primary source
Firsthand historical evidence
A primary source is an original document, artifact, or firsthand account from the time period being studied—a diary, a photograph, a treaty, raw data from an experiment.
Historians and researchers distinguish primary sources from secondary sources, which analyze or interpret primary material.
The historian relied on letters and ship manifests as primary sources.
Original text before publication
- archiveStored historical records
- chronicleOrdered historical record
- diaryPersonal daily record
- letterWritten symbol or message
testimony · memoir · autobiography · papyrus · scroll · tablet · inscription · logbook
One who saw events
- firsthandWithout intermediary
- contemporaneousExisting at same time
- originalFirst or inventive
- unfilteredNot passed through screen
authentic · verifiable · provenance · corroboration · historiography · citation · bibliography · footnote
manuscript
Original text before publication
letter · testimony · memoir · autobiography · papyrus · scroll · tablet · inscription · logbook · dispatch
eyewitness
One who saw events
- firsthandWithout intermediary
- contemporaneousExisting at same time
- originalFirst or inventive
unfiltered · authentic · verifiable · provenance · corroboration · historiography · citation · bibliography · footnote · evidence
relic
Preserved ancient object
coinage · ceramics · tool · weapon · textile · jewelry · seal · coin · vessel · figurine
- historyancient civilizations, past events, historian, epochs, era
- history termsempire, dynasty, colonialism, Renaissance, Enlightenment
- researchstudy, research papers, researching, archive, peer review
- historieschronicle, annals, historical record, historical account, historical narrative
- history educationhistorian, history textbooks, textbook, history teachers, teaching history
- originalsoriginal, authentic, genuine, prototype, archetype
primary sourcesecondary source
Work analyzing original materials
secondhand account · hearsay · textbook · encyclopedia entry · digest
primary sourcesecondary source
Work analyzing original materials
scholarly analysis · textbook · encyclopedia entry · literature review · commentary
source, prime, primary, primitive, primer, primarily, primacy, primate, primeval