Primary sources are materials created at the time of the topic you are researching, or by an eyewitness to the topic. Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. They are not commentary about your topic, but are the topic you are commenting about.
Primary sources may include:diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays and music. The collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research!