Primary Sources
What are primary sources?
Primary sources can be broadly defined as first-hand accounts from individuals with a direct connection to a topic.
Often primary sources are used in historical research, where primary sources are things that originate from the time period of study. While this may be text-based (letters, newspaper articles, etc.), primary sources can also include objects, clothing, media like music and movies, and photographs.
Outside of the historical context, primary sources are a valuable tool for analysis of the present. Contemporary primary sources can include government documents, original research studies, datasets, patents, court cases, and current media like music and movies.
How do you find primary sources?
Depending on your topic, and whether your research is historical, there are lots of places where you can find primary sources! Often historical materials will be kept in archival collections. This type of collection seeks to preserve the materials for the future while still making them accessible to researchers. Many of the sources on this page are online collections that provide users with digital access to their collections.
How do primary sources relate to queer studies?
Primary sources are a really important part of queer studies research because they can often be used to incorporate the voices, ideas, and knowledge of those who are traditionally excluded from academic discourse. Primary sources are a way to move these perspectives (in the words of bell hooks) "from margin to center" by including a more diverse set of voices that are usually silenced by various forms of oppression.
Online Collections and Archives
- Digital Transgender ArchiveDTA is an international collaboration among more than sixty colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, public libraries, and private collections. By digitally localizing a wide range of trans-related materials, the DTA expands access to trans history for academics and independent researchers alike in order to foster education and dialog concerning trans history.
- GLBT Historical Society Online ResourcesThe Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Special Collections of the GLBT Historical Society are among the largest and most extensive holdings in the world of materials pertaining to LGBTQ people
- Lesbian Herstory ArchiveFounded in the 1970s, our mission is to gather and preserve records of Lesbian lives and activities so that future generations will have ready access to materials relevant to their lives.
- LGBT Community Center National History Archivecommunity-based archive that collects, preserves and makes available to the public the documentation of LGBTQ lives and organizations centered in and around New York.
- LGBTQ Oral History Digital CollaboratoryThe LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory connects archives across Canada and the U.S. to produce a digital history hub for the research and study of gay, lesbian, queer, and trans* oral histories.
- ONE Archives at the USC LibrariesThe largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world. Founded in 1952, ONE Archives currently houses over two million archival items including periodicals, books, film, video and audio recordings, photographs, artworks, organizational records, and personal papers.
- Transgender ArchivesThe Transgender Archives is actively acquiring documents, rare publications, and memorabilia of persons and organizations that have worked for the betterment of trans, nonbinary, Two-spirit, and other gender-diverse people.
- The ArdorousThe Ardorous is a platform for female artists showcasing individual and collaborative projects between a collective of female creative professionals
- JustseedsWe believe in the transformative power of personal expression in concert with collective action. To this end, we produce collective portfolios, contribute graphics to grassroots struggles for justice, work collaboratively both in- and outside the co-op, build large sculptural installations in galleries, and wheatpaste on the streets—all while offering each other daily support as allies and friends.
- Queer Art CollectiveHere, at The Queer Art Collective, we put queer artists at the forefront and refuse to have their true stories silenced.
- QZAP- Zine ArchiveThe Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) was first launched in November 2003 in an effort to preserve queer zines and make them available to other queers, researchers, historians, punks, and anyone else who has an interest DIY publishing and underground queer communities.
Pollak Library Primary Source Collections
- Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
This database available via Gale, brings together approximately 1.5 million pages of primary sources on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world. Rare and unique content from a variety of primary sources sheds light on the gay rights movement, activism, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and more. - LGBT Magazine Archive Collections 1-2 This link opens in a new windowThe archives of 26 leading but previously hard-to-find magazines are included in LGBT Magazine Archive, including many of the longest-running, most influential publications of this type. The complete backfile of The Advocate is made available digitally for the first time. As one of the very few LGBT titles to pre-date the 1969 Stonewall riots, it spans the history of the gay rights movement. LGBT Magazine Archive also includes the principal UK titles, notably Gay News and its successor publication Gay Times.
- LGBTQ+ Rights This link opens in a new windowProvides resources including interactive timelines, scholarly articles, court cases, books, pamphlets and more to chart the progress of the gay rights movement in America, while also exploring the inequalities that still exist today.
- LGBT Thought and Culture This link opens in a new windowLGBT Thought and Culture is an online resource hosting the key works and archival documentation of LGBT political and social movements throughout the 20th century and into the present day. The collection contains 150,000 pages of rare archival content, including seminal texts, letters, periodicals, speeches, interviews, and ephemera.
General Primary Source Collections
- Digital Public Library of AmericaThe Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. Much of its indexed holdings are public domain.
- Europeana CollectionsEuropeana Collections provides access to over 50 million digitised items – books, music, artworks and more. Thematic collections on art, fashion, music, photography and World War I contain galleries, blogs and exhibitions.
- World Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library (WDL) is a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, carried out with the support of UNESCO and in cooperation with libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations from around the world. The WDL offers significant multilingual primary source materials from all countries and cultures.