Michigan History

Primary Sources include first-hand eyewitness accounts, original records, objects and evidence from the time period you are researching. They are immediate accounts from people who were directly involved and had a direct connection to it.

Primary sources can include: 

• Speeches, laws and court documents
• Newspaper reports by reporters who witnessed the events or quote people who did
• Diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, letters
• Works of art, novels, poetry, plays
• Original research
• Statistics, census records, datasets
• Photographs, video or audio that captured the event
• Objects and ephemera (e.g. postcards, buttons, posters)

Secondary Sources are one step removed from primary sources. They come into play when they cover the same topic, but add a layer of interpretation or analysis to the event.

Secondary sources can include: 

• Most books about the topic
• Analysis of event or data which interprets it
• Scholarly or other articles about the event or topic, written by individuals who were not directly involved