HI 110 History of the US to 1877: Finding Primary Sources

(General Ambrose Burnside and Staff.Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-B8184-3287])

Library of Congress.  American Memeory.  Selected Civil War Photographs.http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html

National Archives. Pictures of the Civil War.

Primary Sources are the records of events, eyewitness accounts, or other materials such as photographs, paintings, etc. produced at the time of the event or period being researched. Fortunately primary sources from the Civil War are fairly easy to find.  

There are some subject heading subdivisions that are particularly useful: Sources, Diaries, Personal narratives, and Pictorial works     

  Examples                  

·         United States History Civil War, 1861- 1865 Pictorial works

·         United States History Civil War, 1861- 1865 Personal narratives, Confederate

·         Reconstruction U. S. History, 1865-1877 Sources 

To find primary source information written by a specific person:

·         Look up individuals as authors to find out what books they wrote.

·         Scan the list of titles looking for terms such as papers, addresses, letters, speeches, writings, debates, diaries, correspondence, complete works, autobiographies, etc.