Detail of Plan of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia by Robert Knox Sneden

Primary sources are first-hand evidence from the historical period being studied. Historians use this evidence to establish historical facts.

The Department of History and American Studies at UMW says this about primary sources:

Primary sources are the core of historical research. Broadly defined, they include all materials produced by people. They include obvious sources like diaries, letters, speeches, government documents, contemporary publications, laws, police and court records, maps, newspapers, and photographs. Remember, however, that there are other primary sources too: public opinion polls, telephone directories, coins, inscriptions, advertisements, business records, works of art, city directories, poetry, music, buildings, statues, organizational minutes, railroad schedules, birth, marriage, and death records, novels, political debates, films, furniture, and tombstones. This list is far from exhaustive.

Primary sources are different from secondary sources, such as journal articles. Secondary sources do not provide first-hand evidence; instead, they analyze evidence provided by other sources.

Here are several strategies for finding primary sources. Try more than one strategy!

• Check the citations within secondary sources to see which primary sources they cite. When you know that a certain primary source exists, you can search for it by its name, either in the library or on the internet.

• To find library books that contain primary sources, search the library and use any of these subject subdivisions in your searches:
  • Sources
  • Personal narratives
  • Diaries
  • Correspondence
  • Interviews
  • Speeches
  • Facsimiles
  • Pamphlets
  • To find additional subdivisions for your subject, search for a subject heading in the Browse by Subject search tool.

• Newspapers, magazines, and advertisements are often used as primary sources. To find newspapers, see the Newspapers guide. To find magazines, see the Magazines guide. To find advertisements, see the Advertisements guide.

• Search the databases of primary sources that UMW subscribes to (listed below).

• Search free online archives of primary sources. Some recommendations are listed below.

• Use any internet search engine, such as Google or Bing. Search for your topic and add primary sources or archive to your search. Or, add more specific terms to find specific types of primary sources, such as letters or speeches or photographs.

For additional advice, see the UMW History and American Studies Resources page.

UMW pays for subscriptions to these databases. Access may require a UMW username and password.

See also our newspaper databases and magazine databases (not included on this list).

Best bets:

Other collections:

These books are in the Reference section on the first floor of Simpson Library. Reference books may not be checked out, but if you find a useful document in one of these books, you can make a PDF scan using the library's book scanners.

Simpson LIbrary's Special Collections and University Archives includes a collection of rare books and archival materials relating to the history of the Fredericksburg area and of the institution.  Access is by appointment only at this time.  To make an appointment, call (540) 654-2045 or email archives@umw.edu.

Our Digital Collections include collections of photographs, materials relating to James Farmer, oral histories compiled by university faculty and students, and a rich array of other items.  You can search through digitized versions of the Battlefield, the Bullet, Blue & Gray Press, and other publications using Eagle Explorer.

The Digital Archiving Lab in room 322 of the Hurley Convergence Center has specialized equipment for scanning and preserving materials from our collections or for projects in History and American Studies courses.