What Are Primary Sources?
"Primary sources are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Primary sources may include letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, speeches, interviews, memoirs, documents produced by government agencies such as Congress or the Office of the President, photographs, audio recordings, moving pictures or video recordings, research data, and objects or artifacts such as works of art or ancient roads, buildings, tools, and weapons. These sources serve as the raw material to interpret the past, and when they are used along with previous interpretations by historians, they provide the resources necessary for historical research."
(American Library Association, Reference and User Services, History Section)
The Holocaust
For an extensive list of primary sources on the Holocaust, use the Libguide that was designed for the course HIST 122: The Holocaust:
The Rwandan Genocide
- Rwanda Documents Project"The Rwanda Documents Project was started by Professor Peter Erlinder of William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota as a result of his work as a defense attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The goal of the Project is to collect and make available primary source materials from international and national agencies, governments, and courts that relate to the political and social history of Rwanda from 1990 to the present."
- Genocide Archive of RwandaDigital collection of items related to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, pre-genocide history and post-genocide reconstruction processes
- The U.S. and the Genocide in RwandaEvidence and primary documents concerning the United State's inaction to stop the Rwandan genocide.
The Armenian Genocide
- Armenian National InstituteContains information about Armenian genocide including archival documents, photo collections, maps, and timelines.
And more....
- United Nations. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former YugoslaviaInformation and resources regarding the tracking and prosecution of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia
- Srebrenica Conference DccumentsDetails path to genocide from 1993 to 1995
- Cambodian Genocide Program (Yale University)Provides access to documents and photographs related to the Cambodian genocide
How to Look for Primary Sources
Primary sources are often collected and published in a book (collection of letters, personal accounts, selected government documents, etc.) To find these collections of primary sources, you can do a search in OSCAR, the online catalog, and just add to your search keywords such as documents or sources or letters or diaries.
Example: Armenian Genocide and sources
Armenian Genocide and letters
You can also find numerous primary sources that have been digitized on the web. The easiest way to locate them is to do a Google search and add the words: archives or "primary sources"
Example: Rwandan Genocide and archives
Of course you need to be careful with the sources you find on the web. Check carefully who is responsible for the site and where the information is coming from. I included on this page a selection of good web sites to locate primary sources.
Example of Primary Source
Testimonies
The USC Shoah Founcation Visual History Archives was created in 1994 to preserve the audio-visual histories of survivors and other witnesses of the holocaust and other genocides (including the Armenian, Rwandan, Guatemalan, and Cambodian genocides). It is one of the largest video digital libraries in the world. A subset of the archive, including 1600 testimonies, is available on the public internet. Click on the logo to connect to the public archive. The first time you use it, you will have to create a user name and a password. Be aware that many of the testimonies are not in English but there are still a significant number in English or transcripted in English.
How to Search the Visual History Archive:
First select a collection on the left and enter keywords in the search box. Select "All Words". You are now searching those keywords in the transcript of the testimonies.
After you enter your search, and click the Search button, you can then limit the results in various ways:
The top one Video Viewable Now will limit the results to those testimonies you can actually view on the open web. All of these should be in English!