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HUMN 4030: The Art of Travel (Bernardini): Find Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are original artifacts or documents. They are usually defined as first hand information that are communicated by witnesses or participants in past events. They also include original creative works such as poetry, fiction, and plays. Primary sources are characterized not by their format but rather by the information they convey and their relationship to your research question.

Examples of primary sources include, but are not limited to:

  • Diaries and literary memoirs
  • Letters/correspondence
  • Artistic works (musical and visual arts)
  • News segments/transcripts
  • Speeches
  • Interviews
  • Editorials
  • Legal documents and statistics 
  • Eyewitness accounts
  • Experiment results
  • Interviews
  • Surveys
  • Fieldwork
  • Emails/ blogs/ listservs
  • Creative writing
  • Audio and video

Find Images

Primary Sources in Literature

Find Maps

Our Map Collection consists of an estimated 200,000 maps, over 3,000 atlases and geographic reference books, and more than 25,000 Colorado historical aerial photographs covering a broad range of subject areas. For assistance accessing these collections or to view these maps in print at the Earth Sciences & Map Library, please email rad@colorado.edu or call 303-492-7578 to schedule an appointment.

These are websites with excellent historical map coverage recommended by the map librarians at CU Boulder. If you are interested in viewing historical maps in our print collections, please email rad@colorado.edu. You can also view and download historical maps of Colorado from our four digital map collections

Consider using a gazetteer

A gazetteer is a place name dictionary or index used to search the history of a place. This is particularly helpful for learning about places whose names or boundaries have changed over time or for names with variant spellings. If a place name has changed over time, you can incorporate its other names in your search. You can search OneSearch with the name of the country or region you are interested in and the word "gazetteer" or "place names." 

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National and International data:

Find Government Information

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