Primary sources originate in the time period that historians are studying. They vary a great deal. They may include personal memiors, goverment documents, transcriptions of legal proceedings, oral histories and traditions, archeaeological and biological evidence, visual sources like paintings and photographs.
William Kelleher Storey, Writing History: A Guide for Students (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 18.
Secondary works reflect on earlier times. Typically, they are books and articles by writers who are interpreting the events and primary sources [and other secondary sources] you are studying.
William Kelleher Storey, Writing History: A Guide for Students (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 18.
Reference material that summarizes and condenses the information found in primary and secondary sources. (e.g., frequently almanacs, bibliographies, chronologies; dictionaries and encyclopedias, textbooks)
Christine Bombaro, Finding History: Research Methods and Resources for Students and Scholars (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012), p. 57
In some cases the distinction between primary and secondary source works may be confusing. If you are writing about historical writers, you may find yourself using a secondary work as a primary source. For example, during the 1840s and 1850s Thomas Macaulay wrote The History of England. His book describes the origins and outcome of England's Glorious Revolution of 1688. For historians of seventeenth-century England, Macaulay's book is a classic secondary work. But for historians of Victorian Britian [c. 1837-1901], The History of England is a rich primary source that tells historians a great deal about intellectual life in the 1840s and 1850s.
William Kelleher Storey, Writing History: A Guide for Students (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 19.
