LibGuides: Classics: Primary Sources


Library Research Guides

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation.

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS such as diaries, speeches, letters
CREATIVE WORKS such as poetry, music, art
RELICS OR ARTIFACTS such as pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings

What about Science? In the sciences, a primary source is the published result of experimental or observational research.

Primary Source Collections

Perseus Digital Library
Texts
Beazley Archive (University of Oxford)
Major resource for the study of ancient Greek pottery.

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
The Artstor Digital Library provides over 1.6 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. You need to register (free for MHC community members) if you wish to download ArtStor images.

Primary Sources in the Library Catalog

Search by keyword for primary sources in Discover
You can search Discover to find direct references to primary source material. Here are some words to include as keywords that would identify a source as primary: correspondence, diaries, early works, interviews, manuscripts, pamphlets, personal narratives, sources, speeches, letters, documents.