans

You can pair a heading with specific subheadings that identify materials as primary sources: correspondence, diaries, interviews, pamphlets, periodicals, personal narratives, and sources.

  • King Martin Luther Jr 1929 1968---correspondence
  • Civil rights movement---pamphlets
  • African Americans---personal narratives

Using LC Subject Headings to search for primary sources can be tricky, so feel free to ask a reference librarian for assistance.

Primary Sources in the Valley Library

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (5th floor)
The primary objective of Special Collections at Oregon State University's The Valley Library is to maintain and preserve the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers. Linus Pauling is considered to be one of the most important scientists and humanitarians of the twentieth century. With the use of the Pauling collection as a cornerstone, a secondary objective of the Special Collections will be to document the development of science and technology in the twentieth century. The Special Collections will be of particular interest to researchers concerned with 20th-century science and science-based technology, and to those investigating the development of science. Use of the collections is restricted. See the following URL for details: http://osulibrary.orst.edu/specialcollections/

PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS COVERING THE TIME PERIOD

Use periodical and newspaper indexes covering the time period of the events you are researching to identify contemporary accounts.

  • Index to the Times (London) (1957-present)
  • International Index to Periodicals (1920-1955)
  • New York Times Index (1851-present)
  • Nineteenth Century Reader's Guide (1890-1922)
  • Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906)
  • Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-present)
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Index (1966-1974)

PUBLIC OPINION POLLS FROM THE TIME PERIOD
To identify public opinion polls, talk to the librarians at the reference desks. The most important source OSU owns is:

  • Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935-1971. (Continued by a supplement and annual volumes.)

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

Federal, state, and municipal publications, records, reports, and statistics (ex: census records) are important primary sources, as are laws, court decisions and treaties. Much of this is in the library, but there is also a lot of this online. Go to the reference desk at the University Archives and Maps (3rd floor) department for assistance with locating government documents in the library. Also see the Government Information Guide for more details.

CONTEMPORARY BOOKS FROM THE ERA

Identify self-help books, textbooks, or other publications of a particular era by using a trade bibliography, such as Cumulative Book Index which lists books published year by year, or a library online catalog, in which you must limit your search by date. To execute the latter, use the Keyword field in OSU Libraries Online Catalog. Enter a search term (ex: etiquette) and fill in the year field with your desired range (ex: before 1950).

COMPILATIONS OF REPUBLISHED PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIALS

Print:

Look for compilations of reprinted primary source materials in books, many of which can often be found in reference collections:

  • Documents of American History
  • Historic Documents (1977-present)
  • Documentary History of Biochemistry, 1770-1940
  • Affirmative Action : A Documentary History
  • Documents of American Indian Diplomacy: Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions, 1775-1979

Microfilm:

The Library maintains a microform collection of primary sources, all of which are accompanied by a guide or index. These microform collections may be compilations of letters, manuscripts, journal articles, and other documents on a particular topic.

  • Annales De Chimie (later Annales De Chimie Et De Physique)
  • Atomic Energy Commission Technical Reports (online index: http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/)
  • Early American Imprints
  • Western Americana

PRIMARY SOURCES ON THE INTERNET:

Increasingly, libraries are digitizing archival resources and providing access to these special collections through the Web. Many digital library collections contain excellent primary resources, such as photographs, scanned images of letters, or the full-text of books and journals. Below is a selected list of websites containing primary source materials.