Primary Sources
Primary sources are contemporary documents that are associated with the historical event. Examples of primary sources include diaries, letters, magazine and newspaper articles, court hearings, and government documents.
For a more in-depth explanation and further examples, visit the guide listed below.
Examples of primary sources related to the Great War include:
My Experiences in the World War by Call Number: in print at D570 .P44 1931 and available online via HathiTrustPublication Date: 1931These two volumes focus on a American Expeditionary Forces soldier's experiences in France during World War I.
The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Volume 10 by
This massive collection includes all important letters, speeches, interviews, press conferences, and public papers on Woodrow Wilson. The volumes make available as never before the materials essential to understanding Wilson's personality, his intellectual, religious, and political development, and his careers as educator, writer, orator, and statesman. The Papers not only reveal the private and public man, but also the era in which he lived, making the series additionally valuable to scholars in various fields of history between the 1870's and the 1920's.
Call Number: in print at E660 .W717 and online via HathiTrustISBN: 0691045089Publication Date: 1971Paris Peace Conference, 1919 (Foreign Relations of the United States) by
Call Number: D642 .U6 also available online via HathiTrustPublication Date: 1942-194713 volumes : illustrations, folded maps ; 24 cm. The final vol. published also as Publication 2724 and Conference series, 92, under title: The Treaty of Versailles and after, annotations of the text of the treaty.
Scarlet fields : the combat memoir of a World War I Medal of Honor hero by
The train was packed with men. Men lying as still as if they were already dead. Men shaking with pain. One man raving, jabbering, yelling, in delirium. Everywhere bandages . . . bandages . . . bandages . . . and blood. Those words describe the moment when Private John Lewis Barkley first grasped the grim reality of the war he had entered. The rest of Barkley's memoir, first published in 1930 as No Hard Feelings and long out of print, provides a vivid ground-level look at World War I through the eyes of a soldier whose exploits rivaled those of Sergeant York. A reconnaissance man and sniper, Barkley served in Company K of the 4th Infantry Regiment, a unit that participated in almost every major American battle. The York-like episode that earned Barkley his Congressional Medal of Honor occurred on October 7, 1918, when he climbed into an abandoned French tank and singlehandedly held off an advancing German force, killing hundreds of enemy soldiers. But Barkley's memoir abounds with other memorable moments and vignettes, all in the words of a soldier who witnessed war's dangers and degradations but was not at all fazed by them. Unlike other writers identified with the "Lost Generation," he relished combat and made no apology for having dispatched scores of enemy soldiers; yet he was as much an innocent abroad as a killing machine, as witnessed by second thoughts over his sniper's role, or by his determination to protect a youthful German prisoner from American soldiers eager for retribution. This Missouri backwoodsman and sharpshooter was also a bit of a troublemaker who smuggled liquor into camp, avoided promotions like the plague, and had a soft heart for mademoiselles and frauleins alike. In his valuable introduction to this stirring memoir, Steven Trout helps readers to better grasp the historical context and significance of this singular hero's tale from one of our most courageous doughboys. Both haunting and heartfelt, inspiring and entertaining, Scarlet Fields is a long overlooked gem that opens a new window on our nation's experience in World War I and brings back to life a bygone era.
Call Number: D570.9 .B28 2012ISBN: 9780700618422Publication Date: 20127 Pillars of Wisdom, a triumph by In his classic book, T.E. Lawrence--forever known as Lawrence of Arabia--recounts his role in the origin of the modern Arab world. At first a shy Oxford scholar and archaeologist with a facility for languages, he joined and went on to lead the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks while the rest of the world was enmeshed in World War I. With its richly detailed evocation of the land and the people Lawrence passionately believed in, its incisive portraits of key players, from Faisal ibn Hussein, the future Hashemite king of Syria and Iraq, to General Sir Edmund Allenby and other members of the British imperial forces, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an indispensible primary historical source. It helps us to understand today's Middle East, while giving us thrilling accounts of military exploits (including the liberation of Aqaba and Damascus), clandestine activities, and human foibles.
Call Number: D568.4 .L4 1935bPublication Date: 1935
The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson : a captain in the Great War by
"This memoir illuminates key aspects of the war experience: the enthusiasm for fighting, tensions with officers, tedium with regard to noncombatant work, the variety of trench experiences, the sharp learning curve that the army underwent on the ground, and the confusing nature of combat for ground troops. As the centennial of the war approaches this well-annotated memoir that connects Patterson's individual experiences to the larger U.S. experience of the war will appeal to general readers and specialists alike." --Jennifer D. Keene, author of World War I: The American Soldier Experience A journalist once called Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson "the toughest man in Washington" for his fervid efforts in managing U.S. mobilization in World War II. The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson: A Captain in the Great War recounts Patterson's own formative military experiences in the First World War. Written in the years following the conflict, this is a remarkable rendering of what it was like to be an infantry line officer during the so-called Great War. Patterson started his military career as a twenty-seven-year-old, barely-trained captain in the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.). He was part of the 306th Infantry Regiment of New York's famous 77th "Statue of Liberty" Division from July to November 1918. In this detailed account, Patterson describes in understated yet vivid prose just how raw and unprepared American soldiers were for the titanic battles on the Western Front. Patterson downplays his near-death experience in a fierce firefight that earned him and several of his men from Company F the Distinguished Service Cross. His depiction of the brutal Meuse-Argonne battle is haunting--the drenching cold rains, the omnipresent barbed wire, deep fog-filled ravines, the sweet stench of mustard gas, chattering German machine-guns, crashing artillery shells, and even a rare hot meal to be savored. Dealing with more than just combat, Patterson writes of the friendships and camaraderie among the officers and soldiers of different ethnic and class backgrounds who made up the "melting pot division" of the 77th. He betrays little of the postwar disillusionment that afflicted some members of the "Lost Generation."Editor J. Garry Clifford's introduction places Patterson and his actions in historical context and illuminates how Patterson applied lessons learned from the GreatWar to his later service as assistant secretary, under secretary, and secretary of war from 1940 to 1947. J. Garry Clifford, a professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, is the coauthor of America Ascendant: American Foreign Relations since 1939 and The First Peacetime Draft, as well as the coeditor of Presidents, Diplomats, and Other Mortals.
Call Number: D570.9 .P37 2012ISBN: 9781572338470Publication Date: 2012
Booth also has several historical newspaper and magazine databases that provide access to primary sources.
- History DatabasesLists all databases relevant to doing research in History available at Booth Library
- Newspaper DatabasesLists all newspaper databases accessible from Booth Library
These historical newspaper and magazine databases are useful for primary source research
- New York Times (Historical) This link opens in a new windowFull text articles and scanned image page-views for this national newspaper | 1851-2019
- Chicago Tribune (Historical) This link opens in a new windowFull text and images for the Chicago Tribune | 1849-1997
- Times (London) Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new windowFull-text Articles | 1785-2019
- Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals This link opens in a new windowPrimary source articles from 19th-century British periodicals | Events, lives, values, and themes that shaped the British Empire and the 19th-century world | Includes Series I (New Readerships) and Series II (Empire)
- African American Newspapers: The 19th Century This link opens in a new windowCollection of 11 different African-American Newspapers in full text through Accessible Archives | The Christian Recorder, The Colored American, Frederick Douglass’ Paper, The Freedmen’s Record, Frederick Douglass Monthly, Freedom’s Journal, The National Era, The Negro Business League Herald, The North Star, Provincial Freeman
Weekly Advocate - American Periodicals This link opens in a new windowFull text and images from historical magazines | Topics include American independence, general interest, children's publications, journal articles for women, and the Civil War | 1740s - early 1900s
- Pennsylvania Gazette 1728-1815 This link opens in a new windowPublished in Philadelphia from 1728 through the early 1800s | Benjamin Franklin`s Newspaper | Firsthand View of Colonial America
