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WRPR 133: The American West in Fact and Fiction (HC)

Writing Program 133: The American West in Fact and Fiction (Lapsansky) Spring 2024

Images as Primary Sources

File:Landscape with Cows Watering in a Stream MET DT10837.jpg

Landscape with Cows Watering in a Stream, Robert S. Duncanson, 1871 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Printed Primary Sources

Primary sources can take many different forms.  Letters, accounts and other kinds of documents written at the time of an event or era allow a nuanced and detailed understanding of historical issues.  The histories and studies you wil be finding and reading draw on primary sources in order to better understand events, people's actions and other factors which contributed to the social issue you are exploring.

When reading a journal article, book chapter or other historical study (also known as a secondary source in contrast to primary sources), check the footnotes and bibliography for references to primary sources the author consulted that you might be able to access.

Major Text and Image Collections for U.S. History