Introduction to Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

"historical raw materials" "the leavings, the shards, the remnants of people who once lived and don't live anymore" "is material -- a document or other evidence -- that was created during the period or the event" "firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation"

Types of Primary Sources

"Written" documents Public Private Physical evidence/Cultural Artifacts

Written Documents - Public

government documents Petition to Congress, December 1871 Tennessee ratification of 19th amendment, 1920 records Marriage certificate 1900 census form newspapers and magazines "Women's Higher Education Leads to Divorce," Cleveland Journal, 1905. "Object to Women Bicyclists," New York Times, 1895. "Education for Women," New York Times, 1892 books Reminiscences of School Life, and Hints on Teaching Vassar College, A College for Women

Written Documents - Private

correspondence Elizabeth Blackwell letter, 1851 Florence Nightingale letter, 1895 Emma Goldman letter, 1912 diaries Diary of Margaret T. Spaulding, 1870 oral histories/interviews Oral history of Mae F. Holden Wheeler, University of Massachusetts class of 1916 Oral histories of suffragists (Jesse Haver Butler and Miriam Allen deFord) business and organizational records 1875 minutes of the Woman's Educational Association of Illinois Wesleyan University 1899 Mount Holyoke College Catalogue Letter from the American Association of University Women archives, 1881-1976

Physical Evidence/Cultural Artifacts

Photographs Wellesley College 1903 UW Girl's basketball team, 1899 Mount Holyoke College, 1908 Artifacts Sampler Gravestone at West Chop Cemetery, Martha's Vineyard Fashions from 1904 University Girl Waltzes Quilt, 1860

Primary Sources in the Library

Books - reprinted collections of documents Second to None: A Documentary History of American Women, 1993 Diaries of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1994 Books - published during the period studied Tyee, 1901 College Training for Women, 1897 Micro-format (film, fiche, card) American Women's Diaries History of Women Margaret Sanger Papers, 1879-1966 National Association of Colored Women's Clubs Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Newspapers & Magazines New York Times Good Housekeeping

Primary Sources on the Web

American Memory Documenting the American South Making of America