Primary sources are first hand evidence or records of the time. They may take the form of diaries, letters, interviews, manuscripts, newspapers, speeches, photographs, posters, pamphlets and official records. They can give you a first-hand account of what life was like during the event or time you're looking at, and show you what people thought and felt about the world.
One way to discover primary sources for a geographical area in UQ Library Search, use the subject term "sources" in the advanced search. For instance, using ("United Kingdom" OR England) AND history AND sources will among other resources find The Magic of Rogues: Necromancers in Early Tudor England.
Another way to discover primary sources is through our historical databases. For instance, we have databases on:
Secondary sources are an excellent way to navigate your way to and find information about primary sources. For instance, the Online Medieval Sources Bibliography is a bibliography of printed editions of medieval source materials with links, where available, to sources that are online.
There are important, freely available resources online such as EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History which contains digitised versions of primary sources for European history, from antiquity to the modern era.