Primary sources provide first-hand accounts of events through items like photographs, diaries, documents, and newspaper articles from the actual time period being studied. They differ from secondary sources, which are accounts from people removed from the event, and must come directly from eyewitnesses or contemporaneous records in order to qualify as a primary source. Examples of primary sources include photographs, diaries, paintings, video footage, newspaper articles, music, sound recordings, and documents.

1. What is a Primary Source?

2. • Primary sources provide first-hand
testimony or direct evidence
concerning a topic under
investigation. They are created by
witnesses or recorders who
experienced the events or conditions
being documented (Yale.edu)

3. Examples
• Photographs
• Diaries of people who experienced the event/time
period
• Paintings
• Video footage
• Newspaper articles
• Magazine articles
• Music
• Sound recordings
• Documents
• Anything that is 1st hand accounts

4. Remember:
-Primary Sources must be 1st hand accounts!
-It can not be the account of someone who
knew someone who knew someone.
-It must be a taken from the time period of the
occurrence.