LibGuides: Asian & Asian American Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources are first-hand evidence related to the time or event you are investigating. This includes accounts by participants or observers and a wide range of written, physical, audio or visual materials created at the time or later by someone with direct experience.

In the sciences and social sciences, primary sources or 'primary research' are original research experiments, studies, or observations written about by the researchers themselves.

Primary Sources by Subject

Discipline	Primary Source Examples	Secondary Source Examples
History	Letters Photographs Diaries	History books Journal Articles Documentaries
Art & Literature	Novels Paintings Poems	Art criticism article Literature criticism article Art history textbook
Communications & Journalism	Speeches Investigative Journalism Newspapers & magazines	Journal articles on communication theories Book on Journalism practices Public speaking manual
Political Science	Laws Court documents Public opinion surveys	Article by a legal scholar American government textbook Encyclopedia of political theory
Science & Social Science	Research studies Lab tests Mental Health surveys	Reviews of other studies Systematic reviews Textbooks

Websites for Asian American History Primary Sources

Chinese in California Virtual Collection
From the Bancroft Library at UC Berkley. The Chinese in California, 1850-1925 illustrates nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese immigration to California through about 8,000 images and pages of primary source materials.
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collection, ca.1880-1933
The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collection documents artifacts systematically excavated from two sites in Southern California. The first site is represented by about 1,040 color images of artifacts from the original Los Angeles Chinatown; an additional 150 images document artifacts from the site of a Chinese laundry in Santa Barbara.

Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar
In 1943, Ansel Adams (1902-1984), America's most well-known photographer, documented the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and the Japanese-Americans interned there during World War II.
Densho
Densho is a nonprofit organization started in 1996, with the initial goal of documenting oral histories from Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. Densho uses digital technology to preserve and make accessible primary source materials on the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. We present these materials and related resources for their historic value and as a means of exploring issues of democracy, intolerance, wartime hysteria, civil rights and the responsibilities of citizenship in our increasingly global society.
Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive (JARDA)
The JARDA project began in 1998 with the goal of providing a single point of entry to materials held by California institutions on the subject of Japanese American relocation and incarceration during World War II. Historically, these materials had been heavily requested, but difficult to access since they were scattered across many California archives, libraries, oral history programs, and museums.
CSU Japanese American History Digitization Project
Includes digitized images and documents from The California State University System (consisting of 23 campuses, once called “the 1000 mile campus”) and the local CSU archival collections scattered throughout California.

USC Korean American Digital Archive
The Korean American Digital Archive brings more than 13,000 pages of documents, over 1,900 photographs, and about 180 sound files together in one searchable collection that documents the Korean American community during the period of resistance to Japanese rule in Korea and reveal the organizational and private experience of Koreans in America between 1903 and 1965.

South Asian American Digital Archive
SAADA creates a more inclusive society by giving voice to South Asian Americans through documenting, preserving, and sharing stories that represent their unique and diverse experiences.

SEAAdoc
SEAAdoc is an educational resource of the Southeast Asian Archive at the UC Irvine Libraries focusing on post-1975 refugees and immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and the communities they have developed in the United States. It contains 1,500 visual images and 4,000 pages of searchable text selected from the Archive to represent a cross section of our holdings.

Asian American Drama This link opens in a new window
Full text of plays, along with related biographical, production, and theatrical information.

General History Primary Sources

Online Archive of California (OAC)
Free public access to searchable collection guides (also known as finding aids) for primary resource collections in repositories maintained by more than 200 institutions throughout California, including many digitized collections.
Calisphere
Calisphere provides free access to unique and historically important artifacts for research, teaching, and curious exploration. Discover over 750,000 photographs, documents, letters, artwork, diaries, oral histories, films, advertisements, musical recordings, and more.
Los Angeles Public Library Images
The Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection emphasizes the history of Los Angeles, Southern California, and California. This Internet-accessible collection is one of the treasures of the Central Library.
Los Angles Public Library Visual Collections
The LA Public Library visual collections include both local history collections and other historical collections. Includes maps, images, drawings, posters, menus, and other types of ephemera.
County of Los Angeles Public Library Local History Web Sites
Includes information on Native Americans, local missions and the early history, other historical topics, images of historic community photographs and other documents, and links and citations to additional community history resources.
The Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History
Established in 1968, the Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History is a teaching, training, research, publication, and public service archive located at CSU Fullerton's Pollak Library. It contains more than 5,500 oral histories covering a wide range of people and topics from California and beyond.

Civil Rights Digital Library
materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. The CRDL features a collection of unedited news film from the WSB (Atlanta) and WALB (Albany, Ga.) television archives held by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries.
Digital Public Library of America
A vast project that works with many cultural heritage institutions to bring together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. The portal provides innovative ways to search and scan through the united collection of millions of items, including by timeline, map, virtual bookshelf, format, subject, and partner.
Documenting the American South
Primary resources for the study of Southern history, literature and culture through the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
The Internet Archive
A nonprofit digital library of public domain material, including the Way Back Machine.
Library of Congress American Memory Project
Written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
The National Archives
Search by topic, time period, or place. Useful research guides available to help you.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
NYPL Digital Gallery provides free and open access to over 800,000 images digitized from the New York Public Library's collection.
Archive Grid
ArchiveGrid includes over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented.

Latin American Network Information Center: Digital Initiatives
Through partnerships with organizations in Latin America and globally, LANIC's mission is to facilitate access to online information on, from, or about Latin America. To this end, LANIC hosts an extensive set of digital collections covering many different topics and content areas.
Digital Library of the Caribean
Digitized versions of Caribbean cultural, historical and research materials currently held in archives, libraries, and private collections.
World Digital Library
Search 16,561 items about 193 countries between 8000 BCE and 2000.
Digitized Manuscripts of the British Library
Use this website to view digitised copies of manuscripts and archives in the British Library’s collections, with descriptions of their contents. Highlights include: Harley Golden Gospels, Beowulf, the Silos Apocalypse, Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook, the Petit Livre d’Amour, the Golf Book, almost 900 Greek manuscripts, The Royal Manuscripts and Botany in British India, Over fifty Thai manuscripts and the Chakrabongse Archive of Royal Letters, early Singapore manuscripts, Persian manuscripts, and Hebrew manuscripts.
Archives Portal Europe
The Archives Portal Europe provides access to information on archival material from different European countries as well as information on archival institutions throughout the continent.

Primary Sources at CSULA

Archives & Special Collections
Special Collections & Archives supports the discovery, learning and engagement goals of the University by identifying, acquiring, perserving, and providing access to primary research materials of enduring value in support of the academic mission of the university, the educational and research needs of the Cal State LA academic community, scholars, and the research community at large.
CSULA Digital Repository
Welcome to the CSULA Digital Repository, a digital collection provided by the CSULA University Library. This digital archive collects and provides access to the research and resources for students, faculty, and staff of the CSULA community.
Night Times (CSULA student evening newspaper 1954-1961)
Armed with the GI bill, returning veterans from the Korean conflict flooded into Los Angeles State College. As is common today, many of these students attended classes in the evening while working a full-time job during the day. To introduce evening students to their classmates, activities and college life, L.A. State College began publishing an evening newspaper called Night Times.

Full Primary Sources Guide from Cal State LA

How to Find Primary Sources
Cal State LA Archives and Special Collections
Citing Primary Sources
Copyright and Fair Use
Archives on the Web

Asian & Asian American Studies

Primary Sources

Primary Sources by Subject

Websites for Asian American History Primary Sources

General History Primary Sources

Primary Sources at CSULA

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