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Primary Source Analysis Assignment

Find primary and secondary resources for topics related to American history.

What are primary sources?

Primary sources are things created in the human past that allows historians insight into people who lived in the past.

boys playing baseball

Baseball Game at Manzanar Relocation Center (Cropped Photo), 7/02/1942

Primary sources are:

  • letters, diaries, photographs, newspapers, magazines, official documents, sacred texts
  • art, pottery, tools, furniture, recordings, autobiographies, poems, plays, novels, and more...

Online Collections

Many primary resources have been digitized by libraries, archives, and museums so that they can be accessed by people all over the world. There are many different types of digital collections online. These collections are either entirely focused on or include a significant amount of sources directly related to American history.

Regions, Events, People

These are just a few examples of digital collections that are specific to a particular region, state, person, or event.

SEARCH TIP: Search Google with your subject terms and the keywords "digital collections" or "digital library" to find more digital collections.

Library Databases

These databases provide access to various types of primary sources. You will need to login with your myPittCC crendentials to access the databases.

Online Access

Paw: Indicates that a password is needed to access the resource from off campus.The username and password to access databases is the same as what you use to log in to myPittCC and Moodle. The username is your entire myPittCC email address (jdstudent000@my.pittcc.edu). 

Community logins are available to Pitt County residents with PCC library cards and others who are enrolled in or are affiliated with PCC programs and continuing education courses. Scroll down and look for the "Community Login" section.