Research Guides: Environmental Science: Finding Primary Sources

What is a Primary Source?

A primary source is a first-hand or contemporary account of an event or topic.

Primary sources are the most direct evidence of a time or event because they were created by people or things that were there at the time or event. These sources offer original thought and have not been modified by interpretation. Primary sources are original materials, regardless of format.

Examples of Primary Sources

letters
diaries
minutes
photographs
artifacts
interviews
sound and video recordings
oral histories
newspaper articles
journal articles
research studies
memoirs
autobiographies

Primary sources may be transformed from their original format into a newer one, such as when materials are published or digitized, but the contents are still primary. There are many primary sources available online today, but many more are still available in their original format, in archives, museums, libraries, historical sites, and elsewhere.

Finding Newspapers

Access World News
Full-text content of over 2,200 North American newspapers and more than 1,200 international newspapers, plus 300 wire services and over 200 broadcast news transcripts. Covers local, regional, and world issues, politics, government policies, sports, industries, cultural activities, schools, and the people and events in the community.
America's Historical Newspapers
Provides full text to over 700 historical newspapers. Hatfield Library has series 1, which covers newspapers that began publishing in the colonial period, with some titles providing coverage into the later 1800s. 1690-1876.
Historical New York Times
Provides full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. Includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. 1851 - 2009
New York Times (1985 - present)
Provides searchable full text of the New York Times.
Historic Oregon Newspapers
This full-text searchable database contains over 900,000 pages of Oregon newspapers dated 1846-2017, and the ODNP is continually adding new titles.
Newspaper Source
Provides selected full text articles from 143 U.S. and international newspapers. 1984 - present
Oregon Index
Selectively indexes articles on local and regional topics from the following Oregon newspapers: The Oregonian, Salem Statesman Journal, Eugene Register Guard, Coos Bay World, Corvallis Gazette Times, Klamath Falls Herald & News, The LaGrande Observer, and Willamette Week. 1985 - 2004

Primary Sources Databases

American Periodical Series Online
Provides indexing and full text to over 1,100 periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900. Included are special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and other historically-significant periodicals. 1740-1900
Early English Books Online
Provides indexing, citations and full text of Early English publications from 1475 to 1800. Included are titles listed in the Short Title Catalogue of Early English Books, 1475-1640 (Pollard and Redgrave), Short Title Catalogue of Early English Books, 1641-1700 (Wing), and the Thomason Tracts, 1640-1660. Included are texts covering English literature, languages, music, religion, science, travel and exploration and politics. 1475 - 1700
Evans Digital Edition
The definitive resource for information about every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America. Upon completion, the Evans Digital Edition will consist of more than 36,000 works and 2,400,000 images. 1639 - 1800.
Political Extremism and Radicalism
A compilation of rare and unique archival collections covering a wide range of fringe political movements. This archive is one of the first digital archives covering such a broad assortment of both far-right and radical left political groups. It offers a diverse mixture of materials, including periodicals, campaign propaganda, government records, oral histories, and various ephemera.

Government Sources

Government documents are considered primary sources of information, as they provide original data created by government agencies or officials. In the context of research, government documents are foundational as they present raw information, statistics, and policy decisions that can be critically analyzed or interpreted in various research contexts. Some of the main types of government documents are reports, regulations, laws, hearings, public records, and internal memos produced by government bodies.

EIS: Environmental Impact Statements (EPA)
This resource focuses on environmental impact statements produced by the EPA. It includes multidisciplinary coverage of relevant fields across the environmental sciences, with a focus on air transportation, defense programs, parks, refuges, and forests.
U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO)
The U.S. GPO is the Federal agency responsible for producing and distributing government information for all three branches of the Federal Government including the Supreme Court, Congress, the Executive Office of the President, executive departments, and independent agencies.

HeinOnline's U.S. Congressional Documents Collection
The U.S. Congressional Documents Collection features the bound and daily versions of Congressional Record, its three predecessor titles, and other important congressional material. 1789 - present
Historical Statistics of the United States
The fourth edition of Historical Statistics of the United States. The Millennial Edition is published by Cambridge University Press, with the permission of the Census Bureau. Colonial Times to 2000

Environmental Science

Willamette University Libraries