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History: Primary Sources

This page provides information resources for the History major at Brevard College.

What is a Primary Source? 

The analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.

Primary sources include documents or artifacts created during the time period you are studying.

Witnesses or participants in events created these items. by a witness to or participant in an event.  They can be firsthand testimony or evidence created during the time period that you are studying. a primary source is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under study.

Types of primary sources:

artifacts, documents, diaries, manuscripts, autobiographies, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music. 

Research Consultations