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Political Science & Law

Primary sources

Quill pen & ink bottle on scroll

Primary sources are documents such as diaries, letters, memoirs, speeches, original creative works such as poetry, novels, drama, scripts, theatrical works, or even original scientific research. They are important in academic research, because they constitute firsthand evidence presented by people, who have personally experienced an event in real time and have recorded it or written about it. Such sources give you the opportunity to examine these original testimonies without being affected by secondary opinions and ideas.

Library primary source collection

The following database includes primary sources such as FBI files relevant to major events such as the assassination of Martin Luther King or the Watergate scandal, national convention proceedings, investigative and legal documents of cases such as the Spiro T. Agnew case. For information on how to access the database from off-campus, you may consult our off-campus access page.