When looking for primary historical sources, you'll want to apply a variety of search strategies. This section provides an overview of primary source types, plus tips and tricks on where to look.
Go to the Primary Source Databases section for an overview of major digital resources available through Tulane University Libraries and beyond.
Primary sources are the raw materials of history, the documents and accounts "contemporary with the event or thought to which it refers."1 The following list, though certainly not exhaustive, may give you some ideas for primary sources useful in your own research.
| Autobiographies and memoirs | Legislative debates, bills, and laws |
| Personal correspondence | Court proceedings |
| Diaries and journals | Political speeches and decrees |
| Financial statements and inventories | Census data and other official statistics |
| Wills | Newspapers and magazines |
| Photographs | Church records |
| Maps | Interviews |
| Artistic expressions (literature, music, etc.) | Physical evidence (coins, architecture, etc.) |
1. John Tosh, The Pursuit of History, 3rd ed. (New York : Longman, 2000), 38.
One of the best ways to track down primary sources is to consult the notes and bibliographies of secondary sources on your research topic. As you're reading, check the footnotes/endnotes to see which primary sources the historian is drawing on to make their claims. In some cases, the materials may be from archives that haven't been digitized. But in others, the materials may be freely available online or through Tulane University Libraries' (TUL) databases, books, and collections.
If you aren't sure how to trace primary source citations from secondary sources, contact TUL's History Librarian for help!
TUL subscribes to all of the Oxford Research Encyclopedias (ORE's) for History. One of the great benefits of these ORE's is that every article includes a Primary Sources section that provides an overview of the most important archives, resources, and collections for the topic in question.
Search the ORE that applies to your geographic region of study to see if it has entries that apply to your research topic:
Many primary sources have been published in book form. These can be:
Both types of books can be discovered by searching Tulane's Library Catalog. Here are some search tips and tricks to get started:
When looking for primary sources, do a Library Catalog Advanced Search and combine keywords related to your research area with strategic subject headings like these:
For example...
to search for primary sources about women in Louisiana:
to search for diaries or personal narratives relating to experiences in Egypt:
If you're looking for materials published in your time period of study, limit the publication date range to that period.
For example, if you want to see materials relating to Louisiana, published or produced in the 17th century, you can limit the date range to 1600-1700.
You can either use the Advanced Search:
Or left-hand filters:
New Orleans is a fantastic place to conduct historical research. The following are some of the local archives and libraries that may have the primary sources you need. For a more extensive list, see the Louisiana Information Sources Library Guide.
United States
Abroad
Most countries outside the U.S. have a major national library and/or archive in their capital city. Smaller cities tend to have municipal archives and archives of social and religious organizations. Check the lists of archives cited in your secondary sources, or talk to an expert in the field you're researching to pin down which archives and research collections may be worth visiting for your research.
