Primary and Secondary sources
Primary Sources (social sciences and humanities):
Primary sources of information provide first-hand accounts of the event you are researching. Generally, they are works created by the witnesses or “first recorders” of the event at or near the time it occurred. They are important sources of information to historians.
Examples of primary sources may include:
- contemporary accounts in newspapers, magazines and other publications from the period in question;
- letters, diaries, autobiographies or memoirs, photographs;
- government documents, reports, financial records, memos
- creative works or other materials.
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are created by people who were not a witness to the event. They describe, analyze, interpret, or review the event (or the primary source). Secondary sources are likely written years after the event of interest and include additional perspectives and historical context. Recent works are valued because they include criticism and updates to scholarly knowledge on the event or topic of interest.
Example of secondary sources may include:
- scholarly books or articles
- encyclopedias
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ALA: Finding and using primary sources
From the American Library Association
Vietnam Era Web Resources
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>PBS Vietnam: Reflections on war
Personal essays from a variety of perspectives from people connected with the Vietnam War -
>PBS Vietnam: The Language of War
Terms and acronyms used in Vietnam. -
Maps from 1945-1976
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Government statements
Vietnam Primary Sources: OHS Books
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E-books from Gale Virtual Reference Library
Click for links to 14 book entries containing primary sources (letters, speeches, government documents, etc.) -
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Hard copy books from the library
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Voices from Vietnam by
Call Number: 959.704Publication Date: 1997-08-01 -
Voices from the wall by
Call Number: 959.704Publication Date: 1998 -
Everything We Had by
Call Number: 959.7ISBN: 0345322797Publication Date: 1985-03-12 -
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by
Publication Date: 1993-11-01
Museums and Archives
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Digital Public Library of America
Publication Date: April 18, 2013Search thousands of texts, images, audio files, video files, and other resources digitized by libraries and other organizations in the United States. -
Primary materials from countries and cultures around the world (focus on UNESCO member countries). Free of charge and in multilingual format.
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U.S. History Resources from Libraries, Museums, and Archives
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Voice of the Shuttle: U.S. History
Collection of history resources (University of California, Santa Barbara) -
Michigan State University – audio library dating back to 1888
Primary Sources: Vietnam War
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Vietnam Center and Archive: Virtual Vietnam Archive
Texas Tech University collection with over 2.7 million pages of scanned materials. -
Library of Congress Veterans History
Click “search the veterans collection”. SEARCH and limit by war/conflict, branch of service, gender, prisoner of war etc. CHECK YES for Digitized Collection! -
The Vietnam Veterans Oral History and Folklore Project
From Buffalo State College, lyrics and explanations for songs made by American men and women, civilian and military, who served in Vietnam.
Primary Sources: Vietnam War Protests
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Vietnam War Era Protest Collection
University of Washington database contains leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on the campus during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. -
Includes videos/audio about draft dodging in Canada under project name “Seeking Sanctuary”.
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Anti-Vietnam War Protests in the San Francisco Bay Area & Beyond
The Pacifica Radio/UC Berkeley Social Activism Sound Recording Project
Vietnam War: Background
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BBC Bitesize History:Vietnam 1954 – 1975
Text overview, videos, and tests on US involvement, the war, and post war. -
From the English department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.