Skip to Main Content

Primary Sources

Africana Studies

Primary Sources in this field vary widely by project, but often consist of historical and international newspapers, literature, art, and government reports. Below are some resources that are good places to start looking for these kinds of primary sources with a focus towards Africana Studies. The Africana Studies guide includes a "Newspaper resources" page with links to online collections of publications with a particular focus on African or African American news. Please reach out to Claudia Peterson (cpeterson3@carleton.edu) if you need any help finding primary sources in this field!

Asian Studies

Primary Sources in this field vary widely by project, but often consist of historical and international newspapers, art, and sometimes other materials such as government reports or other reports from studies. Below are some resources that are good places to start looking for these kinds of primary sources with a focus towards Asian Studies. The "Articles and other research material" page on the Asian Language, Literature, and Studies guide has several recommended databases for international newspapers in particular. Please reach out to Claudia Peterson (cpeterson3@carleton.edu) if you need any help finding primary sources in this field!

Digital Scholarship

Primary sources in this field are often created by the project. However, sometimes you may need to find other primary sources to use to develop your project. These can include texts or other kinds of data sets. Often these files are most useful in a .csv file. Below are some resources that are good places to start looking for these resources. Please reach out to  Sarah Calhoun (scalhoun@carleton.edu) if you need any help finding these or other Digital Scholarship resources!

Environmental Studies (ENTS)

Primary sources in this field vary greatly by the nature of the project. Here is a selection of some of the more common forms of primary sources in this field for a range of projects:

  • land surveys (particularly useful for a historical outlook)
  • observation of contemporary landscape (particularly useful for a historical outlook)
  • areal photos (particularly useful for a historical outlook)
  • amateur observations
  • Weather logs
  • Maps and mapping data
  • Legislation
  • Data
  • Ethnographic research
  • interviews/surveys

Some of these you may produce yourself, but below are some resources that can be good places to start to find these kinds of primary sources. Please reach out to Sean Leahy (sleahy@carleton.edu) if you need any help finding primary sources for ENTS!

Latin American Studies

Primary Sources in this field vary widely by project, but often consist of historical and international newspapers, art, government reports, and other study reports from organizations. Below are some resources that are good places to start looking for these kinds of primary sources with a focus towards Latin American Studies. Please reach out to Claudia Peterson (cpeterson3@carleton.edu) if you need any help finding primary sources in this field!

Middle Eastern Studies

Primary Sources in this field vary widely by project, but can consist of literature (both in the language and translations), government documents, and art, among many other kinds of sources. Below are some resources that are good places to start looking for these kinds of sources. Please see the section on Political Science and International Relations of this guide for resources on government documents, and the Art and Art History section of this guide for resources relating to art, architecture, or film. Please reach out to Claudia Peterson (cpeterson3@carleton.edu) if you need any help finding primary sources in this field!

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies

Primary sources in this field often vary widely by project and class, but in general academic journals will be good places to look for these sources. Catalyst can also be a good tool for finding resources using a mix of keyword and subject headings in your searches. This field often mimics the forms of primary source analysis that can be found in History or the Social Sciences. Please see those sections of this guide for tips on working with primary sources in those fields. Below are some resources that are a good place to start looking for primary sources with a focus on Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. Please reach out to Brie Baumert (bbaumert@carleton.edu) if you need help finding primary sources in this field!