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Creative Arts Subject Guide

Primary sources

Finding Primary sources

Primary sources are original sources of information including first hand accounts, data, research, artwork, literature or poems.

In creative arts, primary sources are first hand evidence or records of the time: Artwork (painting, sculpture, photography, performance piece, etc.), artist statements, interviews.

Primary sources can be found in secondary sources such as books and articles as well as archives and museums.

Find primary sources within secondary sources

To find primary sources held in books or articles:

  1. Go to Library advanced search.
  2. Enter your chosen keywords.
  3. Choose + Add a new line.
  4. In the new search line, change Any field to Subject.
  5. Add sources as the keyword in the new search line.

 

Primary sources in archives, museums

Find primary sources in archives and museums

These sites are excellent sources of primary sources, images, historical documents and themed collections. Most can be searched using keywords and results can be refined using filters.