Research Guides: U.S. Since 1941, 09-325-1 (Vietoris): Primary Sources

What is a primary source?

Many students may find useful this definition of primary sources:: "Primary sources are those with a direct link, in time and place, to the person, event, situation, or culture under study."

For example, a newspaper article on the outbreak of World War II in 1941 would be a primary source; a newspaper article in 2015 on the U. S. entrance into the war would be considered a secondary source.

Primary Sources - Government Digital Archives

Foreign Relations of the United States - eBooks
Foreign Relations of the United States, a government documents series, provides the internal discussions and reports of the United States government on its relations with other countries in the world. You can search by the presidential administration, or scroll down the page to find the relevant ebook by title and year,
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
The Public Papers of the Presidents (published by GovInfo) covers the following presidents in Chronological order from newest to oldest: Obama, Barack H.; Bush, George W.; Clinton, William J.; Bush, George H. W.; Reagan, Ronald W.; Carter, James E., Jr.; Ford, Gerald R., Jr.; Nixon, Richard M.; Johnson, Lyndon B.; Kennedy, John F.; Eisenhower, Dwight D.; Truman, Harry S.; Hoover, Herbert. The Public Papers of the President were not published by the National Archives for the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency; these volumes were published by a private printer before the commencement of the official Public Papers series and are not currently available in GovInfo.

Oral History Interviews

World War II Interviews - Illinois Veterans
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Oral History Program
The ALPL Oral History Program is dedicated to preserving the stories and memories of Illinois‘s citizens, not just the famous and prominent among us, but of people from all walks of life. This link is part of the Veterans Remember section of the Oral History section.

Newspaper Sources

Newspapers are an extraordinary primary source. The best place to find newspapers in the library databases is the Proquest Historical Newspapers. History majors will find the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times most useful, dating back to around 1850.

To find this resource select the link below, taking you to the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database. We recommend that you select the advanced search option to search for a specific date or date range. Then look under the heading 'Search Options' to narrow the date to either the precise date, a date range, or before or after a certain date.

Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
These historical newspapers are an excellent source to see current events dating back to about 1850. We recommend that you select the advanced search option to search for a specific date or date range. Then look under the heading 'Search Options' to narrow the date to either the precise date, a date range, or before or after a certain date.