WRI 112/113: The Craft of Authenticity: Primary Sources

To identify primary source materials in the library catalog, look for the word sources within a subject term: e.g. perform a Subject (keyword) search: e.g. cultural sources; or, sources food, etc.

Additional Subject (keywords) or (regular) Keywords to bring up primary sources or books with primary source content include the following: (these are several examples of words that would identify a source as primary)

* charters
* correspondence
* diaries
* documents
* early works
* interviews
* letters
* manuscripts
* oral history
* oratory
* pamphlets
* personal narratives
* sources
* speeches
* transcripts

Tips for finding and evaluating primary source materials can be found here.

Firestone and Mudd Libraries comprise the Special Collections Department, which includes collections of unique or rare items like author manuscripts and other (unpublished) materials, letters, rare books, music manuscripts, works on paper (prints), coins, death masks, etc. There are great opportunities for you to work with original materials, some of which may never have been investigated or worked on before.

Check out the Guide to Topics ; and the Finding Aid search (archival collections). While you can find many of these collections in the library catalog, you can search by keyword here across collections within the guides that exist to help you navigate what’s contained in collections of papers for an important author, company, statesman, woman, etc.

PUL Digital Library: The old site is here, while the new digital platform is here. Take some time to browse for the unique and interesting content from Special Collections that has been digitized. We also have lots of databases that connect you to primary source content of different kinds too (I encourage you to browse the databases by subject or keyword in general: there are some amazing resources here).

Works of art are primary sources. The "all-search" on the main library website includes the PU Art Museum as a search facet. Museum websites in general can be useful places to search for information and images related to original objects. See lists for finding art museums at the very BOTTOM of this page .

Databases may also be good sources for primary source materials. One can browse our Database list by Subject at the top left, or search for a keyword (in title or description) in the search box.

See Web Content on Craft tab for sites that may include some primary source documentation related to craft.

Berg/Bloomsbury has a series of titles with "Critical and Primary Sources" in the subtitle, such as Animation, Design, Food History, The History of Technology, and Textiles (see below).