Primary Resources
DEFINTION: Primary sources are original sources created at the time a historical event occurs and are directly associated with their producer (or user). They serve as the raw materials historians use to interpret / analyze the past.
Examples include:
- Diaries
- Letters
- Newspapers
- Government Documents
- Photographs
- Novels
- Interviews
- Photographs
- Speeches
- Clothing
Find Primary Sources
For arts research, primary sources may include interviews, exhibition catalogs, pamphlets, oral histories, artists’ journals, or artists’ statements.
- Archive GridThousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid. Learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit.
- Archives of American ArtSince 1954, the Archives has collected roughly 16 million letters, photographs, diaries, oral history interviews, sketches, scrapbooks, business records, and other documents that support the study of the history of the visual arts in America.
- Getty Research InstituteUse online Getty research tools and learn how to access Research Library collections.
- NYPL Digital GalleryProvides free and open access to over 640,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
- Online Archive of CaliforniaThe OAC brings together historical materials from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives.
- Publishers' Bindings Online 1815-1930A significant digital collection of 19the century decorative bindings, along with a comprehensive glossary and guide to the elements of these objects. These bindings reflect not only social and cultural history, but bibliographic history as well.
- Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS)Search 1.89 million records, with links to 178,800 images, video and sound files from dozens of Smithsonian libraries, archives, museums, and specialized research units.
- The Beazley ArchiveProvides dictionary and bibliographies related to collection of ancient Greek and Roman cultural objects. Housed in the Classical Art Research Center and Archive at the University of Oxford.
- Women Artists Archives National Directoryan innovative web directory to U.S. archival collections of primary source materials by and about women visual artists active in the U.S. since 1945.
Interviews
- UCF Library CatalogCatalog of the books, media, journals, and other library materials owned by the UCF Libraries.
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- Subject SearchesAlso try a combined subject search for "artists" and "interviews" if you are not looking for a specific artist.