For students' convenience, The Learned T. Bulman '48 Historic Archives & Museum has walk-in hours:
The Archives is located on the lower level of Clark Library.
Archival material should be handled with great care. In the event that archival material is fragile, extra precautions must be taken in order to prevent damage.
Primary Sources are firsthand accounts of an event. They are original records created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories.
Secondary Sources interpret and/or analyze primary sources.These sources are a step removed from what they are describing. Usually, secondary sources are published works.
Some examples of secondary sources include: textbooks, encyclopedias, analysis, and reviews. In regards to history, a journal article that analyzes the assassination of John F. Kennedy, or a book that discusses the Battle of the Bulge are examples of secondary sources.
Primary sources may include letters, diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, memoirs, government documents, photographs, audio and video recordings, as well as ancient artifacts like tools or structures.
These links will direct you to the Library of Congress website for information on primary source citation.
In addition to the primary source material in the Archives, newspapers of the period may have relevant information as well. Clark Family Library has a microform collection with newspapers such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, which span all or part of the 20th century.