Why Use Primary Sources?
Primary Sources are helpful in contextualizing a historic event, person or time period and serve as an access point as to how it may have been viewed in its current time.
Digitized Primary Sources can be found in the Library Catalogue ans well as on the broader web. Even more can be found in access archive, museum and library collection around the world including McMaster's very own William Ready Archives and Research Collections house in Mills Memorial Library.
Evaluating Primary Sources
When considering using Primary Sources in your research it is important to ask yourself:
- Who is the author and/or creator of this resource and what is their connection to the event, person or time period?
- What is the source talking about and can you identify any overt biases to their approach?
- Why was the source created in its selected format?
- Who is the intended audience and what is the intended purpose of the resource?
- Is the resource corroborated by other Primary Sources connected to this event, person or time period?
Primary Resources
Finding Primary Sources in the Catalogue
In the Library Catalogue search for your topic and include one of the following words or phrases:
- autobiography
- correspondence
- description and travel
- diaries
- interviews
- letters
- personal narratives
- public opinion
- pictorial works
- sources
Relevant Sources
Here are some examples of relevant resources found in the McMaster Library's Archives and Research Collection.
Websites with Primary Sources
- Early Canadiana Online(Go through the McMaster Library Catalogue to obtain access to the full content of this website.)
- North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories(Go through the McMaster Library Catalogue to obtain access to the full content of this website.)