What Is a Primary Source?
In academic research, a primary source is "first-hand" information, such as a document or account, that is direct evidence of whatever is being studied. Primary sources are contrasted with secondary sources, which are works that provide analysis, commentary, or criticism on the primary source. In the study of literature, a primary source is generally the literary work (or works) being studied—such as a novel, poem, or short story. Researchers of literature may also study historical primary sources that reveal information about the author and/or the time period in which a work was created. Some examples include correspondence, diaries, memoirs, interviews, oral histories, newspaper and magazine articles, manuscripts, documents, photographs and other images, and artifacts. See below for a broad range of resources that contain primary sources relevant to gothic fiction studies.
Selected Resources for Finding Primary Sources
- American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Published between 1741 and 1900, these periodicals include special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children and women magazines, and many other historically significant periodicals.
- ArchiveGridArchiveGrid includes over 7 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,400 archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
- British Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Facsimile page images and searchable full text for nearly 500 British periodicals published from the 17th through the early 20th centuries. - C19: Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new window
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19th century books, journals, magazines, official documents, newspapers, and archives. Includes The Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index, Palmer's Index to the Times, and Periodicals Index Online. - Crime, Punishment and Popular Culture 1790-1920 (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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Collection of materials supporting the study of nineteenth-century criminal history, law, literature, and justice. Includes manuscripts, books, broadsheets, and periodicals from published material and archives. Covers Europe, North America, India, and the Antipodes and includes material in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. - Eighteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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Thousands of books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides and more, based on the English Short Title Catalogue. A comprehensive digital edition of The Eighteenth Century microfilm set, which aimed to include every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, along with major works from the Americas, between 1701 and 1800.
- Gothic ArchiveIn its present state, The Gothic Archive is a growing digital collection of late eighteenth and nineteenth-century British Gothic chapbooks and related materials held in a variety of private and research libraries in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The chapbooks have been digitized or transcribed and linked to summaries and supplemental materials.
- Literary studies. This link opens in a new window
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Literary manuscripts, rare printed works, and personal papers of a range of literary figures, and access to a literary texts and genres.
This collection provides students and scholars of British and American literature access to resources to support study in this field. - Literature Online This link opens in a new window
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Also known as LION. An array of literary databases (including the full text of poems, plays, and fiction), reference works (including bibliographies, encyclopedias, etc.), and links to other Web resources for the study of literature. The complete text of journal articles is available on the database for all or some of the journals indexed. Fully searchable texts of over 250,000 works in English and American Literature. - London Low Life This link opens in a new window
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Contains primary source materials on Victorian street culture, including ephemera, penny fiction, cartoons, chapbooks, reform literature, and guides to prostitution.
- National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)The Library of Congress provides a gateway for searching OCLC WorldCat (Manuscript materials) -- nearly 1.5 million catalog records describing archival and manuscript collections and individual manuscripts in public, college and university, and special libraries located throughout North America and around the world. Access to this gateway is made available courtesy of OCLC, Inc.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
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Primary source collections of the 19th century. UCLA access includes: Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; British Politics and Society; British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture; Children's Literature and Childhood; Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, and Conquest; European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection; Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature; Photography: The World Through the Lens; Religion, Society, Spirituality, and Reform; Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780-1925; and Women: Transnational Networks. - Online Archive of California (OAC) This link opens in a new windowFinding aids for primary source collections in all UC campuses and other contributing institutions, including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California.
- Times of London Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
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Includes full text and page images of the entire newspaper, including articles, editorials, advertising and images (excluding the Sunday Times) for 1785-2019.
- Victorian Popular Culture This link opens in a new window
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Research portal for the study of popular entertainment in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Segments include: Circuses, Sideshows and Freaks; Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema; Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment; Spiritualism, Sensation and Magic. - WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window
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OCLC FirstSearch catalog includes citations for books, journals, manuscripts, maps, music scores, sound recordings, films, computer files, newspapers, slides, videotapes, archival material, etc., in libraries around the world.
