Primary Documents were either created during the time period being studied or were created by a participant in the events at a later date, as in the case of memoirs. Primary sources reflect the personal viewpoint of a participant or observer. Primary sources enable a researcher to get as close as possible to what actually took place during a certain time period or an historical event. A primary document might also be the specific text or material being studied, for example a work of fiction of a poem.
Types of Primary Documents:
Find books: Search the library catalog by topic and limit by date of publication.
Find autobiographies: Search the library catalog for the name of an individual as an author (last name, first).
Find memoirs, diaries or collections of letters or interviews: Search the library catalog for the name of an individual as an author (last name, first) or search by subject and add the appropriate subject terms to the subject heading: Correspondence, Letters, Diaries, Interviews, Personal narratives. (Ex.: subject keywords might be: Japanese American interviews or Japanese American diaries).
Find Speeches: Search the library catalog by names of authors or by subject and include -speeches indexes. (Ex.: Harry Truman speeches).
Find Pamphlets: Search the library catalog by subject and add the subject term -pamphlets. (Ex. Cold war pamphlets).
Find Photographs: Search the library catalog by subject and include the terms-photographs or -pictorial works. For example: world war 1939-1945 pictorial works.
Find Cartoons: To find books that discuss and reproduce cartoons from a specific time period, search library catalogs by subject and add the subject terms -caricatures and cartoons For example: -Spanish-American war caricatures and cartoons. Search an article database that includes Historical Newspapers, such as the Historical New York Times database.
The Private Mary Chesnut by
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian C. Vann Woodward and Chesnut's biographer Elisabeth Muhlenfeld present here the previously unpublished Civil War diaries of Mary Boykin Chesnut. The ideal diarist, Mary Chesnut was at the right place at the right time with the right connections. Daughter of onesenator from South Carolina and wife of another, she had kin and friends all over the Confederacy and knew intimately its political and military leaders. At Montgomery when the new nation was founded, at Charleston when the war started, and at Richmond during many crises, she traveled extensivelyduring the war. She watched a world "literally kicked to pieces" and left the most vivid account we have of the death throes of a society. The diaries, filled with personal revelations and indiscretions, are indispensable to an appreciation of our most famous Southern literary insight into theCivil War experience.
On to Atlanta by
Historians have shown us the drama and sweep of the swathe Sherman's March cut through the South. Officers have bequeathed us accounts of what happened in strategic and practical terms. But for a gritty, day-by-day, on-the-ground view of what the march to Atlanta meant to the common soldier, nothing can compare to the diary of an enlisted man like John Hill Ferguson. A Scottish immigrant and a U.S. citizen since 1856, Ferguson enlisted in the Illinois Veteran Volunteers in 1860 and shortly afterward began to keep a diary. The annotated entries presented here, from 1864 and 1865, describe life in the Tenth Illinois as the troops made their way through the Carolinas and Georgia under Sherman. In these pages the details of Civil War soldiering become real, immediate, and personal, as do the daily dramas of life on the march. Smallpox struck Ferguson's unit early on, decimating his company; food, when there was any, was invariably poor; and always Confederate defenders waited up ahead, exacting a heavy toll on the advancing Northerners. These events and details, conveyed with all the force of Ferguson's fine intellect and superior powers of observation, offer an unforgettable firsthand view of that savage contest.
A Most Glorious Ride by
Finalist for the 2015 ForeWord INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award in the History Category A Most Glorious Ride presents the complete diaries of Theodore Roosevelt from 1877 to 1886. Covering the formative years of his life, Roosevelt's entries show the transformation of a sickly and solitary Harvard freshman into a confident and increasingly robust young adult. He writes about his grief over the premature death of his father, his courtship and marriage to his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, and later the death of Alice and his mother on the same day. The diaries chronicle his burgeoning political career in New York City and his election to the New York State Assembly. With his descriptions of balls, dinner parties, and nights at the opera, they offer a glimpse into life among the Gilded Age elite in Boston and New York. They also recount Roosevelt's first birding and hunting trips to the Adirondacks, the Maine woods, and the American West. Ending with Roosevelt's secret engagement to his second wife, Edith Kermit Carow, A Most Glorious Ride provides an intimate look into the life of the man who would become America's twenty-sixth president. Brought together for the first time in a single volume, the diaries have been meticulously transcribed, annotated, and introduced by Edward P. Kohn. Twenty-four black-and-white photographs are also included.
The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger by
The birth control crusader, feminist, and reformer Margaret Sanger was one of the most controversial and compelling figures in the twentieth century. The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger, Volume 1 is composed of Sanger's letters, diaries, journals, articles, and speeches, most of which have not appeared previously in print. Now in paperback, the book documents the critical phases and influences of an American feminist icon and offers rare glimpses into her working-class childhood, burgeoning feminism, spiritual and scientific interests, sexual explorations, and diverse roles as wife, mother, lover, nurse, journalist, radical socialist, and activist.
My Life Before the World War, 1860--1917 by
Few American military figures are more revered than General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing (1860--1948), who is most famous for leading the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. The only soldier besides George Washington to be promoted to the highest rank in the U.S. Army (General of the Armies), Pershing was a mentor to the generation of generals who led America's forces during the Second World War. Though Pershing published a two-volume memoir, My Experiences in the World War, and has been the subject of numerous biographies, few know that he spent many years drafting a memoir of his experiences prior to the First World War. In My Life Before the World War, 1860--1917, John T. Greenwood rescues this vital resource from obscurity, making Pershing's valuable insights into key events in history widely available for the first time. Pershing performed frontier duty against the Apaches and Sioux from 1886--1891, fought in Cuba in 1898, served three tours of duty in the Philippines, and was an observer with the Japanese Army in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. He also commanded the Mexican Punitive Expedition to capture Pancho Villa in 1916--1917. My Life Before the World War provides a rich personal account of events, people, and places as told by an observer at the center of the action. Carefully edited and annotated, this memoir is a significant contribution to our understanding of a legendary American soldier and the historic events in which he participated.
Crusade for Justice by
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was one of the foremost crusaders against black oppression. This engaging memoir tells of her private life as mother of a growing family as well as her public activities as teacher, lecturer, and journalist in her fight against attitudes and laws oppressing blacks. "No student of black history should overlook Crusade for Justice."--William M. Tuttle, Jr., Journal of American History "Besides being the story of an incredibly courageous and outspoken black woman in the face of innumerable odds, the book is a valuable contribution to the social history of the United States and to the literature of the women's movement as well."--Elizabeth Kolmer, American Quarterly "[Wells was] a sophisticated fighter whose prose was as thorough as her intellect."--Walter Goodman, New York Times "An illuminating narrative of a zealous, race-conscious, civic- and church-minded black woman reformer, whose life story is a significant chapter in the history of Negro-White relations."--Thelma D. Perry, Negro History Bulletin
With Only the Will to Live by
Of the 25,000 Americans held prisoner in the Pacific during World War II, over 40 percent died in captivity. Only those with luck and a tremendous will to live ever made it home. Surprisingly, however, no book has yet tried to convey, in the survivors' own words, the full range of what these servicemen went through. But now their astonishing stories are finally told.
Witness to History, 1929-1969 by
The subject of The Anti-Communist Manifestos is four influential books that informed the great political struggle known as the Cold War: Darkness at Noon (1940), by Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian journalist and polymath intellectual; Out of the Night (1941), by Jan Valtin, a German sailor and labor agitator; I Chose Freedom (1946), by Victor Kravchenko, a Soviet engineer; and Witness (1952), by Whittaker Chambers, an American journalist. The authors were ex-Communist Party members whose bitter disillusionment led them to turn on their former allegiance in literary fury. Koestler was a rapist, Valtin a thug. Kravchenko, though not a spy, was forced to live like one in America. Chambers was a prophet without honor in his own land. Three of the four had been underground espionage agents of the Comintern. All contemplated suicide, and two of them achieved it. John V. Fleming's humane and ironic narrative of these grim lives reveals that words were the true driving force behind the Cold War.
When Things Went Right by
"When Things Went Right" is a colorful and insightful portrait of Washington at the beginning of the Reagan-Bush era (November 1980OCoMarch 1983) as lived and recorded by an insider in his personal journal.Chase Untermeyer was a Texas state legislator and former journalist when called to national service by his friend and mentor George H. W. Bush after the 1980 election. In his journal entries and subsequent annotations he describes how the Reagan Administration began to grapple with the major national and international challenges it inherited.He also reveals specifically how thenOCoVice President Bush, ReaganOCOs former rival, became a valued participant in this effort, in the process solidifying the vice presidency as a significant position in modern American government.As executive assistant to the Vice President, Untermeyer saw how Bush, Reagan, and their top associates began asserting conservative principles on domestic, political, and foreign affairs. He captured in his journal not just the events of each day but also the atmosphere, the key personalities, and the witty, trenchant, and revealing things they said.The bookOCOs long-lasting value will be in providing historians of the period with telling anecdotes and quotations that were caught and preserved with a reporterOCOs eye and ear. In addition to perceptive portraits of Reagan and Bush, When Things Went Right also features numerous cameo appearances by such diverse characters as Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, Clare Boothe Luce, and jazz great Lionel Hampton.For those who look back on the presidencies of Reagan and Bush with nostalgia and respect, and also for those interested in the inner workings of the administration during its earliest days, this is the story of the time OC when things went right.OCO"
It Doesn't Take a Hero by
"In this candid, eagerly awaited autobiography General H. Norman Schwarzkopf reveals the story of his remarkable life and career. Here is the story of his boyhood years during World War II and a unique adolescence spent in the Middle East and Europe that would later prove invaluable to his understanding of the Gulf. Here, too, is a frank account of the West Point graduate's early disillusionment with the "real" Army - a disappointment that nearly prompted him to leave the military." "General Schwarzkopf speaks openly about his two tours of duty in Vietnam. He recounts the "dark years" that followed, and his own role in the struggle to reform the military." "For the first time ever General Schwarzkopf provides his personal, behind-the-scenes account of Desert Shield/Desert Storm, including candid portraits of such major figures as Colin Powell, Richard Cheney and President George Bush. From the general's unique perspective we experience firsthand the complexities of coordinating the campaign in a country deeply suspicious of foreigners; of maintaining strategic secrecy during America's first internationally televised war; and of ensuring that this war would not be another Vietnam." "Thoughtful and provocative, It Doesn't Take a Hero is an intensely personal portrait of an American life, the triumphant journey of a soldier who set his star by a simple but timeless motto: duty, honor, and country."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The World As It Is by
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From one of Barack Obama's most trusted aides comes a revelatory behind-the-scenes account of his presidency--and how idealism can confront harsh reality and still survive. "The closest view of Obama we're likely to get until he publishes his own memoir."--George Packer, The New Yorker NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN For nearly ten years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration--first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President's Daily Briefing, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now he tells the full story of his partnership--and, ultimately, friendship--with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States. Rhodes was not your typical presidential confidant, and this is not your typical White House memoir. Rendered in vivid, novelistic detail by someone who was a writer before he was a staffer, this is a rare look inside the most poignant, tense, and consequential moments of the Obama presidency--waiting out the bin Laden raid in the Situation Room, responding to the Arab Spring, reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran, leading secret negotiations with the Cuban government to normalize relations, and confronting the resurgence of nationalism and nativism that culminated in the election of Donald Trump. In The World as It Is, Rhodes shows what it was like to be there--from the early days of the Obama campaign to the final hours of the presidency. It is a story populated by such characters as Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Hillary Clinton, Bob Gates, and--above all--Barack Obama, who comes to life on the page in moments of great urgency and disarming intimacy. This is the most vivid portrayal yet of Obama's worldview and presidency, a chronicle of a political education by a writer of enormous talent, and an essential record of the forces that shaped the last decade. Praise for The World as It Is "A book that reflects the president [Rhodes] served--intelligent, amiable, compelling and principled . . . a classic coming-of-age story, about the journey from idealism to realism, told with candor and immediacy . . . His achievement is rare for a political memoir: He has written a humane and honorable book."--Joe Klein, The New York Times Book Review
American Speeches Vol. 1 (LOA #166) by
Public speeches have profoundly shaped American history and culture, transforming not only our politics but also our language and our sense of national identity. This volume (the first of an unprecedented two-volume collection) gathers the unabridged texts of 45 eloquent and dramatic American speeches delivered by 32 American public figures between 1761 and 1865, beginning with James Otis's denunciation of unrestrained searches by British customs officials--hailed by John Adams as the beginning of the American Revolution--and ending with Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Rich in literary allusions, vivid imagery, and emotional appeals, political oratory flourished during this period in Congress and at campaign rallies, public meetings, and reform conventions, and reached a wider audience through newspapers and pamphlets. Included are Patrick Henry's "liberty or death" speech, George Washington's appeal to mutinous army officers, and Henry Lee's eulogy of Washington. Speeches by John Randolph and Henry Clay capture the political passions of the early republic, while three addresses by Daniel Webster--his first Bunker Hill oration, his second reply to Hayne, and his controversial endorsement of the Compromise of 1850--demonstrate the eloquence that made him the most renowned orator of his time. American speeches by figures that did not hold office are included as well: union leader Ely Moore attacking economic aristocracy; woman's rights speeches by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth; Henry Highland Garnet's incendiary call for slave rebellion; Frederick Douglass's scathing "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" John C. Calhoun's defense of slavery, Charles Sumner's "The Crime Against Kansas," Alexander Stephens's "Corner-Stone" speech, and several speeches by Abraham Lincoln reflect the sectional conflicts that culminated in the Civil War. Each volume contains biographical and explanatory notes, and an index. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
