January 22, 2009
Primary Sources
Genealogists and family historians use a wide variety of sources to answer questions about the past. In their research, they use both primary sources and secondary sources.
Primary sources are actual records that have survived from the past. They include personal documents such as personal papers, cards and letters, diaries and journals, maps (especially ones with personal notations written on them), photographs, reports and artifacts like articles of clothing, book plates and sometimes even coins or stamps. This list is by far all inclusive, but it should offer a good idea and starting point for where to look.
On a less personal note, primary sources include things like govermental documents and manuscripts. Goverment documents may be found on many levels — national, state or provincal, township, county or local (whether it be a city or a small community).
On the national level you can locate primary sources in governmental libraries or archives. For instance, in the United States many primary sources are held in the Library of Congress and the National Archives. Records from Ellis Island can also be very benificial as primary records. These national records may include alien registration, change of name, denization, deportment documents, naturalization papers, passports, work or travel visas and sometimes vaccination records. Also found among the national records should be many types of military documents such as bounty awards, citations, disability papers, discharge papers, muster rolls, pensions, selective service registration forms and service files. On occasions you may even find such artifacts as swords or uniforms, but those may more often be found in personal collections.
On the state level, all of the records preceived as Vital Records should be availabe from state archives. These include birth, marriage and death certificates. You may also find some military documents, because many of the states in the U.S. had militia as they were being formed. Addidtionaly, other primary records held by the state could be some of the various land documents, such as grants, abtsracts of title, water rights and tax notices.
Township, county, and town offices all carry primary records in the form of land surveys and tax lists. They may hold shcool and immunization records, as well.
Finally, because civil records are not always available, church records can be a vital source for people involved in genealogy. Herein lies a problem, however, especially in the United States. Unlike many of the European States, the church and state are separate in America; and according to Val Greenwood’s book, The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, currently there is no complete guide to American church records.
Sources:
Library of Congress
The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, Third Edition, Val D. Greenwood, c2000, Genealogical Publishing, Co., Baltimore, MD
familytreeuk said,
January 25, 2009 at 7:01 am
thanks for posting about sources – very useful articles.
Genealogical Sources « The Wyllo Tree said,
January 28, 2009 at 12:11 am
[...] and Tertiary Sources When referring to the quality of a document or record, we can say that primary sources are the records of choice. Since this type of record was/is created at or near the time of an event [...]