National History Day

Ask yourself: Whose eyes am I seeing this through? 

Primary sources are sources created during by the time of an event or by someone who was a direct witness to the event.

Per the National History Day rulebook:

"Primary sources are created during the time period that you are investigating. Types of primary source materials include the following:

• Eyewitness accounts
• Written materials, such as letters, speeches, diaries, newspaper articles, and other documents from the time
• Verbal testimony, such as oral history interviews with people from the time, and oral traditions (i.e., histories that are preserved and shared through word of mouth rather than in writing)
• Images and artifacts such as photographs, paintings, drawings, maps, and objects from the time
• Unedited copies of primary materials found on credible internet sites, such as the websites of the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress
• Anything else that provides a $rst-hand account about your topic"

National History Day 2020 rulebook

Primary source material can be found throughout the Calvin T. Ryan Library library collections. Try searching on your topic and adding one of these keywords:

• correspondence
• narratives
• diaries
• interviews
• letters

Example:  Ulysses Grant letters