What are Primary Sources?
First hand accounts of events, written by someone who experienced or witnessed the event in question. They are considered to be scholarly as the information presented is original and has not been analyzed, interpreted or commented upon.
Examples of primary sources include: books, magazines and newspapers articles published at the time, hand-written documents like diaries and journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memoirs, diaries, autobiographies, government agency records, records of organizations, pubic opinion polls, photographs, audio or video recordings, research data and artifacts of all kinds like physical objects, furniture, tools, clothing etc.
Canadiana Online identifies, catalogue, and digitizes documentary heritage—books, newspapers, periodicals, images and nationally-significant archival materials.
Monographs - spanning three and a half centuries of Canadian documentary history, holds rich primary materials exploring a wide range of subjects and disciplines. With a projected 84,000 titles by completion, this resource is the most comprehensive full-text searchable set of historical monographs currently available for the study of Canada.
Serials - includes a wide range of dailies, weeklies, specialized journals and mass-market magazines, as well as city directories and annual reports from churches, schools, and corporations. Specialized publications include trade or industry journals as well as many men’s, women’s, student’s and children’s popular magazines
Government Publications - includes over 1.7 million pages of historical pre-1920 colonial, provincial and federal government documents. This collection includes government acts, bills, committee reports, court rules, debates, journals, ordinances, a selection of official publications from France and Great Britain, sessional papers, regulations, royal commission reports, voter’s lists and treaties.
Canadiana Online is projected to digitalize the entire CIHM collection by the end of 2018.
The collection contains 115 of the Champlain Society's volumes (over 50,000 printed pages) dealing with exploration and discovery over three centuries. It includes first-hand accounts of Samuel de Champlain's voyages in New France, the diary from Sir John Franklin's first land expedition to the Arctic, 1819–22, plus many other fascinating stories.
The Héritage project is a 10-year initiative to digitize and make accessible online some of Canada’s most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 60 million pages of primary-source documents. Chronicling the country and its people from the 1600s to the mid-1900s, this collection represents a vast and unique resource for Canadian historians, students, and genealogists.
A collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
Includes 15 full-text Canadian Major Daily newspapers. Earliest coverage: 1977-
This is a subject index which brings together newspaper and magazine articles on Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario. This index includes more than 50,000 headlines over the past 16+ years.
Archives preserve and give access to original records, the historical material and primary resources on which much research must be based. Doing research in archives can be time-consuming, but very rewarding. You're likely to find personal stories, diverse perspectives, and documents that haven't been looked at in decades.
Doing archival research can be complicated and a lot of work, but it also can be incredibly rewarding. Start early, make a plan, and talk with an archivist, librarian, or faculty member for tips to get started.
Many archives are digitizing and sharing their collections online. You can find documents using keywords or full-text search, and view high-resolution copies. This guide has links to a variety of digital collections that will enhance your research.
Digitization only scratches the surface of the records that are available to visitors to archives. When you are able to conduct your research in person, you'll have access to original papers, diaries, correspondence, photographs, films, maps, artwork, and more.
Doing research in archives is a skill, and can be more challenging at first than using books or digital sources. With time, practice, and guidance from an archivist, it can be very rewarding.
At Lakehead, you can access our Archives and our Special Collections on the 5th floor of the Paterson Library. Resources here include records related to the University's past, and local history.