Skip to Main Content

Disability in Art and Visual Culture

This guide supports ARTH 138-01 Disability in Art and Visual Culture taught fall semester 2024.

What is a Primary Source

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "primary source" as:

An account or record (such as a first-hand account, a contemporaneous news report, a photograph, or an audio or video recording) reflecting direct experience of a thing (such as a historical event) that is being researched or studied.
Primary sources are the raw materials of history—original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place.—Library of Congress
Primary sources include birth certificates, photographs, diaries, letters, embroidered samplers, clothing, household implements, and newspapers.—Smithsonian Institution
Art work counts as primary sources! - Millie Fullmer

 

Select List of Primary Sources